It's not revenue gathering

[baptist]

Yep, gang rape and donuts at the bar.

I cannot laugh at such stereotyping... .... much

Their is regularly a van parked down the road from home in a 70kmh area, either just over a crest or tucked inside a corner at the bottom of the hill. If your speeding it WILL get you. Never seen a driver in it though.
IMHO the van is in an appropriate place doing an appropriate job. It's a dangerous bit of road with junctions, driveways, a slow vehicle race track coming up to a completely blind crossroads at the crest of a hill with an overtaking drag strip on the other side leading into a chevron turning area.

Their is a world of difference between the OP's van tucked in the shade on a long straight with good visibility & the one at the bottom of my hill.
I do know that my local van has done nothing to slow down drivers just get revenue from unsuspecting visitors. I cannot see the OP's van having any effect on behaviour either, any way I would spot it a mile away. Very predictable positioning.

I know I do look out for the camera vans, but more so cop cars, while I try to keep my speed down whatever I am riding/driving it can creep up, a better deterent would be camera signage or visibility of the vehicles. Hiding a van in the trees is not a safety aid it is a taxation device. Sign them or get rid of them and spend the cost of running them on other methods of making the roads safe (after all I am sure they cannot possibly be self sufficient or profit making, can they?)

[rastuscat]

Au contraire, mes amis.

To those who have suggested that there is no deterrent in a hidden camera van, trawl back through all the threads about hidden camera vans, then think about the paranoia they have created. Certainly, the idea that there might be a camera in the next grove of trees slows folk down.

To those who consider it is all about revenue, consider that the operators performance targets are based on the number of hours each konth that the cameras operate. That's why they don't care if you park in the beam and play silly buggers, the camera clock is still ticking.

Donuts.

[oneofsix]

Au contraire, mes amis.

To those who have suggested that there is no deterrent in a hidden camera van, trawl back through all the threads about hidden camera vans, then think about the paranoia they have created. Certainly, the idea that there might be a camera in the next grove of trees slows folk down.

To those who consider it is all about revenue, consider that the operators performance targets are based on the number of hours each konth that the cameras operate. That's why they don't care if you park in the beam and play silly buggers, the camera clock is still ticking.

Donuts.

Yes the fear slows some down, but is that really a safety gain? or have you not been skeptical enough. The supposed safety gain in policing speed is to reduce the speed difference not enhance it. And what about the driver the eventually spots the van late and brakes hard, that does assist road safety. IMHO people will accept these things if they really improved road safety but reality they are just revenue gathering scams.
Thanks for the suggestion, nice to know they wont care as long as we not spill the coffee or upset the donuts.

[PrincessBandit]

At least the vans aren't camouflaged to blend into their hidey holes, or small mounted cameras attached to the undergrowth ala James Bond movies. A vehicle parked on the side of the road like that could be a family car or van stopped for any number of problems potentially with kids moving around near the road (I know, grasping at straws a bit there, my bad).

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

[Scuba_Steve]

At least the vans aren't camouflaged to blend into their hidey holes, or small mounted cameras attached to the undergrowth ala James Bond movies.

... Yet...

[Gremlin]

At least the vans aren't camouflaged to blend into their hidey holes, or small mounted cameras attached to the undergrowth ala James Bond movies.

If they are anything like the Australians, they'd keep losing them: http://www.failfunnies.com/32/images...-army-fail.jpg

A vehicle parked on the side of the road like that could be a family car or van

The new ones have taken a while to get more alert to, the first few (parked in absolute easy to see places - ie, on the side of the road, no bushes) I only realised they were camera vans was when I passed by and saw the camera. They really do look like a normal car, stopped for kids or something.

ratuscat: The problem is that the govt strongly denies its revenue gathering, yet this shows the opposite (well, none of us are that surprised, but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak). Making us paranoid doesn't work. I believe that was the only van I saw in 2000km and a week of travel right in between Christmas and New Years.

[rastuscat]

ratuscat: The problem is that the govt strongly denies its revenue gathering, yet this shows the opposite (well, none of us are that surprised, but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak).

Mmmmmmmm........pudding.

[Gremlin]

Mmmmmmmm........pudding.

Now look... that's hardly fair!

You have donuts AND pudding?

[george formby]

I cannot laugh at such stereotyping... .... much



I know I do look out for the camera vans, but more so cop cars, while I try to keep my speed down whatever I am riding/driving it can creep up, a better deterent would be camera signage or visibility of the vehicles. Hiding a van in the trees is not a safety aid it is a taxation device. Sign them or get rid of them and spend the cost of running them on other methods of making the roads safe (after all I am sure they cannot possibly be self sufficient or profit making, can they?)

It's ironic that the most effective technique I have seen for reducing speed is free & voluntary. A flash of an oncoming vehicles headlights causes instant speed awareness.
It would probably be cheaper & more effective to use unmarked cars & AA members to flash exuberant motorists than set up speed cameras.

[Smifffy]

It's ironic that the most effective technique I have seen for reducing speed is free & voluntary. A flash of an oncoming vehicles headlights causes instant speed awareness.
It would probably be cheaper & more effective to use unmarked cars & AA members to flash exuberant motorists than set up speed cameras.

By the same token, a bunch of vans parked on the side of the road, without even a camera in them would slow people down.

Then again people would just ignore it, knowing it isn't a camera, because it isn't hiding in the bushes at the end of a long straight.

[george formby]

By the same token, a bunch of vans parked on the side of the road, without even a camera in them would slow people down.

Then again people would just ignore it, knowing it isn't a camera, because it isn't hiding in the bushes at the end of a long straight.

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.

I think their are a lot of alternatives available to make drivers more aware of their speed other than plain old enforcement which is the question posed by the OP. Revenue or safety?

[jasonu]

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.

I think their are a lot of alternatives available to make drivers more aware of their speed other than plain old enforcement which is the question posed by the OP. Revenue or safety?

On the outskirts of La Pine, a town south of me on HWY 97 there has been an ex state trooper Crown Vic parked in front of a timber business for atleast the 10 years I have lived here. Everytime I see it I think oh fuck and check my speed eventhough I know it is coming up and I mostly keep within the 15mph 'safe no ticket zone'.

[george formby]

On the outskirts of La Pine, a town south of me on HWY 97 there has been an ex state trooper Crown Vic parked in front of a timber business for atleast the 10 years I have lived here. Everytime I see it I think oh fuck and check my speed eventhough I knew it was there and I mostly keep within the 15mph 'safe no ticket zone'.

Exacary, keeping your average motorist on their toes & aware of their speed seems like a better safety technique than fining them for inattention & consequently directing drivers attention to look for speed cameras not hazards. It's created a cat & mouse game not a safer driving / riding attitude.
I also think most road users would respond better being made to feel responsible rather than feeling persecuted.

[baptist]

It's ironic that the most effective technique I have seen for reducing speed is free & voluntary. A flash of an oncoming vehicles headlights causes instant speed awareness.
It would probably be cheaper & more effective to use unmarked cars & AA members to flash exuberant motorists than set up speed cameras.

So true, as soon as you see head lights flashing you do slow down... but that means a reduction in issued tickets doesn't it? Funny that flashing head lights cause traffic to slow down and yet before i moved to NZ we were pinged by a cop because the guys car I was in flashed oncoming cars - one was an unmarked cop car who turned around and lit up, he got the right hump (no ticket though) and told us we were allowing speeders to get away with it (wow we must have been aiding and abetting), so flashing headlights must work...

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.

I think their are a lot of alternatives available to make drivers more aware of their speed other than plain old enforcement which is the question posed by the OP. Revenue or safety?

I used to pass a cardboard cop car on the A303 on the way to Devon from London on my weekly night commute... in the dark it looked the real thing in head lights, even though I knew it was there I always slowed down!!!!!

[Berries]

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.