so yesterday, im cruising back from Tesco's in Aldersh1t with a soggy wilted tuna and sweetcorn sandwich and a diet coke happily bouncing around in the passenger footwell. When what do i spy ? yuup theres a nasty little scamera van tucked in behind a bush facing away up the road im about to turn onto - ready to squeeze revenue from the people driving towards me.

Needless to say i came over all confused and several times managed to hit my high beams, when looking for the windscreen washers (dont you hate it when that happens?). Several people gave me a thumbs up, and i retired to my office to eat said wilted, and now luke warm sandwich, job done.

This afternoon on my way to work (half day) im exiting Basingsh1te on a short stretch of dual carriage way (past tesco in Chineham) which has no adjacent housing and absolutely no access to pedestrians, theres also a nice little twist in the road, a dip, and then a railway bridge that helpfully obscures revenue generators. Im approaching the stretch of dual carriage way (50 limit) at an enthusiastic but not excessive speed - enough to get me a ticket put it that way, when a car on the opposite carriageway crests the hill flashing furiously. Theres a moments realisation, then i give him a thumbs up (which he smiled and returned) and hit the anchors. Sure enough as i coast down the next incline, theres the little cheeky scamera hiding under the protecting bridge. I coasted past it shaking my head.

.... and my saviour ? - a very highly polished black Civic Type R. Now im not strictly sure it was camaradery, and id like to think everyone would have got the same warning, but... well stuff like that warms the cockles of my heart. The revolutions coming ladies and gentlemen, and it has a big silver H on the bonnet.

Sorry but had to share.

R.

 

Good work I usually do the same but I advise being discreet about it (did you hear about the chap that put up a warning sign about the scamera in his back garden in Farnborough and got a driving ban for his trouble? Probably the same scamera!

 

Maverick I know those roads well and that they can be a fantastic area to stretch the S's legs as it were.

Seeing as you are in Aldershot, how come you've never made it to one of the Surrey meets btw?

But the more people let other people know where the vans are, the more people will do it and at the end of the day there are more drivers than there are scamera operators. We will win brother.

 

And yet they still have the nerve to call them "Safety" cameras. Some guy warns drivers of the presence of a blackspot (because they only ever use cameras at blackspots, don't they) and gets a driving ban. Road safety in this country is going to the dogs.

 

[QUOTE]Good work

 

Good work

My Bell 990i does! But only if they pull the trigger to check you're speed

 

wrt the flashing thing, I completely support it.

However, I think it was Mark Turner who was pulled over for doing the same in the past.
I think the discussion was whether it constitutes obstructing law enforcement.
Somebody said that it would be the same as telling someone not to rob a bank!!! ie you're not preventing somebody who has committed a crime from being caught and punished.....just stopping them committing the crime in the first place.

Of course it shouldn't be an offence to tell people of the camera ahead....after all it represents a blackspot, so you're actually trying to prevent an accident.

However, as we saw in the case of the poor chap mentioned in the earlier post, we'll still get done over.

 

The ironic thing about this story is that the road in question is a dual-carraigeway approaching Farnborough town centre and has clearly defined pedestrian areas to the sides (partially fenced off I think) and looks to all the world like it could be a 50mph limit but its actually a 30, and is not (as far as I know) an accident black spot.

Concerning pedestrains the road doesn't look from a driver's view point like a high risk area where you are going to get people crossing the road and putting themselves in danger, there is even a pedestrian underpass. What there don't seem to be are any highly visible speed limit reminders. The speed traps themselves also "hide away".

Is this about getting drivers to obey the speed limit and using "safety cameras" to do so in order to make it safer for pedestrians? Surely, if so, the pedestrians would be much safer if the car drivers were to be told about the speed limit (and its enforcement) approaching the area and made to slow down. Rather than being fined some considerable time after having driven inadvertantly though the area at too high a speed for the legislated speed limit.

Or is it all about something else?

I think we all know the answer by now

 

Road safety researchers have shown that usually, however numpty the driver, he does do his best to try to avoid accidents at all times.

It therefore follows that it only makes sense to put talivans on stretches of road where the average driver feels the speed limit is too low.

Having said that, it is only a matter of time before a badly parked talivan sadly causes an accident/fatality.

I wait with bated Schadenfreude.