No honestly - it is for the sake of traffic safety..

[wkid_one]

And which skeptics on this planet think Speed Cameras are about revenue collection...
A safety camera on the M4 has photographed 2500 motorists who were fined despite driving legally.

The camera was placed to catch speeding cars, bikes and trucks in a temporary 50mph limit in road works around junction 24 of the M4 outside Newport. Instead it flashed people who left the 50mph zone and were legally increasing their pace to the national motorway limit. The camera has been in place from July 2002 until October 2003.

The innocent drivers have paid fines totalling approximately £150,000 and are entitled to ask for their money back and penalty points to be removed from their licence. However, the camera partnership states it will not contact the drivers to inform them of their mistake. Instead it will consider appeals from individual drivers. So far only 10 people have appealed and all have had their convictions overturned.

" The camera was wrongly sited for over a year. The costs do not stop with fines as many drivers will have had to pay more in higher insurance premiums. It is a complete disgrace. No wonder the partnership is keeping quiet about it when they could face huge compensation claims for lost licences and ruined careers, " said Mark McArthur-Christie from the Association of British Drivers.

[SPman]

Yeah, saw that clip.....and we think we have it bad here! If we follow the UK example, it could get a lot worse yet!

[Lou Girardin]

We're already there. The Whangarei cops (again) hammered some roads works on SH 1 at Waipu for a week or two. Lots of big dollar tickets, licences suspended etc. Till a sharp lawyer discovered that the speed restriction was illegal, all tickets were void. But you still had to apply to the District court for a rehearing, assuming you found out about this. The cops didn't tell anyone. Besides, how do you give someone 28 days loss of driving back.
Lou

[riffer]

For most of this week there has been a white van parked on River Road, Upper Hutt, with a sped camera in it. It is situated pointing right in the middle of the first passing lane after Moonshine Road bridge, I would assume, to catch all those who go over 112km/h when overtaking on the passing lane.

Can anyone clarify the laws on passing lanes? Are you expected to pass maintaining no more than 100km/h through the manouevre?

If so, IMHO that's pretty dangerous.

[MikeL]

Originally posted by celticno6


Can anyone clarify the laws on passing lanes? Are you expected to pass maintaining no more than 100km/h through the manouevre?

If so, IMHO that's pretty dangerous.

Strictly speaking if a driver in the left lane is sitting on 100 you won't be able to overtake at all (obviously); if he is doing 95 you can only overtake if you don't exceed 100 so you can work out how much road you need for that and on the average length of special passing lanes on state highways you couldn't do it safely. So the driver doing 95 is actually more of a danger than one driving at 110. I suspect that most cops use their discretion and common sense in this situation. The trouble is that the pressure to meet their quota overrules this common sense.

[SPman]

Originally posted by Lou Girardin
We're already there. The Whangarei cops (again) hammered some roads works on SH 1 at Waipu for a week or two. Lots of big dollar tickets, licences suspended etc. Till a sharp lawyer discovered that the speed restriction was illegal, all tickets were void. But you still had to apply to the District court for a rehearing, assuming you found out about this. The cops didn't tell anyone. Besides, how do you give someone 28 days loss of driving back.
Lou

Barstards! 

[mangell6]

celticno6,

The cagers that you have to watch out for are the 80-85kph that speed up to 100kph on a passing lane and then slow down again when the lane is finished.

AND THEN

you get the pillocks who are travelling at 100kph see a HP on the other side of the motorway and slow down!!!!!!

Was behind a nice Suzuki Katana 750 commuting home the other day and the rider slowed down to 85kph, from 100kph, when they saw a HP on the other side of the road. We could have been doing 150kph and the HP couldn't have done anything as he couldn't drive through the cheese cutter seperating the two lanes.

Seen that Katana twice on the way home, a really mint condition old bike. The old Katana styling still looks cool.

Mike

[Marmoot]

That's the thing.....slow driver who speeds up in passing lane.
I hate them to hell! Damn them all!
I got 2 tickets because of them. There is no discretion in passing lanes. They are target practice range!

[SPman]

"TWO-WHEELED SPEED CAMERA

The first motorbike-mounted speed camera is now operational on the roads of Northamptonshire.

The Honda Pan European has been brought in to meet rising demand from residents of small villages to catch persistent speeders and is specially-adapted to carry identical equipment to that used in the county's speed camera vans.


Commander of Northamptonshire Police operations department, chief superintendent Stuart Kilpatrick, said: "On numerous occasions we have to turn down these requests because the roads are unsuitable for parking our vans appropriately and safely. The motorcycle is obviously much more versatile and will enable us to assist in reducing speed."

In the past police motorcyclists have had to pull drivers over to issue them with a fixed penalty notice, but the new bike is fitted with video recording equipment that means that vehicle details can be captured without having to stop the driver

The bike will also be used to patrol the county's Red Routes roads that the safety camera partnership have deemed to be the most dangerous and will have portable speed camera warning signs so it can work on roads that don't have such signs permanently fixed."

Shit. How long before they try it here!

[Lou Girardin]

Highway patrol has been targeting passing lanes since they got the Stalker DSR radar units. These show the fastest target out of a group of cars, usually the one passing. Too bad if you're on a bike and the fastest target is a car behind you.
Lou

[What?]

Originally posted by MikeL
Strictly speaking if a driver in the left lane is sitting on 100 you won't be able to overtake at all (obviously); if he is doing 95 you can only overtake if you don't exceed 100 so you can work out how much road you need for that and on the average length of special passing lanes on state highways you couldn't do it safely. So the driver doing 95 is actually more of a danger than one driving at 110. I suspect that most cops use their discretion and common sense in this situation. The trouble is that the pressure to meet their quota overrules this common sense.

You've hit the nail on the head, Mike. According to our gaurdians, it is safest to take the longest possible time to complete an overtaking manouever. You see, it is SPEED and ALCOHOL that kill. Driving on the wrong side of the road is perfectly safe...

[riffer]

I reckon that's bullshit. Surely you're safest spending the least amount of time exposed to danger.

Even car magazines quote 80 to 120 kmh acceleration times for this exact purpose.

HP need to pull their heads in on this one.

Yesterday I nearly got wiped out when one car tried to overtake in front of me at the end of the lane as I was coming through - they all accelerated after passing the speed camera - including the f^%$wit at the front who was doing 80kmh until the passing lane where, inexplicably he accelerated up to 100.

And that part of the road's probably the least dangerous part of the Upper Hutt to Wellington daily trip.

[SPman]

Had a mate who used to get a lift to work occaisionally with a cop mate of his (Waikato area) One day this wanker passed a car doing 90ish, but refused to exceed 100 kph and almost had a head on with an oncoming car!

Needless to say, he now wont go in a car with him!

[k14]

Yeah, i got done doing 130 overtaking a granny in her suzuki who sped up to 100 after doing 80-90 for about 10 kms.

Also, when i was taking a short "ride" in a specific blue and white ford with lights on the top, the driver was consistently doing 60-70 in a 50. Was going to say something, but thought it was better to keep my mouth shut

[Marmoot]

print this forum out, get 100 signatures on it, and mail it to our MPs.........