arsie

Monday I razzed to work as usual 10 miles cross country to discover a marked car with one Plod pointing a thing at me. This at a country B-road junction recently signed at 50mph from 60. This was NOT one of the scheduled hits by the Casuality Reduction Unit.

Bro in law (cop) enlightened me. The traffic patrol boys calibrate daily and they can hit what roads they like. I was lucky because I was turning off. Had I been continuing on, at greater speed, I might have hit the 2nd car and been flagged down for a ticket. Actually my ECM didn't go off - I was braking to turn off - so probly doing < 50mph.

I cannot believe the scale they are reduced to hitting. This was the ONLY place I could exceed the limit by any amount in miles around of country road - say 1/2 mile of road only.

Scary.

JONeM

It's not good is it? I saw one (marked van) on a 60mph B road last week (Red Road in Camberley for those who know it). On many days I would've be a little bit illegal, fortunately, this day I was stuck behind traffic.

It really does make me question the wisdom of having a car I really enjoy driving as my main form of transport. I'm relatively law abiding, never speed in 30s or 40s and only drive the car really hard on roads I know well, where I know there are no hidden dangers.

Unfortunately, if they're going to continue camering up open A and B roads, it's only a matter of time before I get a ticket, or worse, a ban. I'm seriously considering selling the S after one more summer and getting something uninspiring for the road and something daft like a Caterham for track days.

Sad state of affairs really......

Chris Type R

There's one section if my daily route which is wide and straight & perfect for overtaking. This spot has now become a regular safety camera van haunt. The result of this is that I no longer overtake on the straight, but on the corner at the end of the straight, using the hatchings and turning lane (not quite as dangerous as it sounds, but certainly less safe then using the straight section of road).

W6DAN

The saddest part about all this for me is that real crime is rising all the time and they couldn't care less
As Chris mentions, they're often actually making things worse then using fiddled statistics to paint a different impression.

I have now spent well over a grand on GPS, detectors etc but would spend the same amount again to stop plod getting my cash. What a waste, though - I would rather have donated the money to charity or something.

Nick Graves

What riled me this morning was a report in our local rag.

Residents in Ware are sick of having their cars regularly vandalised/tyres slashed in a particular road. Plod's answer was reported as being that there was nothing they could do about it!

It's all one way, sadly.

Chris Type R

Be nice if we could say that we're not paying taxes - nothing that we can do about it.

Colin Andrews

More bad news. An old mate of mine, who happens to be a Traffic Cop was telling me there is a 'consultation' document going the rounds about reducing all B-roads to 40mph limit.

Everyone thinks it's a sh!t idea that would reduce the credibility of speed limits in general

- Guess it's a sho' in then

dws2000

There is no doubt that the police are being more active with sneaky vans and radar guns in places that you have say are easy fodder for them rather than dangerous black spots. It starts to get you paranoid as if you never know where they will pop up next - which I guess is what they want to create. Sad really because isn't that the definition of a police state.

Nick Graves

George Orwell got the date wrong by 20 years.

SFW?

arsie

Sounds like the dark side is peaking. We all report doom and gloom.

However the Sun has Clarkson's support in it's campaign to out the Speed Kills goons.

Personally here in Norfolk (where the proles roast Gatsos and get on BBC1) I think we could declare UDI. The genuine hard core cops are SOOO brassed off with the speed sh$t and yearn to get back to proper police work. Really this speed kills gospel has done so much damage to real police work - probably irretrievable damage that will take years of proper work to recover.

There are too many clearly political t$ssers rising to the top of the forces to give decent folk any cause for hope. Our boy in North Wales is a Prime Suspect - mind you, I think Helen Mirren would mince his balls if any for caviar

Rog

ps. Dan can you do something about your sig? Makes me feel seasick
pps. BTW last time through the Grapes Hill gatso didn't raise a beep from my ECM - FW that's W