P7RNS

Just need to get off my chest what I saw this morning because it annoyed me.

The weather up here in the North East (England) is a bit snowy and have just seen a mobile speed camera cause a serious accident. The Camera was hidden round a bend under a bridge on a dual carriageway. A poor chap has obviously seen him late and braked hard to avoid points and a fine. This has caused him to spin off into/through the central reservation fence. He looks to be in a bad way and his car is totalled.

I know the he should not have been over the speed limit, but surely in slippy conditions the placement of such camera's should allow you time to slow down and not be partially hidden.

The mobile camera is not at an accident blackspot !!!

Thanks for listening, feel better after that !!!

dreamer

Unfortunately while I agree with you that camera's should be visible, to give you time to slow down, if that is their purpose (although I'm sure we all believe revenue generation is the real purpose), if the guy wasn't speeding there woulodn't have been an issue.

Or would there? How many times do we see people doin the speed limit automatically jam the brakes on when they see a camera "just in case" - it's a gut reaction - Ive been guilty of it since I got my points on occasion. I've been paying attention to a situation and not the speedo (which easily creeps up into 3 point territory) and seen a camera without time to check the speed.

billybiker

Serves him right! I hate drivers who jam on their brakes for speed cameras. They are invariably under the limit-although bet most don't even know the UK standard speed limits and they certainly don't seem to know how fast they are going.

mikey k

Not good - but he did put himself in that predicament at what is now a black spot

dreamer

I'd agree in most cases - (to excuse myself here I don't jam brakes on for all cameras and I almost always see them far in advance) - but if i came around a corner into a camera zone without warning and didn't absolutely know to the exact mph my speed, I would be slowing down. I'm on 6 points, 3 more makes the S uninsurable and very close to a 6 month ban

euan

If the scamera van being there really was a danger, the guy who crashed would be able to use it in his defence for careless driving/without care & attention etc when that comes up.

Somehow, I don't think "I had to panic brake because I might have been exceeding the speed limit and was at risk of getting caught" would be a good thing to say in court

Bassoctopus

With Euan. What if it had been something in the road? The guy was obviously driving beyond the conditions/his capabilities/both.

Where was the camera P7RNS and why isn't your name down for this years NE meet?

RUSS H

Yeah serves him right, he looks in a bad way and his car is totaled!!!

Different reaction if it was an S2000 il bet.

Moggy

A little bit harsh criticism.

The roads are bad enough without an additional hazard.

Chris Type R

Okay, so disregard the "serves him right" for the driver who crashed - what if other drivers had then crashed in to this car ? No sympathy as well ? What about passengers ?

A large number of people rightly or wrongly instinctively slow down when seeing a camera van - it's human nature.

Paul Smith from Safe Speed http://www.safespeed.org.uk/ would probably be very interested in this accident.

It would also be very interesting to know what actions were taken by the camera crew in terms of assisting the driver and or passengers.

EDIT: Safespeed forums http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/index.php