First of all, this is NOT a sick kind of joke, its actually going to happen in my town, so I was wondering what is the legal standpoint if a "citizen" catches you speeding?
Full item.............
Residents living in Nuttall Lane and Whittingham Drive in Ramsbottom, UK, are fed up with drivers speeding past their homes. So, now these people will be given their own handheld police radar guns to trap these unlawful drivers. Residents will be trained by police on how to use equipment and to monitor motorists from outside their own homes.
The so called "speed watch" (radar gun) campaign is still undergoing some changes and fine-tuning as to how exactly it will work. But most likely it will work the way that if a resident using traffic radar gun clocks a speeding driver, the details will be passed onto the police who will then send out letters and maybe even tickets.
The scheme will be officially launched on March 3, and will start in Greater Manchester first. If it is successful, it could be launched in other areas. Though it's has been already used in some rural parts of the country.
During the training, residents will learn how to use the equipment, special techniques for catching offenders and how to record full speeding incidents.
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They will also have to teach them how to avoid getting their teeth kicked in by angry neighbours, as most speeders in any given area are locals.
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Yea, I can see an awful lot of "payback" going on
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I may be wrong but I sniff a journalist trying to impress his news editor.
This type of scheme has been going on for years, using speed measuring and display equipment (happy/unhappy face and mph display), not cameras or guns. No residents have issued tickets, nor have the police on residents say so. Usually organised by road safety depts. through parish councils and other such.
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Such a scheme has been in operation in some areas where I live for some time (and in Manchester as well I believe).
Volunteers are trained in how to use the laser speed guns and any motorists "caught" receive a warning letter through the post. See:
www.merseyside.police.uk/html/news/news/january/kh...m
Originally the scheme was set up following complaints about speeding on a particular main road int he town, which is quite narrow, is a bus route and has vehicles parked on both sides, exacerbating the problem of speeding vehicles.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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It's called Community Speed Watch, and seems to be most often used in rural areas where people speed through villages, the villagers are up in arms but the police need evidence of the problem before they can target resources at the problem.
You can't get a ticket from a speedwatch volunteer. The registered keeper is sent a generic letter and some road safety / speeding info.
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re public using speed cameras
The Scheme has also been operating for some time (year or more ) in surrey.The volunteers are plain to see and also put out a big notice ahead of the area that is being monitored so no excuse to be caught realy unless you are a complete idiot and disregard speed limits.They are realy only monitoring and reporting back to the local police who can and will follow up if necessary.It does have an effect on the speed of traffic if only while the volenters are on duty.
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rustbucket (the original)
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its better than speed humps, if police wont inforce speed limits, then lets do it our selves.
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Can you imagine the sort of twisted busybodies who will volunteer as civilian camera operators?
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On a similar theme, if I was driving a wee bit too fast and the driver behind me films this with a camera phone, is this admissable (particualrly bearing in mind the law regarding holding a data device whilst driving) ?
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On a similar theme, if I was driving a wee bit too fast and the driver behind me films this with a camera phone, is this admissable (particualrly bearing in mind the law regarding holding a data device whilst driving) ?
In order to show your speed he too would have to exceed the limit, and then explain why he was using a mobile phone whilst driving.
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A yellow hi-viz vest and a black hairdrier (like SWMBO's) are all the kit you need to frighten speeders ;-)
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This is going on near me in Hatton, Derbys. Quite often I have seen these public spirited people with yellow jackets on pointing their device at me. The first time I felt like getting out and telling them what I thought, but now I just laugh.
A couple of weeks ago my wife was done for speeding in Hatton by a camera van, 37mph in a 30mph limit. This is her first speeding ticket in 40 years of very carefull and slow driving. She was so cross, I couldn't help but laugh.
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'Flooring it from outside Tesco's, my mate reckoned he could get his Mondeo up to 115 by the time he reached the chicane at the entrance to our estate. Now we've got this radar speed detector, fell out of the back of a plod van dinnit, and we know he's only doing 97.3 at best.
'When oh when are the manufacturers of nickable jalopies going to fit them with decent speedometers?'
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Before getting steamed up about this, I reckon its just a good way of plod placating a bunch of "civic minded people" and giving them something to do instead of constantly phoning up about perceived law breakers in their area. A few people "caught" might realise they were using inappropriate speed, most will laugh, and if you've got the spare time, you will write a mister angry letter decrying the waste of public money on giving equipment to untrained and unqualified people to distract thel aw abiding motorist from going about their lawful business. In a demo a few months ago of these tools, most of the residents couldn't estimate the speed of a car travelling at 30mph within +-15mph. Why were their complaints of "speeding" then taken seriously and the community speed check equipment issued?
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37mph in a 30mph limit.>>
But the speedometer will most likely have been showing a higher figure....:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Great minds think, er, similarly stuartli...
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Some villagers near me had been complaining for years about speeders so the police did a blitz on the place and caught.............. mostly villagers.
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The Speed Watch volunteers in our area - and I presume elsewhere - are properly trained to use the speed guns.
The main purpose is as a deterrent and anyone who receives a warning letter might well appreciate the fact that he/she didn't get the appropriate punishment as well.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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>> 37mph in a 30mph limit.>> But the speedometer will most likely have been showing a higher figure....:-) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
You are right chaps, she thought that she was doing 45 mph, I told her she would probably be banned for 6 months. She is usually a very slow driver, we have been overtaken by many lorries on the M1, when I have had a drink, and once by a 3 wheeler!
She is one of those people who say that you should obey the limit and if you are caught it is your fault. That is why I laughed. No doubt I will end up paying the fine.
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