27-09-13, 06:39 PM
So it seems you've touched on a sensitive subject here, stupidamerican (I can't keep calling you that!! - gimme something else!), but I'm sure you'd get similar back in the States. Have you met Mr. 40mph yet? 40 in a 30 limit, 40 in a 60 limit, and probably on the motorway too. Plenty of those around. 30 and 40 limits I absolutely agree with. Slower if conditions dictate. Best not to get impatient. We have police radar traps here too, I got caught by one in Essex who was also concealed behind a hedge.
Methods and stringency of enforcement in catching speeders vary between different county/authority areas. In Wiltshire for example, most if not all the scameras have been removed from the main roads (A roads) - the markings are still on the roads, and the warning signs are still up, but no cameras. Other places are drenched in the damn things. Parts of the M25 are now a scamera nightmare, you could lose your license within a couple of miles, and there seems to be little agreement as to how active they actually are (people say some are turned off sometimes - would you trust your license to hearsay?!)
In Wales, it seems to be mostly vans parked by the roadside, just done three days very enjoyable riding there though and didn't see any (hope there's not a nasty letter due soon!), although I got pulled by a copper there a few years ago and done, but he did compliment me on my riding!
As to the money making side of it, that's an argument that has been raging for a good while here too (i.e. just another tax for the motorist!). As per Wiltshire, after the initial camera love-affair, things do seem to be settling down a little, the motorists lobby is a powerful one, a real vote loser if they let things go too far. If Mr. & Mrs " Middle England" keep getting nicked whilst taking little Billy to and from school, popping to the supermarket in the little ol' 4x4 etc, they know they'll probably be out in the next election! (Cynical, me? :lol ).
Methods and stringency of enforcement in catching speeders vary between different county/authority areas. In Wiltshire for example, most if not all the scameras have been removed from the main roads (A roads) - the markings are still on the roads, and the warning signs are still up, but no cameras. Other places are drenched in the damn things. Parts of the M25 are now a scamera nightmare, you could lose your license within a couple of miles, and there seems to be little agreement as to how active they actually are (people say some are turned off sometimes - would you trust your license to hearsay?!)
In Wales, it seems to be mostly vans parked by the roadside, just done three days very enjoyable riding there though and didn't see any (hope there's not a nasty letter due soon!), although I got pulled by a copper there a few years ago and done, but he did compliment me on my riding!
As to the money making side of it, that's an argument that has been raging for a good while here too (i.e. just another tax for the motorist!). As per Wiltshire, after the initial camera love-affair, things do seem to be settling down a little, the motorists lobby is a powerful one, a real vote loser if they let things go too far. If Mr. & Mrs " Middle England" keep getting nicked whilst taking little Billy to and from school, popping to the supermarket in the little ol' 4x4 etc, they know they'll probably be out in the next election! (Cynical, me? :lol ).