Speed camera vandals strike again in Dorset (From Bournemouth Echo)

Dorset Fire and Rescue service said the Redhill station crew were called out at 3.38am. A spokesman said: “You are taking firefighters away from real emergencies.

More likely taking them away from their beds at that time of the morning

“The cameras are there to stop people speeding. Our crews regularly deal with traffic accidents.”

No they don't! You don't know the camera is there until you pass it. I don't condone criminal damage, but, thre are exceptions!

the statistics are interesting - that camera achieved exactly NOTHING in fact it caused more accidents than if it wasnt there - point proved

can an echo reporter ask why that same camera was removed then re-instaled in the same place about 3 months later ?????? surely that is a waste of money ??

Statistics for this site are available on the SCP website. At the last speed survey at the site 85% of drivers did not exceed 24.4mph. 1.26% exceeded the limit, with 0.1% exceeding the limit by more than 15mph.
iIt appears there is not a speeding issue at this site with mass compliance to the speed limit.

This is disgraceful wanton criminal damage and should not be condoned but well done. I reckon the water fairies would be quicker to get to a real emergency if they were out of bed and dressed anyway.

Not condoning the actions of the culprits for one minute but you have got to ask.. if there has been an INCREASE in accidents since the camera has been installed surely it should be taken down?

“In the five years before it was installed there were three serious and 14 slight injuries at the site. In the five years afterwards there were two serious and 24 slight injuries.”
In other words, the camera achieved b****r all in terms of safety (surprise, surprise).

Only an organisation like the DSCP could waste £40,000 on such a waste of space, and then complain about wasted resource when said waste of space was attacked.

Shame it’s taken so long for these idiots to listen to common sense and start to remove these damaging and unattractive failures.

slight injuries can include very slight bruising, shock etc, whereas serious injury is right up to the point of death.
One less serious injury means that theres at least one person less who was seriously injured, with probably life-changing injuries.

...and some say they prevent accidents....what a waste of money, money that would be better spent on improving the infrastructure's surface and not getting 2 people fat in the back of a van!

"In the five years before it was installed there were three serious and 14 slight injuries at the site".

"In the five years afterwards there were two serious and 24 slight injuries" ...... as they brake hard and swerve to avoid the camera!

i think that the point most often missed here where speeding is concerned is that most people caught by these cameras are NOT wantonly speeding but at that point may just be lacking a moments concentration and the speed creeps up.modern cars are quiet fairly nippy,they stop quicker too ... with the sheer volume of traffic on our roads ALL cars will speed somewhere but statistically note the amount of incidents for the volume of traffic on this road and its minute. even police vehicles exceed the speed limit in everyday traffic - i know ,i have followed them.its called keeping up with the flow.
for people to be losing their licences ,livelyhoods and their social status over a minor speeding offence is an absolute nonsense - three people sat on a bench handing down these sentences to people as if they are some sort of gods is incomprehensible when they may also have points on THEIR licences - the sheer hypocrisy is unfathomable .doesnt this system need a major overhaul ? why should a person caught speeding 4 times in three years be treated like a drink driver ? where is the comparison ?
and before the self-righteous climb on their soap boxes to give us all the 'no speed,no problem' lecture ,I have said that most speeding is NOT wanton or deliberate - so button it ,this too is a valid point.

Wot caz-caz said.

My two speeding convictions in 2003 came as a result of eyes on the road and not on the speedo, and unknowingly letting my speed creep up to 57mph on the Wessex Way.

The day after the 2nd ticket arrived, I nearly rear-ended someone as I kept checking my speedo instead of driving with my eyes on the road and for the conditions. One could therefore argue that speed cameras made me a less safe driver as a result.

Sir Alan wrote:
Dorset Fire and Rescue service said the Redhill station crew were called out at 3.38am. A spokesman said: “You are taking firefighters away from real emergencies. More likely taking them away from their beds at that time of the morning

What do you expect them to do at 3:45 in the morning? Train in the drill yard each night? Neighbours will love that! Knock on your door because you have asked for a home fire safety visit? It is their stand down period.

As for the speed camera, the accidents statistics are rather interesting. Ok 1 less serious accident but more slight.

Jim_Springbourne wrote:
Wot caz-caz said.

My two speeding convictions in 2003 came as a result of eyes on the road and not on the speedo, and unknowingly letting my speed creep up to 57mph on the Wessex Way.

The day after the 2nd ticket arrived, I nearly rear-ended someone as I kept checking my speedo instead of driving with my eyes on the road and for the conditions. One could therefore argue that speed cameras made me a less safe driver as a result.

One could argue that you should not be on the road if you can't drive safely at the proscribed speeds.
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Why don't you get a cruise control fitted if you are finding it that difficult?
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Or just drive at 40-45 in a 50 zone?
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I strongly suspect you were one of those driving at 55 (just under the cameras' trigger point) and weren't able to concentrate enough to manage it!

"Or just drive at 40-45 in a 50 zone?"


Please dont, there's enough of those idiots in the 50mph section of the Wessex Way as it is...

The records show that the worst year for accidents at the site was 2005 when there were 2 serious and 6 slight. There has been no improvement in the years 2004-2006 over 2000-2002.

Dorset Mitch wrote:

Sir Alan wrote: Dorset Fire and Rescue service said the Redhill station crew were called out at 3.38am. A spokesman said: “You are taking firefighters away from real emergencies. More likely taking them away from their beds at that time of the morning

What do you expect them to do at 3:45 in the morning? Train in the drill yard each night? Neighbours will love that! Knock on your door because you have asked for a home fire safety visit? It is their stand down period. As for the speed camera, the accidents statistics are rather interesting. Ok 1 less serious accident but more slight.

How can you call the whole night shift a "stand-down" period when they are being paid the same as they are during a day shift? If they are being paid, they should be productive.
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Ambulance crews are on the go all the time through their shift and when they have a "stand-down" period, it is 30 minutes during which they are not paid. They are entitled to two such breaks in a 12 hour shift and are lucky to get one these days, with the volume of work put upon them
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If they're not actually on a job, they are put out on standby points, day and night, in order to spread the cover around and meet ridgid response times. I don't ever see Fire crews doing that, even during the daytime.

Somebody needs to invent a tyre large enough for a mobile police van!!!

Any of them parked near the snail race that is now the wessex way...


I think they should make more realistic speed zones do away with cameras completely but have a larger police presence on the roads. If the wessex way was 50mph and people stuck to it, it would be fine. Cameras just cause people to make rash decisions, anybody caught by a police car/van doing 55+ in a 50 could then be dealt with on the spot.

Its not rocket science, its just the police perfer to do it in a way that makes them more money and gets them off the streets by the sounds of things.

oh but I would like to add average speed camera are a step in the right direction as long as they are not enforced with too low a speed restriction, slapping a 30mph average on a 50 zone would just cause people to speed and then slow down.

TinyLegacy wrote:
"Or just drive at 40-45 in a 50 zone?"


Please dont, there's enough of those idiots in the 50mph section of the Wessex Way as it is...

...and I thought it was a MAXIMUM speed limit!
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Did someone make you slow down a few miles an hour? Ah, Diddums.
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What an arrogant person you are.

So what you're saying is that the speed cameras have done as good a job as the police did before they were installed?

dorsetspeed wrote:
“In the five years before it was installed there were three serious and 14 slight injuries at the site. In the five years afterwards there were two serious and 24 slight injuries.”
In other words, the camera achieved b****r all in terms of safety (surprise, surprise).

Only an organisation like the DSCP could waste £40,000 on such a waste of space, and then complain about wasted resource when said waste of space was attacked.

Shame it’s taken so long for these idiots to listen to common sense and start to remove these damaging and unattractive failures.

All you're saying, dorsetspeeder, is that you have absolutely no understanding of how to interpret statistics.

djdaface wrote:
Somebody needs to invent a tyre large enough for a mobile police van!!!

Any of them parked near the snail race that is now the wessex way...


I think they should make more realistic speed zones do away with cameras completely but have a larger police presence on the roads. If the wessex way was 50mph and people stuck to it, it would be fine. Cameras just cause people to make rash decisions, anybody caught by a police car/van doing 55+ in a 50 could then be dealt with on the spot.

Its not rocket science, its just the police perfer to do it in a way that makes them more money and gets them off the streets by the sounds of things.

Or how about someone reports you to the police for incitement to kill police officers?
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You say you want to torch police vans but you want more police on the roads? Don't quite understand.
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Shame there's no lower age limit on these forums.

Jim_Springbourne wrote:
Wot caz-caz said. My two speeding convictions in 2003 came as a result of eyes on the road and not on the speedo, and unknowingly letting my speed creep up to 57mph on the Wessex Way. The day after the 2nd ticket arrived, I nearly rear-ended someone as I kept checking my speedo instead of driving with my eyes on the road and for the conditions. One could therefore argue that speed cameras made me a less safe driver as a result.

There are four things to worry about here.

Firstly, you should be able to get to a speed and then stay at that speed with just the odd check. You have been driving since at least 2003, so should have the experience by now.

Even so, unknowing letting your speed creep up by 7mph over the speed limit is a bit worrying. Far more worrying, in fact, than if you were deliberately speeding.

I take it you never check your mirrors. Checking the speedo requires a quick dip of the eyes to see a needle you should already roughly know where it is. Checking the mirror requires a much more significant movement of the eyes, a re-focus and the evaluation of what is going on. If you cannot check your speedo safely then there is no way you could check your rear view mirror safely.

Thisrdly, if you nearly went into the back of someome, either you really are taking so long to check your speed that it is dangerous or you are simply driving too close. You should always leave a distance so that the car in front can make an emergency stop. If you are worried about the tasks involved in driving such as mirror and speed checks, you need simply increase that distance.

However in the light of your post, may I suugest you take some additional driving instruction.

Settle down everyone

mikey2gorgeous wrote:

TinyLegacy wrote: "Or just drive at 40-45 in a 50 zone?" Please dont, there's enough of those idiots in the 50mph section of the Wessex Way as it is...

...and I thought it was a MAXIMUM speed limit! . Did someone make you slow down a few miles an hour? Ah, Diddums. . What an arrogant person you are.

Excellent, keyboard warriors strike again!

40mph is totally acceptable on the Wessex, but NOT when they're sitting in the right hand lane and refuse to the left lane, even with a queue of traffic behind them.

Got to agree with r1200rt on this, BURN BABY BURN ! the firefighters are paid to get out of bed thats what they signed up for, they are quick to go on strike and leave us vunerable, the police can't strike and probably wouldn't if they could, promote captain Gatso to Major.

gerbil112 wrote:

Dorset Mitch wrote:

Sir Alan wrote: Dorset Fire and Rescue service said the Redhill station crew were called out at 3.38am. A spokesman said: “You are taking firefighters away from real emergencies. More likely taking them away from their beds at that time of the morning

What do you expect them to do at 3:45 in the morning? Train in the drill yard each night? Neighbours will love that! Knock on your door because you have asked for a home fire safety visit? It is their stand down period. As for the speed camera, the accidents statistics are rather interesting. Ok 1 less serious accident but more slight.

How can you call the whole night shift a "stand-down" period when they are being paid the same as they are during a day shift? If they are being paid, they should be productive. . Ambulance crews are on the go all the time through their shift and when they have a "stand-down" period, it is 30 minutes during which they are not paid. They are entitled to two such breaks in a 12 hour shift and are lucky to get one these days, with the volume of work put upon them . If they're not actually on a job, they are put out on standby points, day and night, in order to spread the cover around and meet ridgid response times. I don't ever see Fire crews doing that, even during the daytime.

What do you want the Fire Service to do? Cut cars up outside at 3am? How about hose and ladder drill Sunday at 4am? I know get them driving road their patch (as fire crews have a patch unlike ambulance crews who cover the whole county). I know lets get them only day crewed, oh wait your house catches fire the flames are licking your familys feet as you are trapped in your bedroom window, would you want to wait an extra 4 minutes for the crew to turn up or be safe in the knowledge the pump will be with you. Or even better lets close half the stations in the area it wont matter, there is hardly any need for them, but wait that hotel down the road has over 200 residents and only 6 fire fighters to cover it. The Fire Service isn't run like the ambulance service, they are needed to cover areas of great risk. They do that by putting crews there so when it does go wrong they can be there in 2 minutes not 10. What do you think crews do in the day, sit around shooting pool and playing darts. Don't think so they are out promoting fire safety, practicing cutting people out of cars, making up kit that was used on the last job, practicing BA drills, getting to know the fire ground oh and attending 999 calls. Personally I blame the education system and TV for not showing what goes on behind those big red doors!!!

Dorset Mitch wrote:

gerbil112 wrote:

Dorset Mitch wrote:

Sir Alan wrote: Dorset Fire and Rescue service said the Redhill station crew were called out at 3.38am. A spokesman said: “You are taking firefighters away from real emergencies. More likely taking them away from their beds at that time of the morning

What do you expect them to do at 3:45 in the morning? Train in the drill yard each night? Neighbours will love that! Knock on your door because you have asked for a home fire safety visit? It is their stand down period. As for the speed camera, the accidents statistics are rather interesting. Ok 1 less serious accident but more slight.

How can you call the whole night shift a "stand-down" period when they are being paid the same as they are during a day shift? If they are being paid, they should be productive. . Ambulance crews are on the go all the time through their shift and when they have a "stand-down" period, it is 30 minutes during which they are not paid. They are entitled to two such breaks in a 12 hour shift and are lucky to get one these days, with the volume of work put upon them . If they're not actually on a job, they are put out on standby points, day and night, in order to spread the cover around and meet ridgid response times. I don't ever see Fire crews doing that, even during the daytime.

What do you want the Fire Service to do? Cut cars up outside at 3am? How about hose and ladder drill Sunday at 4am? I know get them driving road their patch (as fire crews have a patch unlike ambulance crews who cover the whole county). I know lets get them only day crewed, oh wait your house catches fire the flames are licking your familys feet as you are trapped in your bedroom window, would you want to wait an extra 4 minutes for the crew to turn up or be safe in the knowledge the pump will be with you. Or even better lets close half the stations in the area it wont matter, there is hardly any need for them, but wait that hotel down the road has over 200 residents and only 6 fire fighters to cover it. The Fire Service isn't run like the ambulance service, they are needed to cover areas of great risk. They do that by putting crews there so when it does go wrong they can be there in 2 minutes not 10. What do you think crews do in the day, sit around shooting pool and playing darts. Don't think so they are out promoting fire safety, practicing cutting people out of cars, making up kit that was used on the last job, practicing BA drills, getting to know the fire ground oh and attending 999 calls. Personally I blame the education system and TV for not showing what goes on behind those big red doors!!!

And holding down their second jobs, grabbers !!!!

Dorset Mitch wrote:

gerbil112 wrote:

Dorset Mitch wrote:

Sir Alan wrote: Dorset Fire and Rescue service said the Redhill station crew were called out at 3.38am. A spokesman said: “You are taking firefighters away from real emergencies. More likely taking them away from their beds at that time of the morning

What do you expect them to do at 3:45 in the morning? Train in the drill yard each night? Neighbours will love that! Knock on your door because you have asked for a home fire safety visit? It is their stand down period. As for the speed camera, the accidents statistics are rather interesting. Ok 1 less serious accident but more slight.

How can you call the whole night shift a "stand-down" period when they are being paid the same as they are during a day shift? If they are being paid, they should be productive. . Ambulance crews are on the go all the time through their shift and when they have a "stand-down" period, it is 30 minutes during which they are not paid. They are entitled to two such breaks in a 12 hour shift and are lucky to get one these days, with the volume of work put upon them . If they're not actually on a job, they are put out on standby points, day and night, in order to spread the cover around and meet ridgid response times. I don't ever see Fire crews doing that, even during the daytime.

What do you want the Fire Service to do? Cut cars up outside at 3am? How about hose and ladder drill Sunday at 4am? I know get them driving road their patch (as fire crews have a patch unlike ambulance crews who cover the whole county). I know lets get them only day crewed, oh wait your house catches fire the flames are licking your familys feet as you are trapped in your bedroom window, would you want to wait an extra 4 minutes for the crew to turn up or be safe in the knowledge the pump will be with you. Or even better lets close half the stations in the area it wont matter, there is hardly any need for them, but wait that hotel down the road has over 200 residents and only 6 fire fighters to cover it. The Fire Service isn't run like the ambulance service, they are needed to cover areas of great risk. They do that by putting crews there so when it does go wrong they can be there in 2 minutes not 10. What do you think crews do in the day, sit around shooting pool and playing darts. Don't think so they are out promoting fire safety, practicing cutting people out of cars, making up kit that was used on the last job, practicing BA drills, getting to know the fire ground oh and attending 999 calls. Personally I blame the education system and TV for not showing what goes on behind those big red doors!!!

Sorry if I rattled your cage! The point I was making is that they are PAID (quite well these days) to be at work, whether they are firefighting or not, and I don't see why they should sit/sleep all night. As NOGREYAREA, corfe mullen rightly pointed out, many have second jobs during the daytime. And before you jump again, I know many Firefighters who have second jobs or their own businesses. My former Father-in-law for one. They relish their nights shifts.
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And yes, they do cover the whole County. The clue's in the name "Dorset" Fire and Rescue. They often respond to incidents outside of their home towns. So, why not let them sit on a roundabout in a central position? As an example, apart from the odd motor collision on the Upton Bypass, Poole Firefighters don't have much to do in the vicinity if their shiny new depot. But they are often seen belting down the Holes Bay Road to incidents in Poole/Parkstone/Broa
dstone. Get them out and about, not sitting/sleeping on their butts all night.

Those who chose to 'slag off' firefighters:- Why not lend them your crystal balls so they can accurately predict where the next fire will be.
No, I am not a firefighter, but I have the utmost respect for them. I have been working alongside them at fires and road traffic accidents. I have been there when they have pulled bodies out of wrecked cars and fires. Are you capable of doing this job ???
I thought this report was about a speed camera, not about firefighters.

@gerbil112 - shift work can seriously shorten life expectancy. I should know I lost my mum 10 years ago (she was a nurse all her life). Don't expect others to do vital jobs you're not prepared to then complain.
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Your comments and several others on here are pathetic.
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They show a complete lack of knowledge and compassion. what an **** you are!
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I sometimes read these forums & wonder why we don't have more input form the Police & other services. Then I realise - it's because of the pathetic bile people like you serve up.

mikey2gorgeous wrote:
@gerbil112 - shift work can seriously shorten life expectancy. I should know I lost my mum 10 years ago (she was a nurse all her life). Don't expect others to do vital jobs you're not prepared to then complain. . Your comments and several others on here are pathetic. . They show a complete lack of knowledge and compassion. what an **** you are! . I sometimes read these forums & wonder why we don't have more input form the Police & other services. Then I realise - it's because of the pathetic bile people like you serve up.

Wow. You're whinging alot today Mr high-and-mighty.

Does someone need a hug?

Forget about cameras. Apart from the fact that it saves the police from having to stand on street corners rattling tins to collect money they will become obsolete shortly anyway.
The bill to make motorists pay for road useage is a more ominous problem. To do this there will be a device of some sort attached to every road using vehicle that can tell the monitors (HM Treasury no doubt) how many miles we've travelled so they can charge appropriately. This will quuickly develop into speed checks as they will know the limit of the road we travel on and compare it with the data already in their possession.
The word "Orwellian" springs to mind.

To defend a speeding charge at this moment, even if you know you weren't speeding, is highly likely to bring in the biased so called expert witnesses from RSS Ltd, (an ACPO affiliate) who work in association with a senior member of the CPS to nail anyone who dares defend a speeding charge.
What happens to the families of those convicted of a crime they actually didn't commit? Loss of job, loss of home for no chance of paying a mortgage, breakup of families etc. I fully empathise with those who have lost a member of the family due to the use of unsatisfactory speed, which is not the same as exceeding a set limit. I feel that the bullyboy tactics of the authorities and the blatant " the camera got you fairly and squarely so you must be guilty" view is looking at life through rose tinted spectacles. The police often employ doddering old gits with little skill and the devices themselves have been proven on numerous occasions to give wrong readings.
In fact they use tactics little better than entrapment. In a lot of villages the mere presence of correctly spaced street lights actually sets the limit at 30mph and they don't even need to use the speed limit signs up.

There it is proved, cameras cause more accidents than when they are not there, just remove all of them as they have in Swindon and have more real police, policing our roads removing untaxed, uninsured and speeding motorist from our roads.

gerbil112, yes all the stations cover the whole country where as a ambulance from Poole could be called to an RTC in Blandford as there is no ambulance available in that area. Whereas the fire appliance would be in Blandford as that is its station.

Yes they do pay well, but then would you walk into a burning building. Would you head into an area people are trying to get away from? The high pay is due to the high level of risk the job entails.

Safety cameras save lives not Gasto's.

mikey2gorgeous wrote:

Jim_Springbourne wrote:
Wot caz-caz said.

My two speeding convictions in 2003 came as a result of eyes on the road and not on the speedo, and unknowingly letting my speed creep up to 57mph on the Wessex Way.

The day after the 2nd ticket arrived, I nearly rear-ended someone as I kept checking my speedo instead of driving with my eyes on the road and for the conditions. One could therefore argue that speed cameras made me a less safe driver as a result.

One could argue that you should not be on the road if you can't drive safely at the proscribed speeds.
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Why don't you get a cruise control fitted if you are finding it that difficult?
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Or just drive at 40-45 in a 50 zone?
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I strongly suspect you were one of those driving at 55 (just under the cameras' trigger point) and weren't able to concentrate enough to manage it!

Oh, I can drive perfectly safely at 50, 70mph, whatever. My point was I was being distracted from keeping my eyes on the road in order to drive to a proscribed speed rather than safely for the conditions and road traffic. Of course I didn't deliberately speed.

I now have a car with cruise control, thank goodness, wouldn't like to think how many tickets it has saved me.

Of course, speed cameras will do nothing for the idiot drivers who fill my rear-view mirror and drive much too close just because I am keeping to the limit and not trying to surf the cameras. That is much more likely to cause an accident then driving less than 20% above a proscribed speed limit.

mikey2gorgeous wrote:
@gerbil112 - shift work can seriously shorten life expectancy. I should know I lost my mum 10 years ago (she was a nurse all her life). Don't expect others to do vital jobs you're not prepared to then complain. . Your comments and several others on here are pathetic. . They show a complete lack of knowledge and compassion. what an **** you are! . I sometimes read these forums & wonder why we don't have more input form the Police & other services. Then I realise - it's because of the pathetic bile people like you serve up.

I do work shift work, and have done so for over 31 years so please don't jump to conclusions. I also work alongside firefighters at many of the incidents that they attend and have very intimate knowledge about their working practices.
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And "djd", read the above. Also, by using the system of standby points, the Ambulance Service puts crews in areas where there has been previous high demand, a sort of computerised Crystal Ball. It's not perfect but it spreads the available cover around, not having crews sitting at ambulance stations that are often remote from areas of high demand.

Dorset Mitch wrote:
gerbil112, yes all the stations cover the whole country where as a ambulance from Poole could be called to an RTC in Blandford as there is no ambulance available in that area. Whereas the fire appliance would be in Blandford as that is its station. Yes they do pay well, but then would you walk into a burning building. Would you head into an area people are trying to get away from? The high pay is due to the high level of risk the job entails. Safety cameras save lives not Gasto's.

Actually,there is an ambulance station in Blandford. The crews are full-time with two available during the day and one at night. They are often out in other areas, or covering the conurbations of East and West Dorset. Other crews then get moved around to provide cover for the gaps.
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Many rural areas have full-time ambulance stations, Sherborne, Shaftsbury, Bridport, Wimborne, Wareham, Swanage. They are not "retained" like fire crews in these areas, and are moved around all the time to spread the cover around the county.

I saw the thing covered in a bag this morning. Brilliant. I use this road every day and would be surprised if anyone managed to break the speed limit as its always so damned congested.

"In the five years before it was installed there were three serious and 14 slight injuries at the site.

In the five years afterwards there were two serious and 24 slight injuries.

Gatso cameras are understood to cost up to £40,000 to install."

So the stats say the road is worse AFTER the camera? Aren't the council guilty of negligence and endangering lives by leaving this camera up then?

Also - serious question I'd like an answer to please Stephen... why is this just an empty housing? How long has there not been a camera in there for?

Jim_Springbourne wrote:

mikey2gorgeous wrote:

Jim_Springbourne wrote: Wot caz-caz said. My two speeding convictions in 2003 came as a result of eyes on the road and not on the speedo, and unknowingly letting my speed creep up to 57mph on the Wessex Way. The day after the 2nd ticket arrived, I nearly rear-ended someone as I kept checking my speedo instead of driving with my eyes on the road and for the conditions. One could therefore argue that speed cameras made me a less safe driver as a result.

One could argue that you should not be on the road if you can't drive safely at the proscribed speeds. . Why don't you get a cruise control fitted if you are finding it that difficult? . Or just drive at 40-45 in a 50 zone? . I strongly suspect you were one of those driving at 55 (just under the cameras' trigger point) and weren't able to concentrate enough to manage it!

Oh, I can drive perfectly safely at 50, 70mph, whatever. My point was I was being distracted from keeping my eyes on the road in order to drive to a proscribed speed rather than safely for the conditions and road traffic. Of course I didn't deliberately speed. I now have a car with cruise control, thank goodness, wouldn't like to think how many tickets it has saved me. Of course, speed cameras will do nothing for the idiot drivers who fill my rear-view mirror and drive much too close just because I am keeping to the limit and not trying to surf the cameras. That is much more likely to cause an accident then driving less than 20% above a proscribed speed limit.

Funny how no-one ever admits to being a bad driver - it's always the other driver who is to blame - or the road/sign/traffic light etc. The sooner we get speed limiters and black boxes in our boots the better!

Torch them all PLEASE

This subject always gets us all going.
Pity we do not live in a democracy as the vast majority are against these useless camera's.
Today i felt i should stand up and be counted!!
As i drove along Lilliput Road ,cars coming towards me were flashing me and obviously warning me that there was a camera van.
There he was sat at the bottom of the steep hill but facing away from me.
I have lived here 25yrs and never ever heard or seen an accident on this road. As i passed i slowed down and noticed he was parked on a section of road with no parking restrictions. So pulled in in front of the camera ,stopped the car and turned off the engine,proceeded to make a few phone calls.
After 10 mins came a knock at my window from the camera man and asked why i was parked there .
I said i needed to make a few phone calls and there is no restriction to park here so where was the problem.
I'm sure ,i said you know how unsafe it is using a mobile whilst driving and am complying with your latest campaign. He shook his head and drove off:-).
There are plenty of roads in this area here a camera van should be used and i would be more in favour of them if they chose busy roads and junctions which are known for reckless speeding but i guess they know thay will be snapping people whose cars are not taxed or with false number plates.