Civilians using speed trap cameras!!!

[SteveW77]

Surely all the example stated here only emphasize my point, that CCTV & ID cards do not prevent crime, only record it.

If the money spent on CCTV and the estimated cost of ID cards was spent on police officers on the streets, then there would be no need to keep tabs on the 99% of totally innocent law abiding people in this country.

Steve W

 

[colin(bridgend)]

If only the money spent on the Police Community Support Officers was spent on real policemen. What use are these support officers. I have been informed that for three of these it would be possible to employ two full time constables with full poice powers. The support officers are not about at two or three o'clock in the morning when the police could well do with their help. No they are tucked up snug in their beds. What a total waste of police resources.

 

[SteveW77]

I agree Colin. What we need is real police officers with real powers, officers that have respect for the private citizen, and by their actions command the respect of the population as a whole. This is starting to sound very familiar, or am I just remembering my youth, when a good kick up the backside did wonders for the potential young thug.

Steve W

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Steve when I was young the policeman/teacher/doctor and vicar were all pillars of society and were highly respected. I had the cane when I was in school and also a smack when needed from my parents. The worse thing this country did was to stop national call up as it taught a person respect and to stand on their own two feet. I missed it but would have gladly done it if called upon. Corpral punishment from school/parent has done me no harm and has taught me right from wrong. As Lord B. stated previously we are a nanny state controlled by the PC brigade who are a bunch of medalling tospots who should go out and get themselves a real job and less pussyfooting and interfearing in other peoples affairs.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

...... that same copper you are talking about Steve would be out of the police on his ass today because of civil liberties. Exactly the same if anyone wants to give their child a smack, they risk prison and their child being taken into care. I was smacked as a child and suffered no ill affects like millions of other kids of my era. Smacked at school too, more of an embarrassment in front of friends than painful. OK these laws were brought out to protect children from violent parents but the kind of parents that were violent to their kids then are the same type today. It hasn't stopped them, just pushed it further underground, just look at the amount of child sexual abuse.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

OK back to the original thread, Civilians using speed trap cameras!!!

I contacted my friend who did this in a Herefordshire village with a 40mph speed restriction. They are initially risk assessed and taught the use and procedure for using the cameras. There has to be two people at all times and before going out with the camera they have to put out signs saying the cameras are present and being used by civilians to log peoples speed. The police then have to be notified that they are out recording at the times they are there. One person uses the gun whilst the other logs the vehicle #, speed and time of day. At the finish all the vehicles recorded for speeding are reported to the police. The police will then write to the offenders telling them they have been logged speeding, time and place. They are told that if logged again their vehicle # will be circulated to police cars and they will be targeted as a persistent speed offender. The criteria for being reported are as follows for a 40mph zone -

40 + 10% = 44mph + 3mph for error so only those clocked at more than 47mph are reported.

Hope that helps.

p.s. The scheme has stopped in this area, probably the whole of West Mercia, due to insurance problems.

 

[smiley]

I have been reading the views.

although, cctv may give footage of a crime being carried out, is not the point that extra police night and day on the streets should help prevent the crime being carried out in the first place?

I must admit I'm not keen on ID cards, we already pay for passports and driving licences.

But I think ID card payments would be compulsory. While I may be able to afford this there are millions who can not, therefore there would be more burden on the taxes payers to supply others with free ID's.

 

[mcghee]

My gripe with cctv is exactly what I already said. cctv does not monitor criminals, it monitors you. I was of the understanding (I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong) that legally you can only monitor or record a persons movements if you have either: the permission of that person or; the permission of the court if you believe a crime will be commited by that person. cctv on private property is a different matter, as soon as you enter that property you have broken the law and are probably there with dark intentions, but why the need to watch you going about your daily business? And as I asked already, where does it end?

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

As I said craig, at the moment I have no problems with it. If for some reason I fall on hard times and need to mugg a few grannies I might join the lobby to get them banned :O)

 

[mcghee]

Yes you're right, I don't have anything to hide either but I don't feel it's right that every person who ventures from their home should be treated as a suspect to a crime which hasn't yet been committed. Don't get me wrong here, I'm no human rights lobbyist but I am worried about the implications of "giving the government an inch and they'll take a mile". I'd like to see it stopped before it goes so far as to be an invasion into our lives.

 

[smiley]

LB

Can't you mug someone else, I'm a granny.

 

[mcghee]

Yeah. Pick on someone your own size.

 

[mcghee]

Of course if you're only 5'2" that leaves a bit of scope.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

We live at the top one way of a very steep narrow twisting hill with a blind summit where a side road joins.

There are "NOT SUITABLE FOR HGV" signs and "SLOW" painted on the road.

Yet still large vehicles ignore the HGV sign (bocking the road)and SLOW does not mean many drivers.

That is why there is a need for speed cameras because drivers do not have enough common sense to drive beyond the end of the bonnetand enforcement is needed for their own and others good.

Sadly many drivers have more BHP than IQ

 

[CliveV]

I would be interested in what would happen if an accident happened in the vicinity of these "fine upstanding citizens" whilst the masquerade as members of the emergency services.

If the accident was caused by sudden braking due to them suddenly revealing themselves then they could, I think be deemed partly responsible.

Reason for this is that all Police run speed traps MUST have warning signs so many yards down the road. The famous case on the A303 where thousands of

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Having seen these in action Clive I can vouch that they dont hide. They wear a high visibility jacket out in the open. As I posted before there is a question over insurance but my friend doesn't know what it is. I can also understand my friends actions to a certain point because the traffic that hurtles by his house and the speeds is frightening. I was at his house this week and since he last used the speed gun the restriction through his village as been lowered from 40mph to 30mph and it makes not a blind bit of difference. While waiting to cross the road outside his house a bulk grain lorry came hurtling through halfway into the oncoming lane because he was going too fast or was trying to get a better view around the bend. It really is scarey. When pulling out of his drive someone has to watch for the traffic belting through else he'll lose the bonnet of his car. He moved out to the village to be in the countryside for peace and quiet - what a joke. We used to be neighbours until we both moved and we had far less traffic in the road in town and no lorries at all, not even a buses.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

We live at the top one way of a very steep narrow twisting hill with a blind summit where a side road joins.

There are "NOT SUITABLE FOR HGV" signs and "SLOW" painted on the road.

Yet still large vehicles ignore the HGV sign (bocking the road)and SLOW does not mean many drivers.

That is why there is a need for speed cameras because drivers do not have enough common sense to drive beyond the end of the bonnetand enforcement is needed for their own and others good.

Sadly many drivers have more BHP than IQ

I suppose theres a play on words there John. "NOT SUITABLE FOR HGV" probably doesn't mean they aren't allowed to use the road whereas if it said "NO HGV's ALLOWED" it would be enforceable. Just my thoughts but probably wrong :O(

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Coity village just outside Bridgend has a black worded notice on a yellow background warning drivers that there is a neighbourhood traffic watch in the village with speed cameras. So far no accidents and no complaints from either residents or motorists.

 

[Mikesmash_5041095]

Coity village just outside Bridgend has a black worded notice on a yellow background warning drivers that there is a neighbourhood traffic watch in the village with speed cameras. So far no accidents and no complaints from either residents or motorists.

Found this on Google search

Now even Civilians are using Speed Trap Guns Date: 30-Nov-04

Various parts of the UK have now initiated pilot schemes in which civilian volunteers have been trained to use "speed guns".

One such area to pilot the scheme is a Scottish village in East Dunbartonshire where villagers are being offered training with speed guns aimed at promoting safer driving. Volunteers in will clock speeding drivers and then pass the information onto police.

Superintendent Austin Dorrian from the Strathclyde Police said: "The enforcement of the legislation will fall to the police, the volunteers have no powers beyond the powers that you yourself would have in such circumstances."

Patrick Friel is a lollipop man in the area and comes across speeding drivers every day. He did not hesitate in volunteering to become one of Community Speedwatch's first recruits.

He said: "We're not going out there to hide behind walls or bus shelters or even climb trees with the camera, they are going to see us, they know what we're there for, so hopefully they'll lighten off the accelerator."

Motoring groups have concerns that the scheme may be unworkable.

Neil Greig from the AA said: "This is merely a reporting scheme, but obviously, there is the potential there for people to be picking on people they don't like. Looking at the fact that obviously it's often the local traffic that causes the problem."

If the pilot schemes are successful they could be extended across the country.

Last year I was overtaking someone on the A40 near Monmouth and as I drew alongside I noticed the driver reach down and point a gun in my direction.

Surely that's harder to handle whilst driving than a mobile phone?

 

[john_5040638]

Coity village just outside Bridgend has a black worded notice on a yellow background warning drivers that there is a neighbourhood traffic watch in the village with speed cameras. So far no accidents and no complaints from either residents or motorists.

Why has it not dawned on drivers that if there was no speeding there would be no cameras.