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CID 'hide' in jeans and T shirts to catch scallies. I see no difference.
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I don't have a problem with it, but I'd like to think they used the same resourcefulness in dealing with anti-social behaviour, racial harrassment (same thing really) and burglary.
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Having reported a couple of incidents, such as a car pulling out in front of me and coming to a standstill, presumably to engineer a crash, and plod taking no action despite video evidence, I am coming to the conclusion speeding is mostly about making money, or at least solving 'crimes' with minimal effort and cost. The number killed and seriously injured is going up, so it seems the increase in speeding convictions does not correlate with greater road safety.
I don't really have an issue with disguised cameras, as long as they don't do it on safe roads in good conditions.
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If Plod really wanted to deter speeding, in the interest of safety, they would park marked cars in highly visible positions (or even cardboard cut outs if they can't spare real cars).
Hiding cameras suggests revenue is more important to them.
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Hiding is more profitable.
Marked cars prevent speeding.
Plod are next to tax collectors in some respects.
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"If Plod really wanted to deter speeding, in the interest of safety, they would park marked cars in highly visible positions (or even cardboard cut outs if they can't spare real cars).
Hiding cameras suggests revenue is more important to them."
Generating revenue may indeed, in their minds, be the dominating factor.
However, that is a very short-term view. It is simply not possible to prevent much speeding away from fixed speed cameras by using highly visible camera vans, as there are far too few of them. You would have to flood roads with them to make any impact.
Concealed cameras mean that word gets around that you could be caught before you are aware and that means speeders will be less likely to chance it.
That, I assume, is the logic adopted by the French, whose fixed speed cameras are hardly hi-viz, and who have outlawed satnavs giving speed camera locations.
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If it were well known that there were lots of hidden speed cameras (and red light cameras - and others) which moved around quite a bit, then there would be far fewer people committing these offences. It's an issue of "what can I get away with?" and presumably the presence of CCTV and the like deters people from shoplifting - another criminal offence - as they know that they are likely to be caught.
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"If Plod really wanted to deter speeding, in the interest of safety, they would park marked cars in highly visible positions (or even cardboard cut outs if they can't spare real cars).
Hiding cameras suggests revenue is more important to them."
Generating revenue may indeed, in their minds, be the dominating factor.
However, that is a very short-term view. It is simply not possible to prevent much speeding away from fixed speed cameras by using highly visible camera vans, as there are far too few of them. You would have to flood roads with them to make any impact.
Concealed cameras mean that word gets around that you could be caught before you are aware and that means speeders will be less likely to chance it.
That, I assume, is the logic adopted by the French, whose fixed speed cameras are hardly hi-viz, and who have outlawed satnavs giving speed camera locations.
All fixed cameras on French roads are preceded by a huge sign worded:-
"Pour votre Securite" - (then a pictorial representation of a speed camera) followed by:- "Controle automatique"
And nobody that I know of here in France takes any notice of the "no speed cameras on your sat-nav" nonsense-that's just for the tourists!
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Well it is still better than the wheely bins in Australia used to hide speed cameras...
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This story concerns a road in Humberside used by motorcyclists-and is allegedly an initiative to reduce motorcycle accidents on this stretch of road.
If the thought behind this was to reduce accidents, the correct policing procedure would be to patrol this road with police motorcycle units -nicking the stupids and offering words of wisdom and a b******ing to the minor offenders-because that's what police motorcyclists are known to do, and it has been shown to be effective in reducing bike fatalities.
But no- just hide the speed cameras in tractors and horse boxes -it's called profitable policing.
I am pretty sure that the police motorcyclist units in the area are not happy about this approach- I am sure that HJ would welcome comment from any police motorcyclists that happen to read this.
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I'm in favour of speed cameras and if there's a particular problem with serious speeding, then disguised speed cameras are fine.
The tractor idea is a bit ironic really since one sees so many defective farm vehicles on the roads - e.g. no lights working on trailer, missing number plate on trailer, or maybe one scrawled on a piece of hardboard with a crayon.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 01/10/2015 at 00:20
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I'm in favour of speed cameras and if there's a particular problem with serious speeding, then disguised speed cameras are fine.
The tractor idea is a bit ironic really since one sees so many defective farm vehicles on the roads - e.g. no lights working on trailer, missing number plate on trailer, or maybe one scrawled on a piece of hardboard with a crayon.
I am not in favour of speed cameras in any shape or form, hidden or not.
They do not contribute in any way to road safety, never have, never will.
They do however, contribute to the coffers of "speed camera partnerships"
normally run by and for the benefit of local councils.
Please explain why concealed speed cameras are fine if there is a problem with serious speeding?
So the serious speeder gets a financial penalty in the post 7-10 days after seriously speeding in a particular area where serious speeding is a problem.
The subject may not have visited that area before and may never visit it again- so how does getting a hefty fine relate to any concept of road safety on that particular road as opposed to getting a pull from from a bike copper who explains why serious speeding in that area is not a good idea because of the road conditions, surroundings, hazards, sight lines etc?
All it achieves is a disgruntled driver/rider who concentrates on the speedo in future rather the the road.
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Most speeding is quite deliberate. Occasionally the driver loses concentration, but going by the velocity of drivers in the town I live in, 30 mph is for learners only. They know full well they are exceeding the limit and only if there are sanctions will they keep to them. BTW, I don't like the out-of town limits, e.g. over the Cat and Fiddle road which are a bit low, but the cause is? m****s on high-powered bikes. Strangely, since the average speed cameras, they are living longer.
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<< I am not in favour of speed cameras in any shape or form, hidden or not. They do not contribute in any way to road safety, never have, never will. They do however, contribute to the coffers of "speed camera partnerships" >>
I'm sorry, but this just sounds like the objection of a conspiracy-theorist who believes that he should be the only judge of the safe speed for the road he is on. Most speed limits are a compromise between free-for-all (Toad) driving and safety for the whole community. You may argue that some limits seem unnecessarily low, but at bottom the problem is because a proportion of drivers and riders simply can't be trusted to behave sensibly or socially.
Because those drivers treat limits in a cops-and-robbers manner - i.e. get away with it if we aren't caught - the cops have to set a few traps. That may not seem fair, but the simple remedy is to be aware of the limits and drive somewhere near them.
A more credible conspiracy theory might include the steady appearance of incremental limits all over the country, so it's now much harder to remember just what speed one is allowed to do.
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"All fixed cameras on French roads are preceded by a huge sign..."
The sign may be as much as 600 metres before the speed camera.
Also, the French passed a law in 2011 authorising the removal of warning signs and some regions have started to do this.
My point is that the French realise that the ony way you'll get a reduction in speeding is if drivers think they may be caught anywhere.
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A recent incident near where I live in Spain shows drivers' stupidity at its very worst. A long gradient of motorway between Santander and Bilbao has a well-marked speed camera on an overhead gantry on the downhill stretch, but there were regular collisions on the opposite carriageway, which has three lanes. Drivers tend to ignore the crawler lane and so traffic bunches in two lanes and gets congested at peak commuter times.
A speed camera was installed on the uphill stretch, signposted well in advance and painted hi-viz yellow; traffic slowed down, and the accident rate dropped sharply. Along comes a Gatso-warrior and sabotages the new radar. Word of this quickly spreads (it was featured in a full page article in the local paper and I suspect "Wazers" helped in passing on the message!)
Less than a week later, uphill traffic is back to its naughty ways and there is a twelve car collision! bit.ly/1Loz3k5
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Two things spring to mind...
1) The tractor is not being used for agricultural purposes - I hope the plod have changed the type of use of the vehicle and paid the required road tax.
2) I would be very surprised if a mobile speed camera is type-approved to be used from inside a vehicle - in which case the tickets should not stand.
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2) I would be very surprised if a mobile speed camera is type-approved to be used from inside a vehicle - in which case the tickets should not stand.
Not sure I follow that. Most of them round here are in vans so presumably type approved to be used inside a vehicle.
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"All fixed cameras on French roads are preceded by a huge sign..."
The sign may be as much as 600 metres before the speed camera.
Also, the French passed a law in 2011 authorising the removal of warning signs and some regions have started to do this.
My point is that the French realise that the ony way you'll get a reduction in speeding is if drivers think they may be caught anywhere.
The removal of warning signs was an "initiative" thought up by Sarkhozy and his unelected sidekick Claude Gueant the interior minister, to make more money out of speed cameras. This was reversed after the 2012 election so all cameras should have signs.
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