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MG ZR ZS ZT Technical - Death To The Gatso

If, like me, you can't stand the site of those Gatso cameras everywhere, an article from the Fast Car website might make you feel good about driving again.

"Death to the Gatso

At last! Victory in the battle against cynically sited speed camers....
New rules, issued by the Government, are set to shake-up the siting and use of speed cameras. Tough new laws will state:

•No cameras can be sited on roads without a significant accident record. Only roads where four fatalities, or serious injuries, or eight incidences of 'personal injury' have occurred within the previous three years will be considered fair game for spy cam installation.

• Cameras must be painted yellow and be clearly visible to drivers from 60 metres in 40mph limits and 100 metres elsewhere. This directive will clamp down on the practice of hiding cameras behind trees, hedges, lampposts and other obstructions.

• Warning signs that cameras are present must be within one kilometre of the devices. These signs can not be placed on roads where no camera exists.

Cameras which do not comply with these rules strict must be decommissioned within the next six months, the DoT has ruled.

The clampdown is aimed at scores of local authorities and police forces who have joined the controversial "cash for cameras" incentive scheme which allows them to recoup money from speeding fines and plough it back into enforcement.

The victory for drivers comes as increasing amounts of drivers are claiming they've been flashed by cameras that should not have been there in the first place.

A new rule book will be issued later this week in an attempt to pacify drivers and win back support for the Government.

The AA today said the new rules would benefit safety and were an important victory for drivers and for motoring organisations which had campaigned for fair play.

"We expect that hundreds may have to be removed as a result of this and we welcome it," said Paul Watters.
F

F

That post HAS made my day. :D
Jerry

Providing it's true and not just a wind-up it's one of those feel good things isn't it J.

F
F

Thats always assuming that Local Authorities don't do what they always do, and make thier own rules up as they go along.

Thats the problem with having unqualified people running services they don't understand, they do it the way THEY THINK it should be done, not the way it SHOULD be done.

You wouldn't let a mechanic build your house, so why should the bored wife of an overpaid exec run your local services.
Tony

They backed out of Fixed sites because nasty people come along in the dead of night and "Take them out".

There was little point to fund them with the use of GPS system that told you where they where.

I am sure that the mobile units will be deployed instead (Sorry to spoil the party).
Mega.
Mike MEGA

its confirmed in yesterdays papers, also the signs which warn of cameras must be taken down if no camera exists.
rob

I know this is an old thread, but I saw this on my local BBC news, and it made me reflect/chuckle. To add to the police’s embarrassment they took 4 months to investigate the case and still did not find the driver.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_2014000/2014539.stm
BTW where is the worse sited camera you know of? I have seen one in Bideford, North Devon. Driving from Barnstable on the A39 turn off left on the roundabout after the bridge. Travelling down the hill into Bideford town, the camera is about 500yards on the left. It is placed behind a building that juts out into the pavement. You can't see it until you are passing it. However the ‘nice’ policeman have stuck a yellow and orange striped panel on the back of it. I wonder why?
Cecil Kimber

As I understand it, prior to the new DoT ruling the other week, ONLY cameras operated by Police Forces where they get to keep all of the money raised HAVE to be painted yellow.

It was decided that when the trial was launched with 5 or 6 Police Forces keeping the revenues, the motorist would appreciate seeing the cameras earlier on and so the concession was made that they must be painted yellow in these areas. Hence the reason you go to some places and still grey.

However, I believe ALL must be yellow under new ruling.
F

I have read on a well respected motorbike site that these new "rules" are not complusory, however if a camera doesn't abide by these then the council will not get its share of the money from any fines issued as a result of pictures taken by it. So don't expect every camera to be painted yellow or moved, in fact I think that unless these recomendations become law then it is a bad thing. How many motorsits will whilst expecting to see yellow gatso's get caught by those still hidden behind signs and painted grey.

I believe that if used in accordance with the guidelines gatso'd aren't really all that bad....but I would prefer to see more police tackling both dangerous driving and other invasive crimes (bulgary, mugging, rape, drugs etc).
Tim

Tim...It was my understanding from the media that the recent press release was law and that, for instance, any cameras not located in proven accident areas had to be removed within 6 months. If this was not law, there would be no compulsion to move said cameras.

However, if this is guidance only then we're back where we started from and there's nothing to get excited about at all.

F
F

why should they be painted yellow - you shouldn't be breaking the law by speeding anyway?
Gareth

They should be painted Yellow so we can all see them, and recognise that there is an accident black spot ahead and ajust our speed accordingly.

Grey, hidden cameras are purely tax collectors, and serve no use what so ever when it comes to reducing acciddents. Locals no they are there and slow down. Locals also know that there is an accident black spot ahead (assuming the camera is in a justifiable location) and would tend to slow down whether there was a camera or not. The only ones who are caught out are strangers to the area, who don't know the camera is there and likewise are unaware of a potentially dangerous stretch of road.

If Speed cameras are to have any credibilty as a safety device, they must be clearly visible and well signed.

A large sign saying:

Accident Blackspot Ahead
XX Accidents in XX years
SLOW DOWN

could be just as effective and would cost less to install and maintain. But then the Government/Police wouldn't get anything out of it.
Tony

Tony, I may be showing my age here but they used to erect black spot signs years ago. For some reason this practice seemed to have stopped.
Ian Holliday

Avoid being caught for speeding, hmmmm.

I assume you guys know that the Mems 3 engine controller in later F's, TF's, Zed's etc stores speed information that the police can (but say they have no intention to) download at the roadside? How long before it's used a evidence in an accident, death or for excessive speed prosecution?

The SPS air bag sensor also stores impact data.

Avoiding Radars? I know of one military radar that is sensitive enough to effectively tell the difference between vehicle types at 200mls+. So technology is there and changing fast to do pretty well whatever they like.

Specs is pretty difficult to see and passive in operation only geodesy will point it out.

Mobile traps and cunning cops are the real threat.

To detect all types would require a fortune in detection equipment.

Think for a moment about Geodesy. It uses GPS to know where the car is within a few metres. If you push the 'locate new speed trap' button it tells geodesy where it was by modem. Consider for a moment that GPS also detects speed. Say it logs a journey vs a speed limits location database and transmits same to central computer by mobile phone. Easy technology and readily available. Fit same kit compulsory to all new cars and big brother stops all speeding!

In the local paper tonight is a device (£500!!!) that uses GPS to locate itself and bleeps if the driver exceeds 30mph in the urban Blackpool area (or any area it is programmed for - could be UK if enough memory). Connect that to the car electronics and its a speed governor - easy.

For me speed per-se is not the problem. It is inappropriate speed for the conditions/situation. I'd be happy with 20 near schools but would like 100 on the non congested motorway sections. I also believe in variable limits that change with weather conditions.

I think the enforcement of speed is lazy and ineffectual. Dangerous driving, DWDCAA, inexperienced drivers in big 4-wheel drives and people vans, mobiles used whilst driving etc are more serious.
Ian Walker

In the part of France I visit regularly there's a road that goes east from Bordeaux to Bergerac, which is basically one long accident black spot. At the scene of each fatal accident the authorities erect full-size silhouettes of the victims. Men women and children are easily distinguished, they're painted black and have a vivid splash of red down from the forehead to the neck. There's twenty-something of these macabre figures standing on the grass verge in a twenty mile stretch; some have flowers left by their feet.
But of course there aren't any Gatsos...
By the way - I was told by a policeman recently that Maurice Gatsonides was actually nicked twice by his own invention. Harrr
Howard

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This thread was discussed between 23/05/2002 and 04/06/2002

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