scamera van caused near miss/accident

taffy056

Flyboy152 wrote: »

You don't think that the accidents were caused by drivers driving too fast then?

No not really as it's not really possible to speed along this section, you really don't know the lay of the land there, try reading this, it just mentions closure of two junctions, I beleive it's now all four

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Sub-standard-M4-slip-roads-facing-closure/article-3095547-detail/article.html

Flyboy152

taffy056 wrote: »

No not really as it's not really possible to speed along this section, you really don't know the lay of the land there, try reading this, it just mentions closure of two junctions, I beleive it's now all four

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Sub-standard-M4-slip-roads-facing-closure/article-3095547-detail/article.html

I did write, "driving too fast," not speeding. However, from the article:

Residents living near the slip road at Taibach have complained of speeding traffic

Also there is no mention of any collisons, or cameras. I would have thought that would have been a more sensational angle, for any newspaper.

taffy056

The camera was removed about 3 years ago, and it's a motorway with houses below it as it's on bridges, so what do they expect living in such close proximity to a heavily used road? Also people are not really speeding coming off the slip road, it's just a 50mph road, a road cuts through it, and it's very short probably about less than half the size of a standard slip road.

Again you don't know the lay of the land, try google earth on the section.

taffy056

Try this

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tm_objectid=14497717&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=m4-camera--will--cause-major-crash--name_page.html

And this

http://www.speedcameras.org/speed-camera-news-article.php?id=131

alastairq

warehouse wrote: »

This thread is chock full of self righteous "we never speed" types. Get a life people, everyone speeds now and again, we know it, you know it.

Yes, badly positioned camera vans are bl**dy dangerous.

the 'self-righteous' one's are those that think it really is quite ok and normal to exceed the speed limit...and that they really should't be vilified or punished for doing so.

I DON'T EXCEED SPEED LIMITS

I have no need to......and given my work, would find it hypocritical to do so.

Which doesn't mean to say I have never ever exceeded the speed limit.


But if I did do so, it was a conscious and deliberate disregard for the Law..not an accidental ''ooops, sorry officer, didn't realise, flutter the eyelashes, etc''.

and, in the past, I have been fined, and received endorsements for exceeding the speed limit.

but not in the past 30 years or more......

and given, in the past40 years, I have never done anything else other than drive, or associated activities........my 'exposure' has been a good deal more than most who do/have done something else for a living.

But, I don't exceed speed limits.

and if anyone thinks my driving is slow...then consider this..the only way to overtake me at times, is by exceeding the speed limit.


so it cannot be that slow....


self-righteous?


I ought to be entitled to be so, but the reality is, I'm saddened by what I see out there....saddened by all the bull-!!!! I see and hear...by those buried up to their necks in urban myth.

so crack on people....do what you want to do, but please don't bleat when it all goes wrong.

Wig

Flyboy152 wrote: »

The point being, as has been pointed out several times in this thread, if they were paying attention in the first place, there would be no need to reduce their speed so suddenly. If they are driving too fast and are unaware of the speed it, it is just as well they get caught. The fewer of these drivers on the road, the better.

As pointed out in the thread, people who are not speeding will also brake. I admitted to doing this without looking at my speedo because its quicker to do it that way. But even if I knew I was not over the limit but I was near or on the limit I would still brake. If you want to know why - google 'NOTSO'.

I ALWAYS brake for speed cameras fixed or mobile because I cannot afford the hassle of being wrongly charged or correctly charged for that matter.

alastairq

I ALWAYS brake for speed cameras fixed or mobile because I cannot afford the hassle of being wrongly charged or correctly charged for that matter.

I don't......

unless compelled to by the change of speed of those in front.




If anything, I might speed up if clear to do so....and I have some 'speed in hand'..


I find camera sites to be good places to overtake people....

cyclonebri1

alastairq wrote: »

I don't......

unless compelled to by the change of speed of those in front.




If anything, I might speed up if clear to do so....and I have some 'speed in hand'..


I find camera sites to be good places to overtake people....

To be honest it really doesn't matter if you don't or how alertly you are driving, as Wig clearly demonstrates he and many others do.
Now I can accept that, and if I spot a camera or van, often well before the car I'm following, then I'm on the defensive as I know what the reaction is likely to be:(:( Sad but true.

alastairq

making the point that not everybody does the same thing......

HO87

Wig wrote: »

And I don't agree with the blue light comment. When there is a blue light & siren EVERYONE is immediately aware of the situation, and everyone is on alert and will lift off the accelerator if necessary, and will lookout for the idiot infront doing something stupid.

As a former employer of blue lights etc, oh, do I wish that you were right and have prayed for as much on many, many occasions. Sadly, however you aren't. For "everyone" read "some" - maybe as much as 30% on occasions but certainly no more than that. A majority of drivers aren't as observant as they could or should be (being observant means being able to hear what is going on around you as well as seeing) - often because they are distracted or prevented from being so because of a conversation, misbehaving children; use of phones or sound systems - or because they simply aren't concentrating. As a consequence they fail to plan or anticipate and, when they are confronted with something unusual, its inevitably too late and there is little option but to brake heavily.

Not that its all their fault. The driving test establishes only one thing: that you could pass the test. The strange thing is that many seem to believe - or at least drive like they do - that passing the test magically confers the benefit of experience and skills both at car handling and reading the road (a skill relatively few can really demonstrate, and is not taught to any extent before the test) it actually takes years to acquire.

As for the camera van 200 yards beyond the bend there would be no reason why an experienced operator could not have "pinged" every vehicle that came into view. The laser kit that he was probably using can capture the speed of a vehicle in 0.3 secs out to a maximum range of 999m.