forget to fill up the car with petrol, in your eagerness to get home and
open pressies.
And you may then find yourself in a bit of a hurry getting to work the next
day.
Thank goodness for the hard working public spirited camera van operator. He allowed my mind to re-focus on the need for a staid and sedate journey to work. I'm also thankful for the efficient braking system of Mercedes cars. Though for a moment I thought he was going to convert from a tail-gate'r to a back seat passenger.
Speed traps are not relative measures of guilt. They take no consideration
of my circumstances. That I am a courteous driver. That I drive carefully
through built up areas. That I keep my distance from other vehicles. That I
am a nice chap who helps others in need. That I brush my teeth twice a day.
It is not fair.
They are absolute.
70 mpm
It doesn't matter how good you are. You may have better morals than a
christian. But if you haven't entered in through the 'front door' -that is
Jesus- then God does not recognise you as one of his. Sorry but you just
don't make the grade. The standard has been set. It is an absolute. And you
don't pass. No consideration is given for effort.
This might seem wrong. Surely God is Love. Yes, because of that love he is
also Just.
In a speed trap you can be let off if you can show someone else was driving
your car at the time; so it is with God.
Jesus, whose license was clean, said he was "driving my car". Because of
Jesus, I pass Gods absolute test.
17 comments:
“Mr Garvin explained: "I actually believe in casualty reduction and trying to make the roads safer but, having looked at the accident statistics in this area, we find that if you break down the 1,900 collisions we have each year only three per cent involve cars that are exceeding the speed limit. Just 60 accidents per year involve vehicles exceeding the speed limit.
"You then need to look at causes of these 60 accidents. Speed may be a factor in the background but the actual cause of the accident invariably is drink-driving or drug-driving. Drug-taking is becoming more of a problem. In 40 per cent of fatal road accidents in this area one or more of the people involved have drugs in their system."
Many accidents were caused by fatigue, although one of the most common causes of crashes was the failure of drivers to watch out for oncoming vehicles when turning right. "The cause of accidents is clearly something different than exceeding the speed limit and we ought to be looking at those other factors," Mr Garvin said.”
- Chief Constable of Durham, Paul Garvin, reported in The Daily Telegraph, 7th December 2003.
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/againstcameras.html
Government announces £130 million to improve Silverstone
Investment welcomed as part of integrated transport "policy"
by By Pingu the Penguin
The government yesterday announced a £130 million package to improve Silverstone.
The track — which hosts the British Grand Prix, aka The Michael Schumacher Fun Drive — is to be furnished with a bus lane in response to criticisms following the 2000 Grand Prix mud bath.
The lane will extend from Woodcote corner all the way to Stowe, and will be enforced by cameras. Drivers caught abusing the restricted area will face a £60 fine and a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. The scheme is not without precedent — last year speed humps were installed at Monza as part of a traffic calming scheme.
Transport minister Alistair Darling enthused: "The new Hanger Straight bus lane will help encourage people out of their cars, thus reducing climate change — which everyone knows is the sole cause of rain."
Pressure group Transport 2000 has warmly welcomed the changes. A statement issued after the announcement read: "We need people to realise that the bus is by far the fastest way from A to B. Faster than even the fastest cars. Faster even, than supersonic jet aircraft. Regular bus users already know this amazing truth. It's just a matter of spreading the word among non-believers."
However, the group claims the changes have not gone far enough. "We are disappointed that the government has failed to provide any bus stops along the route," their statement went on. And on...
Insiders point to the impending cigarette advertising ban as an incentive for F1 bosses to accept the plan. Used car salesman Bernard Ecclestone exclusively told The Rockall Times: "We desperately need sponsorship from other companies who put profits first and produce vast quantities of noxious fumes and don't give a tinker's about the consequences. Bus operators fit the bill perfectly."
Minardi boss Paul Stoddard is backing the plan 100 per cent. "By encouraging teams operating double-deckers into the sport, Minardi hope to start at least one Grand Prix ahead of the back row of the grid," he told us.
British backers hope to have at least four second-hand Routemasters contesting the 2004 F1 championship. Rumours that Reg Varney will manage the Ken Livingstone-sponsored team are unconfirmed.
Government announces £130 million to improve Silverstone
Investment welcomed as part of integrated transport "policy"
by By Pingu the Penguin
The government yesterday announced a £130 million package to improve Silverstone.
The track — which hosts the British Grand Prix, aka The Michael Schumacher Fun Drive — is to be furnished with a bus lane in response to criticisms following the 2000 Grand Prix mud bath.
The lane will extend from Woodcote corner all the way to Stowe, and will be enforced by cameras. Drivers caught abusing the restricted area will face a £60 fine and a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. The scheme is not without precedent — last year speed humps were installed at Monza as part of a traffic calming scheme.
Transport minister Alistair Darling enthused: "The new Hanger Straight bus lane will help encourage people out of their cars, thus reducing climate change — which everyone knows is the sole cause of rain."
Pressure group Transport 2000 has warmly welcomed the changes. A statement issued after the announcement read: "We need people to realise that the bus is by far the fastest way from A to B. Faster than even the fastest cars. Faster even, than supersonic jet aircraft. Regular bus users already know this amazing truth. It's just a matter of spreading the word among non-believers."
However, the group claims the changes have not gone far enough. "We are disappointed that the government has failed to provide any bus stops along the route," their statement went on. And on...
Insiders point to the impending cigarette advertising ban as an incentive for F1 bosses to accept the plan. Used car salesman Bernard Ecclestone exclusively told The Rockall Times: "We desperately need sponsorship from other companies who put profits first and produce vast quantities of noxious fumes and don't give a tinker's about the consequences. Bus operators fit the bill perfectly."
Minardi boss Paul Stoddard is backing the plan 100 per cent. "By encouraging teams operating double-deckers into the sport, Minardi hope to start at least one Grand Prix ahead of the back row of the grid," he told us.
British backers hope to have at least four second-hand Routemasters contesting the 2004 F1 championship. Rumours that Reg Varney will manage the Ken Livingstone-sponsored team are unconfirmed.
Government announces £130 million to improve Silverstone
Investment welcomed as part of integrated transport "policy"
by By Pingu the Penguin
The government yesterday announced a £130 million package to improve Silverstone.
The track — which hosts the British Grand Prix, aka The Michael Schumacher Fun Drive — is to be furnished with a bus lane in response to criticisms following the 2000 Grand Prix mud bath.
The lane will extend from Woodcote corner all the way to Stowe, and will be enforced by cameras. Drivers caught abusing the restricted area will face a £60 fine and a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. The scheme is not without precedent — last year speed humps were installed at Monza as part of a traffic calming scheme.
Transport minister Alistair Darling enthused: "The new Hanger Straight bus lane will help encourage people out of their cars, thus reducing climate change — which everyone knows is the sole cause of rain."
Pressure group Transport 2000 has warmly welcomed the changes. A statement issued after the announcement read: "We need people to realise that the bus is by far the fastest way from A to B. Faster than even the fastest cars. Faster even, than supersonic jet aircraft. Regular bus users already know this amazing truth. It's just a matter of spreading the word among non-believers."
However, the group claims the changes have not gone far enough. "We are disappointed that the government has failed to provide any bus stops along the route," their statement went on. And on...
Insiders point to the impending cigarette advertising ban as an incentive for F1 bosses to accept the plan. Used car salesman Bernard Ecclestone exclusively told The Rockall Times: "We desperately need sponsorship from other companies who put profits first and produce vast quantities of noxious fumes and don't give a tinker's about the consequences. Bus operators fit the bill perfectly."
Minardi boss Paul Stoddard is backing the plan 100 per cent. "By encouraging teams operating double-deckers into the sport, Minardi hope to start at least one Grand Prix ahead of the back row of the grid," he told us.
British backers hope to have at least four second-hand Routemasters contesting the 2004 F1 championship. Rumours that Reg Varney will manage the Ken Livingstone-sponsored team are unconfirmed.
I'd just like to say how unhappy I am with the yoof of today, they pay no heed to the warnings of this government, we as labour con-men....sorry caring members of the community are doing our best to convert all you car drivers to public transport, we WILL make you use the train, how else are you going to get your family handout after we have banned you all from the roads, I think it very unhelpful to read such nonsense , this Scamera operator was clearly looking out for children and old ladies, the motorways are very unsafe places for children to play, that’s why we target those areas as we do
So if you want more of this kind of pooh, more banned fathers vote labour
You know it makes sense
Your local scamera partnership needs you
Not content with surveillance cameras everywhere and threats of satellite based road tolling and speed control, the government is planning another step in it's relentless drive to turn Britain into a police state.
The latest weapon on the drawing board is microchips embedded in registration plates. This will allow sensors to read plates from up to 300 feet away and thus track the movement of every vehicle around the country.
If this happens, we'd advise drivers to take care when fitting their number plates to ensure they don't accidentally drill a hole through the chip — which might not make it work too well.
Rockall product test: Safety Cameras
Reduced road casualties or government flim-flam?
by Flash Gorman, Motoring Correspondent
With safety cameras a familiar site on many — indeed most — of the UK's roads, we at The Rockall Times decided it was time to put them to the test in a rigorously scientific manner. We were anxious to investigate claims that the cameras improved safety and reduced road casualties.
For our tests we found a small village with a 30mph limit and a safety camera at the entry and exit points to the village. We then drove through the village in a variety of vehicles and at different speeds. The results are recorded below.
Test One Scenario: A Ford Fiesta was driven through the village at a constant 37 miles an hour.
Test One Result: The safety cameras were activated and a speeding ticket sent in the post to the driver, arriving two weeks later.
Test Two Scenario: A Ford Fiesta was driven through the village at a constant 37 miles an hour. At a point just after the site of the first speed camera, a crash test dummy was suddenly thrown into the path of the car. This was intended to simulate a child running out from the pavement.
Test Two Result: The safety cameras were activated and a speeding ticket sent in the post to the driver, arriving two weeks later. The dummy was damaged beyond repair.
Test Three Scenario: Top motor sport star, Colin McRae, drove through the village in his highly-tuned rally car. He entered the village at 130pmh before violently braking down to 27mph for the first safety camera. He then accelerated up to 100mph before braking again for the second safety camera. This was passed at 26mph.
Test Three Result: No action was taken by the safety cameras.
Test Four Scenario: Two Rockall Times journalists consumed roughly twenty pints each of strong lager and drove a Land Rover through the village, taking occasional pot-shots at locals with a sawn-off shotgun. The Land Rover had its cruise control set to 28mph which it maintained throughout its trip. It did, however, take several detours onto the pavement and a fairly lively shortcut through the school playground.
Test Four Result: No action was taken by the safety cameras.
Test Five Scenario: An eighty-three-year-old great-grandmother in a DAF variomatic crawled through the village at 3mph, stopping seven times to adjust her mirror.
Test Five Result: The safety cameras were activated and two weeks later a ticket arrived indicating the average speed of our vintage motorist to have been 873mph. She has since been fined, banned and jailed.
Conclusion
Our test results appear to indicate that the safety cameras do nothing whatsoever to improve safety.
However, this would mean that the Government's claims as to the effectiveness of such cameras have no basis in fact. In light of the recent Hutton report we understand such an error is completely impossible. We have therefore sent our report to Alistair Campbell so that he might re-interpret the results correctly. We await his findings with eager anticipation.
Next week:
Rockall product test: The amazing new 1,115mph Fiat Uno, as verified by a Cambridgeshire police mobile speed trap.
Jeremy Clarkson: Let's break all Tony's laws
I see that pretty soon parish councillor henchmen will be prowling round our villages at night, handing out £50,000 fixed-penalty notices to those whose lights are keeping people from getting to sleep.
Well now; I live opposite a football pitch that, each evening, is illuminated by several starburst gigawatt lamps. They’re an eyesore, for sure, but since I understand that it’s jolly hard to play football in the dark I have not complained. Instead I’ve simply hung two pieces of material in front of the window. I like to call them “the curtains”.
I have tried, really I’ve tried, to understand why legislation is needed to prevent people from using lights at night but then I’ve tried hard to understand why dogs aren’t allowed to kill foxes any more. And I don’t get that either. Or why I can’t use my mobile phone when I’m stuck in a traffic jam.
Every single day there is a small piece in the papers that announces the introduction of a law banning something which you thought was harmless. And here’s the thing. You raise your eyebrows momentarily and then you turn the page.
It’s only when you add up the number of new laws that have come along since His Toniness grinned his way into No 10 that you realise just how much of our freedom he’s tried to erode in the past seven years.
Last week Boris Johnson told us that you may not legally fix a broken window pane in your own home unless you are a qualified broken window mender and that when the work is done you must get it inspected by a broken window inspector from the local council. Furthermore, it is against the law to change or tamper with the electrical sockets in your own kitchen.
There’s so much more to come as well. Greyhound tracks will soon need new super licences, you will not be allowed to tread on a stag beetle, you will not be able to have unprotected sex or a few drinks with your friends after work. Cheese will have to be marked with a government health warning and you will be prevented from telling jokes about homosexual men, lesbians, Muslims, Catholics, the Irish and foxes.
Gary Lineker will only be allowed on television after the watershed, in case children are enticed into his dangerous salt and vinegar world, you will not be allowed to get your dog to kill a rat — because it’s a wild animal — and you will be banned from giving your mum a headstone when she dies in case it falls over.
Naturally you will also be banned from smoking in public, owning a Bible, sending Christmas cards that feature the nativity and smacking your children. Happily, you will be allowed to drive a car, but not at more than 20mph, not if you’ve had a piece of sherry trifle and certainly not if it has four-wheel drive.
All of the above will be covered by legislation, but where this is not possible Tony uses the Hoxton Thought Police instead. As a result I was told last week that I am now “not allowed” to talk about Siamese twins and must in future refer to them as “conjoined”.
Why? Down’s babies used to be called mongoloid because it was felt some of their facial characteristics made them look as if they were from Mongolia. And I can see why that might be upsetting. For both Mongolians and those with Down’s.
But the expression Siamese twins is used because the first pair ever to reach the world’s consciousness — called Chang and Eng — happened to be from Siam. So who’s going to be upset? Siam doesn’t even exist any more. Are these idiots now saying I can’t refer to Dutch courage? And if so, who will stand up for the right of measles if I call them German?
To be honest, however, none of this interference is going to make any difference to my life. That’s why I’m not whingeing, because I shall continue to call people while driving, and tell them stories that Cherie Blair would find offensive.
Furthermore, I’ll carry on calling two people who share body parts Siamese twins. I will eat as much cheese as I like and I will still give my dog a whole packet of prawn-cocktail-flavoured crisps whenever she rips a rat to pieces.
This evening I’m thinking of smacking the children. For fun. And then, when I go to bed tonight, after I’ve altered all the wiring in my kitchen and drunk two bottles of wine I’ll leave the outside lights on. And dream about the glimpse of G-string I saw in the office last week.
In other words, in a single day I will break 14 laws and seven social taboos that simply didn’t exist before Tony came along. And I shall do so with impunity because there’s no way in hell he can possibly enforce all his Big Ideas.
Welsh speed camera calamity Dec 22 2005
Aled Blake, Western Mail
DRIVERS caught speeding on camera were last night urged to challenge their convictions while nearly 1,000 motorists are to have their fines quashed.
One of Wales' leading transport experts said motorists who get fined after being caught speeding by safety cameras should check the conviction is correct.
Around 950 motorists will have speeding convictions overturned after it emerged that part of a road signposted as 30mph was in fact subject to a 60mph speed limit.
Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership ordered a full review of a mobile camera site in Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan after a complaint was received about speed limit signs.
Now, hundreds of convictions are to be overturned amid concerns that some drivers should not have been prosecuted. One of Britain's leading anti-speed-camera campaigners said all speed cameras should be scrapped.
M4 Speed Camera Dangerous
Professor Garel Rhys, head of transport at Cardiff University, has stated that the speed camera on the M4 westbound at Port Talbot is more likely to cause an accident than prevent one. Professor Rhys believes the camera should be moved so that it is more visible to prevent late braking which may lead to an accident.
Selected Quote
“You are not alone in this county in being unhappy with some of the provision of speed cameras.
Some people feel it is a form of taxation which is turning law-abiding citizens, such as yourself, into criminals. It is not a very satisfactory state of affairs.”
Judge Richard Bray
Northampton Crown Court
2005-09-01
“Speed cameras have their limitations...but when these matters can be overcome they will be a sure winner for raising revenue.”
The Metropolitan Police magazine, Metline, March 1999
Electronic speed cameras are hiding behind a guise of pedestrian safety to raise money, and are planned for motorways where there are no pedestrians. The Government is blatantly dishonest”
Professor Garel Rhys, Head of Automotive Economics at Cardiff Business School, and Parliamentary Adviser on Trade and Industry; commenting on Tony Blair's anti-car policies
Majority continue to regard many speed limits as too low.
On Motorways, 57% of cars exceed the 70mph limit, 20% exceed 80mph.
On 30mph roads, 58% of cars exceeed the 30mph limit, 25% exceed 35mph.
On single carraigeway roads, 70% of HGVs exceed the 40mph HGV limit.
Department for Transport figures for 2003
"The normally careful and competent actions of a reasonable individual should be considered legal."
'Establishing Speed Limits - A Case of Majority Rule', Arizona Department of Transportation, 1999
“Speed cameras have made the police the enemy of the motorist, even if we have nothing to do with them. They are seen as the police making money.”
Un-named police officer writing in POLICE [pdf 463k]
(The newspaper of the Police Federation
Dear Martin, I think you have enough material to have your own blog on speeding etc.
Oh! and stop posting comments that impersonate me. Next in the bin with it!!!
You can comment on other entries as well.
Wahter do youa mean, Martin ahasa not put any sucha thing onya bloga.
Dia Jones
Italy
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