On 27 July, 12:18, "Recliner" wrote:
"Graeme" wrote in message







In message
* * * * *Chris *Tolley (ukonline really)
wrote:

Neil Williams wrote:

As for cameras, they have their place - though I am far more in
support of SPECS cameras than "point" GATSOs, as the latter only
seem to cause panic braking. *If Oxfordshire are cutting funding so
they'll all be turned off...

What I don't get about this is why they need any funding at all,
given how much people whine about them doing nothing but raising
money.

Because the money goes direct to the treasury, not the county.

Jon Porter's assertions aside, the evidence of the effectiveness of
speed cameras in general is somewhat equivocal. *While some may
appear to be effective one has to take into account other changes
that were made at the same time, a factor that is ignored by the
so-called safety-camera activists.

A colleague of mine tried to do a documentary on the effectiveness or
otherwise of speed cameras and speed limits in general and found that
anyone who didn't toe the party line was effectively gagged.

Near where I live, there was a fatal accident a couple of years ago, on
a straight road, approaching a set of traffic lights, in broad daylight,
with clear visibility. An elderly lady motorist in a very ordinary car
managed to run over and kill two other elderly lady pedestrians on the
pavement. Her car was so badly damaged that the roof had to be cut off
and she was helicoptered to hospital.

Why would such an unlikely accident happen (assuming it wasn't some an
ancient vendetta between the ladies in question)? *One possible
explanation may be the speed camera she had just driven past, which may
well have distracted her, especially if she had just been flashed.

But I bet this never got recorded as an accident possibly caused by a
speed camera. Certainly, I can't remember there ever having been a fatal
accident on that stretch of road before the camera was installed.

During trials with the cameras we installed the so-called distraction
factor was tested. No matter what speed and how the mirrors were
adjusted, the "flash" was barely discernible. Remember our aim was to
reduce accidents. There were no revenue considerations. Later cameras
have done away with the flash. I've attended many similar accidents to
that described, straight roads, no readily available cause, but apart
from one genuine mechanical fault, in every other case the cause was
obvious. Poor driving. Just today going along the M4 a professional
driver in her artic managed to drive across the hard shoulder and onto
the French Drain sending stones across all three lanes. Fortunately no
cars broken down on the hard shoulder. It will take just one accident
on the A40 near Barnard Gate, where excess speed has introduced enough
energy to turn a damage only or a minor injury RTA into a fatal, and
the £600,000 saving will become a loss of £200,000 (minimum) to the
local public purse. The average motorist has little understanding of
why speed limits are introduced. Historical data relating to accidents
and their causes are employed and then "Marksman" is employed to
measure actual speeds to supply data as to how many vehicles are being
driven at speeds considered excessive for the conditions. Observation
skills when driving rarely match the speeds being attained and overall
ability relies on that observation. Speed limits are set to take
account of those less capable drivers. I've had it up to here with
members of the ABD and the taxpayers alliance complaining that police
hide behind bushes and "leap out" with their speed guns. We never
needed to. Park up in a big red and white Rover or Granada , stand
beside it in full view wearing relective equipment and employing
either Truvelo or Gatso and within minutes there would be a queue of
offenders being processed by several officers. That is why it takes
several officers at one speed check, the drivers would be waiting
forever to be processed. If they failed to see us stood in the open
like that, what about the paperboy on his bike just after sunrise, or
the child going to school against a low winter sun. People fail to
drive within their abilities and also fail to take account of
conditions. Cameras cannot stop that, but they can, and do limit the
consequences of accidents by lowering speeds at particular locations.