Community Speed Watch

[Craig]

What do people here think about these Community Speed Watch things?

I've just seen this video report on the BBC website about the one that operates in the village where I work and I wondered what other peoples views were?

[garcon]

Self-righteous busy bodies.

[GORDON STREETER]

I have mixed feelings on this subject. When I was "tearing about" in cars in the 60s I could probably get up to 70mph along the road where I live . Now with the amazing vehicles we have, I have witnessed cars travelling in excess of 100mph (this is in a 40 limit ) I don't have any kids but I can see the local parents point of view .Also I live on a corner at the end of this road and I would like a pound for every car that's ended upside down on the road or in my garden. After several years its got to be a pain in the a**e especially at 3 or 4 am. Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old man ?

[Craig]

My take on it is that, whilst it may be a bit out of order for us to zoom around over the speed limit, it should be down to the police to enforce the rules. The exact same old cow in the video actually stepped out into the road to try and flag me down a couple of weeks ago. When I asked what the hell she thought she was doing, and was she trying to get herself killed, she informed me in the most snooty manner possible that she thought I was speeding. She then showed me the readout and it read 28mph. Next time I'll run the stupid bint down.

Having watched the video I have had my suspitions confirmed... that they, like those heroes who drive up and down the motorway putting out cones, are totally powerless. I am so tempted to razz past them at 95 on Monday, let them send me a letter then... it'd look great in a frame on my wall.

[garcon]

I tend to agree with Craig.

I'm not defending drivers who speed through villages - if there's a real problem stick a speed camera up. Or (God forbid) get some traffic units in the area.

But giving speed guns to pensioners is lunacy. They probably don't even drive.

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by garcon

I tend to agree with Craig.

I'm not defending drivers who speed through villages - if there's a real problem stick a speed camera up. Or (God forbid) get some traffic units in the area.

But giving speed guns to pensioners is lunacy. They probably don't even drive.

from experience (and its barely 5 months!) pensioners are the worst drivers, i got stuck behind someone on the A55 yesterday and it was a green rover, and it was an old person driving at first it was 50 mph in a 70 ok a bit annoying but i can get past.

then it becomes 40 and im getting annoyed now, then they start weaving nearly wiping out someone overtaking and getting hit by a lorry, the lorrys braking said it all, a huge plume of smoke from the tyres.

by this time the pensioners speed has dropped to 30 and i can not get past principally because its heavy traffic, everyone is overtaking and i can ovetake because everyone is coming up to quickly.

next thing they start weaving again and this time i really did crap myself because again they nearly got wiped out by a lorry but this time when the lorry slammed on the anchors, the rear end of the lorry swang out into the left lane.

and by this point i pulled out and booted it, funny how all us young people cause all the crashes, do we drive at 30mph weaving everywere on the dual carriageway or motorway, do we drive into the sea, do we drive into trains even .

personally giving a pensioner a speed gun is bloody bad imo, "oh dear that young person is doing 31mph, they must have a ticket".

of course the green rover doing 30 on the busy stretch of 70mph dual carriageway is not dangerous, its perfectly acceptable whilst the police force quaff at someone doing 75

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by garcon

Self-righteous busy bodies.

there is a much better word than that garcon dear, it starts with a W and ends in a R, can ye guess what it is?

[JimW]

Could not condone it of course, but it has surprised me that no one has stopped and slapped these people.

Again, why are so few speed cameras burnt? Where are your local vandals when you really need them.

Almost by definition, cameras are put where the road is open and there is least danger. Locally they have built a pad to park a camera van. No, it's not in the narrow bit by the school or the football stadium, it's on the wide bit with any houses set back behind about 25m of verge, a path and long front gardens. Makes me wonder which councillors live there.

Luckily it is clearly visible and also we locals are doing a good job of waving and flashing our lights as we spot our friends driving along that way. We do seem to know almost everyone.

Regards

Jim

[SALEEN S7R]

Personally I think that these Pensioners have far too much time on their hands. Yes we shoudnt speed but then we all do things we shoudnt do from time to time, dont we? Providing you dont go speeding on roads that are in built up areas I really dont see too much of a problem with speeding. I speed myself, nothing to be proud of but just something that happens from time to time.

The police should be the people to enforce the speed limit and not members of the public, these people are putting themselves and other motorists at risk and making themselves a public nuisance. Personally I am going to get Road Angel at some point during this year, not just because of the speed camera detector feature but also the GPS - although the speed camera detector feature is the primary reason.

Still not to worry guys and girls, in a few years we wont be able to speed as we will all have ECU's that will prevent us from exceeding the speed limit. Well ok maybe not, the goverment will have to find something else to hike taxes up with before that happens.

[bella]

first things first - your road angel isn't a detector on the most part, it relies on you updating the system by downloading the database on a regular basis. i didn't update mine for a year once, and it's amazing how much changes.

back on topic, and i think anything that just carries a warning is a good idea. especially if it's endorsed by the police. you shouldn't be speeding in a built up area in the first place, so you deserve everything you get for speeding, including a warning from a bunch of silver haired vigilantes. it's not inforcing the speed limit so long as it's just a polite reminder through the post that you're a murderer in waiting for speeding through a village.

it could lead to some dodgy territory, but as it stands at the moment i think it's a reasonable idea in trials. the reason older people are doing the checks is i suspect they're the only ones that have some time to care about what goes on in their local neighbourhood... which we *all* should do.

[Craig]

I *wasn't* speeding but still got pulled up by the silly cow for an ear bashing. If the police are gonna put these people in a position of authority then they should give them some form of training first. In any other country it would have been classed as jaywalking and I could, most likely, have run her down without recourse.

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by bella

first things first - your road angel isn't a detector on the most part, it relies on you updating the system by downloading the database on a regular basis. i didn't update mine for a year once, and it's amazing how much changes.

Thanks Bella but I am perfectly aware of how Road Angel operates and providing you do download the updates regularly then Road Angel 7000 should operate perfectly, besides you dont need to download the updates to detect the mobile speed camera's its mainly for the fixed ones that the updates are used for.

Anyway sorry Craig, back to topic.

[Asp]

The clip makes it appear that this operation is taking place in an area where speeding needs to be controlled. Drawing on Jim's point - small communities with (relatively) narrow roads and where there are likely to be young children running into the road without looking or old people taking longer to cross the road - it's 30 for a reason.

I think in principle this isn't a bad idea - it is only a warning, and might encourage people to slow down through that village in the interim. Especially if it's backed up with police speed checks who do have the power to prosecute - otherwise we'll all go speeding through it anyway knowing all we'll get is a letter saying that Mrs Groggins clocked us at 31 in a 30 zone. It should add to the police response to reports of speeding in the village, not replace it.

However, I'm with Craig, they need training. Craig's given us an example of them being overly sensitive (and also I'll be very surprised if they've been given the legal power to pull over vehicles), and just in the video clip she was spinning round and aiming the radar gun at cars as if it was a real gun and she's an extra in 24. They are treating it as if they're vigilantes and enforcers of the law. No, they're providing advice, and that needs to be drilled into them

[Craig]

in the video clip she was spinning round and aiming the radar gun at cars as if it was a real gun and she's an extra in 24

Sorry, that really made me laugh, I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything at the time, else my screen would be knackered now!

As it goes the stretch of road that they restrict themselves to watching has, more often than not, a row of residents cars down either side, so it is next to impossible to actually get much over 30.

Now, if they went to the other side of the village, and checked the speeds oni the back roads, they may have a case for whining about speeding. Then again there is only huge great houses out there (check out ths puppy!!) with big electric gates and/or security guard huts, so I can't imagine anyone is gonna come out from those and worry about the speed of the traffic. So long as it's doing 60+ when they swing out in their Porsches or Mercedes then, well, all is well :lol:

[peteconnors]

I was at work this evening and found myself on the receiving end of some road rage. If I did something to annoy him I still have no idea what it was, but it makes me wonder how long before some idiot like that does a spot of granny bashing to these speed watch people?

[terence]

[quote=JimW]Could not condone it of course, but it has surprised me that no one has stopped and slapped these people.

Again, why are so few speed cameras burnt? Where are your local vandals when you really need them:rof I,m sorry but I think this is an appalling thing to suggest,Pensioner Barby,they would be far too tough! I dont know why ,but I always thought that in order to obtain an acurate reading the "gun "had to be held steady,not waved at all and sundry,or is that an afflict ion she has

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

back on topic, and i think anything that just carries a warning is a good idea. especially if it's endorsed by the police. you shouldn't be speeding in a built up area in the first place, so you deserve everything you get for speeding, including a warning from a bunch of silver haired vigilantes. it's not inforcing the speed limit so long as it's just a polite reminder through the post that you're a murderer in waiting for speeding through a village.

it could lead to some dodgy territory, but as it stands at the moment i think it's a reasonable idea in trials. the reason older people are doing the checks is i suspect they're the only ones that have some time to care about what goes on in their local neighbourhood... which we *all* should do.

I'd go along with that in principle. Just read the separate thread about the Bugatti Veyron to understand why.

But I'm still wary that these people will soon start to think that they *do* have powers of enforcement. Craig's experience underlines that. The woman had no right to flag him down.

[Slippy Diff]

clicky

[peteconnors]

It is true that if you don't speed you have nothing to worry about. However, these radar guns are very tempermental and are supposed to be calibrated daily, and recalibrated when it gets dark. It's not unheard of to have a reading of 40+mph when tracking a pedestrian! Let's face it, if they can get your details to send you a "friendly" reminder, there's a real possibilty that a record will be kept somewhere.
Besides, I always find that those flashing signs as you come into a 30 zone are extremely effective, so why do we need coffin dodgers to do the same thing?