It's not revenue gathering

[Highlander]

not really hidden, I could see it by the third pic, which, judging by the distance would give you plenty of time to have a brake/speed check.....

I saw it well enough in advance.

.... I also assisted the van in getting the slow down message across, while I was stopped there.

I read in one of his Southern Cross reports where Jantar stopped to remove his wet weather gear in the way of the camera staying just long enough for his riding mates to go past. Have done that myself since then (normally I'm at the back of the group though).

[bluebird]

Any resemblance of road safety being a real priority has been undermined by the blatant revenue gathering, I got a ticket for doing 70 in a 50 zone industrial area on the outskirts of a small town within 500m of a 100 sign, I explained that I thought it was a 70 as most non residential areas like that are, but the cats arse cop just loved the kill. It's a sport to them.

[Jantar]

...I read in one of his Southern Cross reports where Jantar stopped to remove his wet weather gear in the way of the camera staying just long enough for his riding mates to go past. Have done that myself since then (normally I'm at the back of the group though).

It was Blackbird who stopped while Mangel and myself rode past.

[george formby]

Some say they only collect revenue from people breaking the law. I have always been of the view that if you got flashed by a speed camera you deserved it for being unobservant.

What I have just seen though is clearly just for the $$$$. There is an A&P show in Mosgiel today. To get there you go down the main street in Mosgiel, which is narrow and very busy. Road opens up, nice and wide, still a 50 before it hits an 80km/h speed limit. Shiny new Hyundai speed camera van parked facing the traffic heading to the show where the speed limit is still 50, but you are getting close to the 80. Never seen a camera on that stretch before. Most people driving that way won't be regulars, maybe today is the only day of the year they do so. Sod all crash history, certainly nothing speed related. So in a week or two they will get a ticket in the post. It has done absolutely nothing to make the road safer today, when it is much busier than normal, it is pure revenue gathering. I wouldn't be surprised if later on the driver moves to the other side of the road to catch everyone coming back from the show.

Until such time as speed cameras give demerits rather than fines they can only be seen as revenue gathering when they operate 'hidden' like this. A marked HP car at the side of the road would have been busy enough looking at the state of some of the vehicles going to the show, and its presence would have been noticed by everybody.

Yeah, I kind of feel if you get pinged then it's your own fault. At least 90% of my riding is at the speed limit or less depending on the conditions & I'm very, very selective about the other 10% but it really rips my nightie being barraged by speed related safety propaganda then seeing speed cameras in positions which do nothing to make the roads safer but everything to make the coffers jingle.
A bit of honesty & lateral thinking from the powers that be would be much appreciated rather than attaching a dollar value to a safety campaign.

[EJK]

if its an camera van and unmanned,whats to srop you breaking in and stealing the camera?

Or ductape it. Now that's totally do-able.

[Taz]

A village in my home county in the UK had a cardboard copper as you came into the village. This was replaced with the real thing now & again to keep everybody on their toes. The speed of traffic through the village plummeted.

Which one was more intelligent?

[Max Preload]

The reality is at least the van is visible* (red) so you can go "aww shit" and expect the long envelope in the mail - it doesn't just turn up out of the blue unexpectedly!

*unless you're colour blind

Red/green is the most common colour blindness, isn't it? Makes you wonder if the colour choice was whimsical or calculated...

[yachtie10]

Or ductape it. Now that's totally do-able.

ive always thought a paintball gun would be the go

[awa355]

Can you still ask for a photo of the alledged offence? I'd really like a pic of me riding my bike.

[c4.]

Does anyone know of any sucessful defence against a speed camera fine?
Say for example if a hypothetical van with 2 bikes in it was heading sth to hampton downs via the newmarket viaduct at 0645 on a sunday morning, only to discover a cfrappy old people mover with heavily tinted windows, parked in the construction zone was infact, a (hidden) speed camera. Hypothectically speaking.

[Berries]

Does anyone know of any sucessful defence against a speed camera fine?
Say for example if a hypothetical van with 2 bikes in it was heading sth to hampton downs via the newmarket viaduct at 0645 on a sunday morning, only to discover a cfrappy old people mover with heavily tinted windows, parked in the construction zone was infact, a (hidden) speed camera. Hypothectically speaking.

i know of a 100% rock solid defence. Unfortunately your post, which I have now quoted so you can't edit it, nullifies said defence. Bugger.

Look on the bright side though. Both of the bikes were doing the exact same speed as the hypothetical van. If they had had number plates on them you could have been looking at three tickets, hypothetically speaking.

[c4.]

but you misunderstand, it's a hyperthetical (sic) situation

[Berries]

Sorry, I thought a hypothetical van was one of those Korean things.