h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was driving back round the M25 (not a car park on this occasion) after my gig on Saturday night - it was probably 02.30 or there abouts. I'd got my cruise control set to 75, a little over the limit yes, but I'll not be setting off any cameras. There was only one other car on my side of the road that I could see, which went past me like a Bat Out Of Hell - setting off a camera

Does that mean that I'm going to get a ticket?

I shall have to hope that the positional relationship between the two cars, was such that I wasn't over the graticules painted on the road, which I don't think I was, but that's only in retrospect. I wasn't thinking about that at the time, I just thought that'll teach you. Then realised what speed I was in fact doing. There's always the "no film in the camera" option and the "my speedo over reads" option. I hope one of those saves me.

I'm not sure but I would imagine that

a)The camera may have been digital so film will not be an issue
b)It is unlikely to have caught you since they actually take 2 photos and calculate the speed that way (see http://www.gpsinforad.co.uk/about/cameras/#gatso )
c)You may be able to appeal the decision if they do send you a ticket by saying that you were doing a sensible cruising speed when the dozo went past.

Generally I'd say don't worry about it and if a letter does drop through your door, deal with it then, especially if it tries to say you were doing 140mph

On a related note when we were going along the A12 last weekend the GATSOs for the road works had all been covered over for the weekend as the restriction had been removed. However they were all still going off, it was highly amusing to see all these cameras flashing away like mad under their little red covers!

It's a shame they can't invent a camera that detects people pulling out without indicating - pulling in without indicating - swerving across three lanes of traffic to get up a slipway they almost missed. People flashing you when you pull into the centre lane 200 yards in front of them when the outside lane is empty, people who don't dip their lights, people who only drive on side lights after dark, and probably the worst, those who on seeing a speed camera, pull into the huge gap in front of you leaving only a car's length, then lock all their wheels in an attempt to lose that extra couple of MPH.

Sorry if that seems like a rant, but I do a silly amount of motorway miles every year and have just about seen it all. I honestly don't think speeding is the most hideous crime on the road, although I try to avoid it when in the car. I suppose it's much easier for the police to prosecute someone involved in an accident who was going fast, because they will almost certainly lock up their tyres and leave some evidence. The guy who pulled out without indicating will regularly escape unpunished.



Bassman

...and there was I, playing my little game of "Guess the writer of the journal" and I was wrong!

Thought this would be GreyDesk and his continuing fiascoes with the nice machines on sides of motorways

You really should subscribe to his journal, it brightens up an otherwise gloomy day (for me)

Hope you don't get a ticket honey!

Thanks GB, I'm feeling a little less gutted now. I've had my license 22 1/2 years and never had a point on it - which is pretty darn I think.

Also, not bad for a guy with a bike that'll do more than twice the legal limit, to boot. Although I hasten to say the only safe place to do those sorts of speeds is on a race track.

GB



Bassman

We also seem to have speed trapping by camera as the only law inforcement on our roads in South Africa. Sadly, if you are pulled over at all, everything else seems to be amicably resolved by putting your drivers licence into a folded R100 note (about eight pounds) when you hand it to the poorly paid Traffic Inspector! No wonder we have 50 000 (yes, FIFTY thousand) road deaths per annum and an estimated 40-50% of drivers licences are fraudulently issued.

Still the only slogan you see is...

SPEED KILLS !


(Utter claptrap - it's those unplanned sudden stops that cause the damage!)

Dude.... not seen you about for a while, good to hear from you.

I just don't think I'd have the bottle to slip a traffic cop a bribe....



Bassman

The ones that are on the take will make it quite clear to you...
They've been caught on camera too - TV and the like.

Well I suppose if it's a way of keeping your license clean....



Bassman

...and your concience corrupted?

They're talking about bringing in a points system to SA - we'll see what the price goes up to then!

Not had anything through the post yet, I know they have to issue the paperwork within 14 days (is that working days I wonder?) if not you get away with it.



Bassman

They have 30 days out here for posting the notice...

Still nothing

30 days - that's a bummer. Fancy having to wait all that time on tenderhooks. Does that mean that the British Police are just more efficient at prosecuting easy targets?

It never ceases to amaze me that it's always the guy going over the limit that's at fault and never the guy that pulled out without looking or indicating. I've rattled a bike boot of several car doors before now for such acts of inconsideration!! Mind you, if I stopped to think about it at the time, I'd have to say that such an act was at least fool-hardy.

I can remember a guy in a car, looking me straight in the eye as he sat at the line on a roundabout and waited till just the right moment before pulling out in front of me. It was so perfect I sometimes wonder if he actually did it on purpose!



Bassman

Just two weeks back one of the local bike clubs lost a member to a blind lane-changer. A cager in a Fiat Uno changed lanes suddenly without looking, forcing the bike into the concrete median wall and dislodging the pillion. The next two cars following in that lane then drove over her...

The rider is still unconcious in ICU and doesn't yet know...

One of our club members was killed in April. Eight o'clock on a Sunday morning. Open stretch of road, clear visibility for two-three hundred metres to either side. Cager drives out of a stopstreet right in front of him, bike hits the driver's door and rider impacts against the roof. No criminal charges laid as yet - "no witnesses" - terminal logistics speaks for itself, who needs witnesses? No skidmarks (ABS brakes), just one dead rider.

The cager wants to sue bikers estate for repairs to his car as he wasn't comprehensively insured!

Can the bikers estate sue him (or his insurance) for compensation??! If not then the law has just gone silly. Besides if he pulled out at a stop junction without looking surely it was his fault?!

Probably could easily sue the cager - but his kids just want to put it behind them.

BTW, a Suzuki GSX 1000 rider from my home town was clocked TWICE on a public road on Sunday morning - once at 249km/h and then twenty k's further at 284km/h (where he was duly arrested)...! That doesn't do our cause ANY good - does it now?
His excuse? He was late for the start of the breakfast run!!!

I read a thing in the times the other day, that gave the sad story of a guy that was clocked 4 times in less than 2 minutes by the same camera. It was positioned between two roundabouts and the guy thought someone was flashing him with a regular camera, as the speeding camera was on top of a gantry over the road, rather than on a post at the side. Monster fine - loss of license - I think he probably deserved it.



Bassman

I feel that excessive speed is unnecessary however I also feel that our speed limits are outdated and that the motorways now average around 85mph and that most of the time that is fine. I would prefer there to be a similar system to that of the autobahns in Germany where the speed limit is basically dictated by the conditions, so if the road is empty and dry you can do 100mph if your vehicle is able, yet if the road is wet and full of traffic the limit would go down to around 50mph.

I also agree that we should be concentrating more on bad driving as opposed to fast driving.

Modern machines have better brakes and handling than ten or twenty years ago. Tyres have improved substantially (and cost a lot more!) adding to the safety margins. Road conditions (visibility, surface, weather, traffic etc.) should be the only thing determining one's safe speed.
On a recent long trip, I rode 162kms on a deserted country road (I overtook one car and two came toward me) in an hour and three minutes. At no time did I risk anyone else on that road, the visibility was a kilometre at least, there were no animals etc.

Am I a speedfreak? Not at all, sir! I tend to drive BELOW the speed limit on most days, because the road conditions are not safe to travel that fast, but when condition are right, why not?!

Exactly