SPEED CAMERAS

lew

I am becoming afraid of these speed cameras.I do try to stay within the legal speed limit.However,at times when I am on an unfamiliar road and see the warning of a speed camera I am often not sure what the speed limit is at that point! I much prefer it that a speed limit sign is put with the camera warning sing. Then I KNOW what speed I should be!To see the camera warning and not know the limit quite unnerves me! Twice now my husband has got a fine out of the blue!He had been doing under 40mph without realising it was a 30mph on an open type road. Its bad enough paying the fine, but then we are again penalised for this on our car insurance!!!!! What a heavy cost for genuine mistakes!!! Does anyone else fell that way? Thanks.

System

If you don't see any signs then assume it is 30mph it almost always will be. If the limit is anything else there will be small reminder signs every mile or so.

Tony_H_3

If you "Don't know the speed limit" of the road you are on, then you really shouldn't be driving. That's "Driving without due care & attention". Whilst your insurance premiums are affected (I don't think) by the points applied to your license via speed cameras, my insurance premiums are affected by people like you "Driving without due care and attention".

I really can't believe that a person would come onto a public forum and openly acknowledge in prelude to such a serious offence.

scheming_gypsy

well then Tony, i suggest you buy a helicopter and fly as a hell of a lot of people don't know the speed limits of the road they're driving on.

If you turn out of a side road and there's no speed signs between you and the next speed camera then how can that be classed as driving without due care and attention? or are you expecting everybody to study street guides before taking a trip and memorise speed limits of each road?

For example.. if i travel from the building my works currently occupy to the newly built building, then i take a right at the lights from a 30mph road onto x road.  On x road there is a speed camera just round after a bend, as you hit the speed trap there's a speed sign on the oposite side of the road stating it's a 40mph zone.  Now, without doing a right at the lights, driving x distance up the road and turning round how is anybody supposed to know the speed limit if, as Lew states, the road is unfamiliar ?  

Tony_H_3

SG you might like to refer to the highway code from time to time.

103: "Street lights usually mean that there is a 30 mph speed limit unless there are signs showing another limit".

The Highway Code Online CLICK HERE

scheming_gypsy

that's pretty irrelevent to what you've just said. Fair enough if there are street lights then 'maybe' the limit will be 30mph but on an unfamiliar road with no lights ??

The highway code also says that if a road has street lights x distance apart then you don't need to bother using your lights.


I also have better things to do than read the highway code all the time

System

If you are pulling out of a side road that is 30mph onto a road that is 40mph there will be a 40mph sign at the end of the side road. If there isn't I suggest you speak to your local council.

Paul_Herring

Whilst your insurance premiums are affected (I don't think) by the points applied to your license via speed cameras...

Some are.

Insurers' Speeding Bonanza

Some insurers have taken a sanguine approach to premiums, not boosting them until a second speeding offence. Several, however, ramp premiums immediately after just one conviction. And all insurance companies insist that motorists notify them of any speeding penalties.

Hidden Cost of Speed Cameras

DRIVERS have got a new reason to slow down speed camera fines could see their insurance premiums rocket by up to £800, it was revealed yesterday.

And one offence routinely means a driver's premium rises 20 percent.

System

Trouble is that speeding is still seen in polite society as, you know, one of those unlucky things that can happen to anyone, not really their fault. I can remember 25-30 years ago when drink-driving really was thought of as OK yeh a bit naughty but doesn't really count as something you should actually get done for.

I suppose this sort of thing takes a while to percolate through, still you want to remember that if it's a 30 limit you're supposed to know that. And if you routinely let it creep up to about 35-38 mph then if you do clobber someone it can make all the difference between a bad injury and him being completely toast.

System

Personally i think the police are concentrating so heavily on the motorist its getting pathetic...its a smoke screen, just to hide their ineptitude to tackle real crime....

I actually find those who against speeding are those cant drive...the police and government are just joining on the bandwagon to divert attention from poor results concerning serious crimes.

If you think i am being irresponsible fine...but speeding is NOT a serious crime given the right environment. Driving at 90mph on a clear motorway is far more dangerous than someone driving at 25mph is crowded supermarket carpark. The police should employ better effort in fining people for careless driving, driving in the wrong lane and cutting up other motorists...I always get some idiot cut me up almost every day because they are in the wrong lane....fortunately I pre-empt this.

I am suggesting we should, speed not at all, just use common sesnse. It just needs to be policed but not at the expensive or targeting more serious crimes.

The reason I am annoyed is that in the last 5 years....
1) I have been burgaled
2) my 2 friends and I were attacked by a group of youths at a train station for no reason
3) my wife was mugged outside her home
4) I have two non-fault minor car accidents where the other driver was uninsured and tried to drive off
5) Someone broke into my car and stole my 'out of sight' stereo
6) My wife received a parking ticket from a policeman after overunning carpark her stay by 6 mins.

guess which one the police resolved.......yep correct no.6. Oh, re: 5) they sent a booklet about how to avoid crime, which wouldnt contained useless advice which they would have realised if they bothered to talk to me....yeh thanks for that!!

So, our expensive police are doing a good job then.....as for the Labour gov...can we change the head puppet to Coco the clown

System

ooops..just as well I'm not a typist!!

If you think i am being irresponsible fine...but speeding is NOT a serious crime given the right environment. Driving at 90mph on a clear motorway is far LESS dangerous than someone driving at 25mph is crowded supermarket carpark. The police should employ better effort in fining people for careless driving, driving in the wrong lane and cutting up other motorists...I always get some idiot cut me up almost every day because they are in the wrong lane....fortunately I pre-empt this.