Cameras

[bmetcalf]

Speed cameras are mentioned in another thread. In Minneapolis, cameras to catch red light runners were taken down, since the prosecutors couldn't prove that the car owner was the driver.

 

[Tnecniv Edipar]

Good lord , I want to live there !! In the UK they prosecute the owner if they fail to provide the driver ID !!!

 

[bmetcalf]

Yes, but the way stop sign running is so prevalent here, you run the risk of being rear-ended by a moron car driver that assumed you were going to roll through the sign, too. Hell, speeders kill motorcyclists here and get a slap on the wrist. We don't punish here, we look for how they were victims themselves.

 

[Tnecniv Edipar]

Oooops !! My reply sounded like I'm opposed to punishment for running lights , I'm not !! It's something I would never do. However , speed cams in the UK are a scourge. They are just another way of creating revenue. If , as the government claim , they were for improving road safety , one would assume that all dangerous roads would have them. Not so , the 6 most dangerous roads in the UK don't have any Gatso cams !!! The majority of them are sited to maximise fine revenue. They have been proven to be ineffective in reducing road deaths , the reason being that speed is not the predominant factor in fatal accidents. Speeding is just the most easily detectable offence , so is more cost effective to prosecute. The real causes of road accident's are driver error through lack of concentration and negligence.
The UK now has so much car legislation that driving is rapidly becoming a drudge , blighted by fear of petty prosecution for creation of fine revenue.

 

[bmetcalf]

No Ooops, please. I didn't mean to imply anything, I was just complaining in general.

You are right about "revenue enhancement."

 

[ogrilp400]

Australia

Australia is as England, the motorist is a cash cow for the government. Road revenue cameras are there to make money only. As in England, the registered owner is automatically deemed to be the driver unless he identifies the driver.
Oh to have the goverment here apply some logic and take cameras down.

 

[Len Matthews]

In addtion to the accursed Gatso's, the Essex Authorities have just announced that they are to spy from the sky using helicopers. Only recently we are told that increasing fuel costs are putting a strain of Air Ambulance budgets (supported by public donations). So presumably the police can burn as much aviation kerosene as they like (supported by the taxpayer).
Have you noticed that the fines levied on motorcyclists are usually much greater than those imposed on motorists, not to mention police officers "testing their patrol cars" at 130plus MPH!

 

[Tom Gaynor]

Public money

West Midlands Police (and all that needs to be said is that even the Met has more credibility......) used a police helicopter to chase down a young woman spotted committing the heinous offence of drinking from a bottle of water while stopped at traffic lights, thus presumably losing control of her vehicle by taking one hand off the wheel. Like you do when changing gear. Or applying the handbrake, which she had.
Australia perhaps suffers from having been a British colony. If anything, it's worse: Oz police wear shorts, sandals, and knee-high socks. It's difficult not to laugh.....too difficult for me. Or maybe I'm missing some subtlety: maybe the plan is to make them look ludicrous as a counterweight to their misplaced self-importance? Discuss......
A bikie friend in Dampier (a long way from nowhere...) made me laugh when he told me police in spotter planes were known as "pigs in space".

 

[bmetcalf]

On my first long bike trip, I was northbound in the Interstate in Wisconsin where it narrowed to one lane in either direction over the July 4th holiday. The traffic was crawling which was no fun in the heat. I caught up with a MotoGuzzi rider somehow and we agreed to go up the shoulder. We were going at up to 60 mph past all the cars when I noticed a state police airplane. We ducked back in line until the plane turned around and flew away from us, then we went back to our private express lane. At the end of the construction zone there was a group of motorcyclists discussing with the police. Apparently they hadn't observed the airplane as closely.

 

[Tnecniv Edipar]

West Midlands Police (and all that needs to be said is that even the Met has more credibility......) used a police helicopter to chase down a young woman spotted committing the heinous offence of drinking from a bottle of water while stopped at traffic lights, thus presumably losing control of her vehicle by taking one hand off the wheel. Like you do when changing gear. Or applying the handbrake, which she had.
.

I remember the news feature on that , utterly outrageous !! Will the Police ever realise that their credibility is permanently damaged by such farcical incidents ? How about an alternative approach to that particular example , chopper radios a ground patrol car , they stop said miscreant , have a gentle word and impart some advice , bid her good day and walk away !!! Even then if they must take any action at all for such a ridiculous thing !! But then we must remember their actual agenda , stealth tax collectors !!