Good or bad news

[Willo]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-21993618

[Pompey306mark]

Taxi driver I spoke to yesterday said all the ones in portsmouth have been turned off due to the cost of running and up keep.

[procta]

I think ours are still working tbh, also the speed trap vans been out more often now, he's out on sundays now.

[Connor]

Bad news, as they're still using vans... At least you know where fixed ones are

[Eeyore]

some of the forward facing ones on the M6 have been spray painted with a smiley face and over the camera part

[Niall]

Thing to remember with the vans is that they cant just park them anywhere. It has to be a approved zone which will have to have speed camera signs in and you can also find the zones online. The dangerous ones however are the cops with guns that just decide to stop although in my 4 years of driving, ive only ever come across 3 or 4!

[Willo]

Been driving 11 years only ever seen 1 cop with a hand held gun

[Eeyore]

There is a place where i have seen police with a hand gun about 6 times. Always the same place on a blind bend on a hill. The mobile van is always in one of two places near me. Again its on a blind summit and there is no way of seeing it before it sees you.

Whenever im on the road and there is a speedcamera ill slow down and put hazards on for a few flashes just to stop the bmw drivers screaming past them!

[swampy]

Been driving 11 years only ever seen 1 cop with a hand held gun

Many years ago I got stopped by a cop with a speed gun.

Me and a group of mates were heading from Telford to black rock sands, I was the first to set off and as I was coming out of Bala town up towards some mountain lake this thing in a bright yellow jacket stepped in to the road and beckoned me to the side of the road.
Anyway it was a female officer, asked me what speed I was doing ( I hadn't a clue but was accelerating as hard as a very tuned mg metro would allow) , she said I was speeding and I had. Two options.

1. Take the ticket, fine and points and find out the speed
Or
2.take a ticking off, not know my speed and be on my merry way

I took option two as you would so do t know how fast I was going, drove off gave the then mrs my phone and got her to phone my mates up to warn them .

That's the only gun I can remember, and that must of being around 2000 as I smashed the mg. up that year.

[Dum-Dum]

Its good and bad, people will still slow down for them even if they are turned off cos they dont trust that they are.

Most of the ones in hillingdon and harrow are off and I know which ones issue fines but i still stick to the limit through them.


Mobile vans are nasty as you never expect them and they are always forward facing so you get less chance to react. I suppose we shouldnt speed but also they hould look at how they count accident statistics.

[Niall]

In a few years time it will be obvious which ones arent in use any more as they will be bloody filthy. Ill still slow down though. Ever since driving a tracked car ive calmed right down with my driving anyway.

[Willo]

Been driving 11 years only ever seen 1 cop with a hand held gun

Many years ago I got stopped by a cop with a speed gun.

Me and a group of mates were heading from Telford to black rock sands, I was the first to set off and as I was coming out of Bala town up towards some mountain lake this thing in a bright yellow jacket stepped in to the road and beckoned me to the side of the road.
Anyway it was a female officer, asked me what speed I was doing ( I hadn't a clue but was accelerating as hard as a very tuned mg metro would allow) , she said I was speeding and I had. Two options.

1. Take the ticket, fine and points and find out the speed
Or
2.take a ticking off, not know my speed and be on my merry way

I took option two as you would so do t know how fast I was going, drove off gave the then mrs my phone and got her to phone my mates up to warn them .

That's the only gun I can remember, and that must of being around 2000 as I smashed the mg. up that year.

Bloody hell I'd have taken option 2 an all ill have to be careful then I'm heading that way in a months time past Telford to cardigan in wales

[Chris_90]

I agree what dumdum said even tho it says in the paper they are switched off people will still slow down for them not take the risk as i no i wouldn't risk it only just getting rid of my 3 points for good this year

[Toms306]

I agree what dumdum said even tho it says in the paper they are switched off people will still slow down for them not take the risk as i no i wouldn't risk it only just getting rid of my 3 points for good this year

Agree here too, but I hardly pass any anyway. Cant think of any fixed cameras in Ipswich tbh, last ones I passed were in Colchester like 30 miles away lol.

There is a van that sits on a straight 40 in Ipswich though.....probably because everyone usually does 50 on that road lol. And very occasionally the put a van just inside the next village to catch people slowing into the 30 which imo isn't really fair. I also always slow down past parked cop cars just incase they can take speed readings from inside lol.

However speed camera's are pretty pointless imo........yes people slow down for them, but then speed up straight away again. They also divert attention to the speedo instead of the road which is stupid....then you get people slamming on thier brakes to do 15mph past the camera.....if its a 30 limit you can drive at 30....wtf are they doing!

[Niall]

Tom they aren't pointless. Put a camera outside a school on a main road and even if people slow for the camera then speed up, it's had it's desired effect. Slowed you down for the school

[cwspellowe]

I genuinely can't see the problem with cameras, the problem lies with the drivers. Too many times i've seen people slowing to sub 20mph for them in a 30mph zone which is plain daft, especially if a car behind isn't expecting it. It causes irrational driving as people that would sit at 28-30mph all day long would for no reason at all slow down by a good 10mph if not more.

It's not like you get a letter saying "congratulations, yore a wel slow safe drivuh" by being the slowest past them. If it's a 30mph limit you ARE allowed to do 30mph past the cameras..

If people would stop overreacting to cameras there'd be no issue. As for anyone doing a bazillion miles per hour on the motorway and getting caught by a gun/van/static, I have no desire to warn them about the upcoming camera if I see it first. I have a clean license for a reason. Unfortunately those with money to buy top of the range German motors also have the money to pay fines and higher insurance premiums, so it bothers them less.

Up here though the motorways only have two lanes in a lot of places so the chance to get above 60mph is rare.

Anyway look at it this way. If you saw someone shoplifting and knew there were Police in the shop would you warn them? If someone was vandalising a car and Police were round the corner, would you warn them? If someone was dealing coke in an alley and Police were on the way, again, would you warn them? It's a choice these people are making and pleading ignorance to the law is no defence. If they get caught, that's their problem...