Someone is bound to bring this one up, so it may as well be me as I go past it every day.
It is reported in the papers that the speed camera at the bottom of the M11 going into London has been flashing up to 2,000 motorists a day.
This translates into over £800,000 per week in fines at £60 per ticket.
However, this should (but won't) make the authorities ask themselves whether the location or limit is wrong.
The camera is a quarter of a mile or so after where the limit drops from 70mph to 50 mph. There are two lanes, plus a third one (outside) which is hatched off and therefore out of use. The road is straight but leads into a shallow bend a little further on which is safe for 70 mph+.
Now, if the camera is set with the customary 10 mph margin, the assumption is that 2,000 vehicles are going along that stretch at 60 mph+.
Which leads to the assunption that if that speed is unsafe and the limit justified there should be 2,000 accidents per day, or close shaves that have only been avoided by luck or the skill of the drivers.
In fact there are very few accidents on that stretch (about one every three months at a guess).
So something is wrong.
QED
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Also, did you see the AA report the other day that something like 20% of tickets issued as a result of speed camera activity are believed to be incorrect? Apparently misrecognition of number plates is very common, causing people unnecessary worry and forcing them to waste time and effort in proving they weren't there at the time. Not surprisingly, many can't be bothered with the hassle, and pay up anyway.
I'm just waiting to receive a ticket after I was flashed by a camera the other day, crawling at 20-25mph in heavy traffic through the 40mph section of the M4 approaching London, just after that white elephant bus lane. The thing was going mad, flashing every 2nd or 3rd vehicle, despite the fact that everyone was doing the same speed.
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Don't get me on speed camera and civil servant inaccuracy!
I just get so peeved about Government departments which operate with astoundingly high error rates and think it is all right. Send your tax return in for the Inland Revenue to calculate and they promise to get it right with only 3 out of every 4.
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