Driving, fixed penalty - pay or not?

[Calaen]

Regardless of whether there are speed limits, conditions or time of day or bla bla bla; what I don't quite fathom is why are people in such a rush to get somewhere? What exactly is the point in speeding? Seems like a worthless risk with no benefits.

but.. but.. you can get an extra 35 seconds on the internets!!!!!!

 

[mank!]

Regardless of whether there are speed limits, conditions or time of day or bla bla bla; what I don't quite fathom is why are people in such a rush to get somewhere? What exactly is the point in speeding? Seems like a worthless risk with no benefits.

because i'm usually running late

 

[Bodhi]

Regardless of whether there are speed limits, conditions or time of day or bla bla bla; what I don't quite fathom is why are people in such a rush to get somewhere? What exactly is the point in speeding? Seems like a worthless risk with no benefits.

Well no, not really. I can think of a few journeys where this isn't the case. I used to drive 330 miles to get to uni, if I'd done 70 it would have taken me about 6 and a half hours to get there, doing 95 I managed four and a half once, more typically about 5. That's an extra hour and a half in the pub upon arriving in St Andrews? No benefits? Me arse. It was also safer than doing 70, as at that speed I would have fallen asleep around Carlisle through sheer boredon and crashed into a tree. In fact, I've only crashed whilst doing the speed limit or below, so bollocks to speed cameras beng there to make Britain's roads safer.

 

[WPKenny]

It was years ago now so don't ask for a link but I heard of an old lady driving down some single lane a-road or something who got fined for going to slowly. She had a tailback of over a quarter of a mile behind her.

 

[JingleBells]

It was years ago now so don't ask for a link but I heard of an old lady driving down some single lane a-road or something who got fined for going to slowly. She had a tailback of over a quarter of a mile behind her.

That'll be this old lady.

 

[Tom]

Regardless of whether there are speed limits, conditions or time of day or bla bla bla; what I don't quite fathom is why are people in such a rush to get somewhere? What exactly is the point in speeding? Seems like a worthless risk with no benefits.

This is what people often don't understand. People don't want to drive fast most of the time. They do however want to drive at a speed which is appropriate for the conditions.

Imagine driving on a dual carriageway, NSL, but being forced to drive at 20mph on a nice clear sunny day. Wouldn't that feel unnaturally slow? Wouldn't your attention start to wander?

Its exactly the same when you're driving down a road that for 50 years was NSL, and suddenly the council decide that 40mph is safer. You're driving down this road at 40mph or thereabouts, with excellent visibility, but you're not thinking about your driving, you're just going through the motions.

Its not about getting somewhere 10 minutes faster. Its about driving at a suitable speed for the road, retaining your concentration, observation. Its about not blocking people who try to overtake (this happens a lot now, and it should be punishable by a jail sentence).

Most speed limits in this country are set at something called the 85th percentile. Its simple to Google and saves me time typing it out, but recently councils have been allowed to set speed limits not by this tried and tested rule, but by measuring mean speeds on a road. Fair enough you might think, but if the mean speed of traffic on a road is 40mph, but the limit is 50mph - the instant the council sets the new limit to 40mph, half the motorists using that road would be criminalised.



All I say is that I don't want any speed cameras, or traffic light cameras (increased accidents at junctions due to panic braking). I want lots of policemen driving around in Jam Sandwiches pulling people over, giving them a warning, a lecture, points, a fine, whatever. I want real coppers, who know about road safety, and have that 'sixth sense' about which cars are likely to contain scrotes on the rob.

I want real people policing our roads. I don't want cameras doing it. And to that end, I will use every legal means at my disposal to infuriate the ***** who run the camera schemes.

 

[Trem]

That'll be this old lady.

Sounds like Tom tbh.

 

[tris-]

Its about driving at a suitable speed for the road, retaining your concentration, observation.

what makes you think people can just determine this, on the fly?

there is a road that comes into my estate and is only used for that purpose. very rarely people would be walking around there. ive done 55mph round there once because imo it was safe to do so. do you think thats fine that i should just determine what to do every single place i go?

 

[Scouse]

what makes you think people can just determine this, on the fly?

there is a road that comes into my estate and is only used for that purpose. very rarely people would be walking around there. ive done 55mph round there once because imo it was safe to do so. do you think thats fine that i should just determine what to do every single place i go?

No tris. You have to obey the speed limits.

Everyone else is MUCH more capable of judging what's safe or not than a CAMERA. Last time I looked cameras were only capable of judging the speed of an object in a single lane. I didn't know they had sensors to tell them how hard it was raining and a sensor that tells it that there's a patch of oil dropped by the bus on the junction.

I was going to repost Tom's last post as a work of scientific fact, but I thought I'd be preachy

 

[tris-]

 

[Scouse]

Rolling your eyes isn't an argument m8

 

[tris-]

Rolling your eyes isn't an argument m8

well it seemed like you were taking a dig at me when you said

No tris. You have to obey the speed limits.

Everyone else is MUCH more capable of judging what's safe or not than a CAMERA.

i could of been wrong. but if you are taking a dig i dont see much point in arguing anything

 

[Scouse]

It was tongue in cheek m8, soz

But:

there is a road that comes into my estate and is only used for that purpose. very rarely people would be walking around there. ive done 55mph round there once because imo it was safe to do so. do you think thats fine that i should just determine what to do every single place i go?

You've proved Tom's point in this little paragraph.

The implication from this paragraph is that you know it's generally unsafe to do 55mph around that corner (otherwise you'd have done it more than "once").

It shows that you've exercised judgement and driven to the conditions. If you felt you were going too fast then you'd know that you were being unsafe.

You don't need arbritrary, badly-thought out, lowest-common-denominator speed limits to tell you if you're driving like a twat.

 

[Tom]

what makes you think people can just determine this, on the fly?

there is a road that comes into my estate and is only used for that purpose. very rarely people would be walking around there. ive done 55mph round there once because imo it was safe to do so. do you think thats fine that i should just determine what to do every single place i go?

The vast majority of people do it every single day. The fact that 'only' 3200 people are killed on our roads each year is pretty impressive, especially when you consider that only 5% of those deaths are attributable to breaking the speed limit.

 

[Bullitt]

The vast majority of people do it every single day. The fact that 'only' 3200 people are killed on our roads each year is pretty impressive, especially when you consider that only 5% of those deaths are attributable to breaking the speed limit.

5% is still 5% too many.

 

[Trem]

5% is still 5% too many.

Fuck me, Tony Blair would love to hear you say that, will give him another excuse to whack more cameras up.

Isn't 5% the lowest in europe including the Swiss?

 

[Calaen]

I still dont understand the issues with cameras You make it sound like when everyone gets to them they slam their brakes on to avoid getting flashed. Yet surely if someone goes into the back of them they are driving to close anyway, which isnt the fault of the first driver?

I dont buy the concentration thing, If I had a 6 hours journey, I would not speed to get it down to 4 hours. I would have planned the journey and taken into account the length of time required before I set off. If you find you cannot concentrate on the road unless you are speeding then you should have your licence taken from you.

The problem I have with the system is how it isnt really a punishment, I have a guy at work that had 9 points, he got caught for speeding again and had to get his wife to take the points on her licence so he did not get punished. Its lame as fook.

 

[ECA]

<3 non drivers telling drivers how it is.

 

[ECA]

Oh and seeing as the "OMGYOUKILLBABIESANDSTUFF" people ignored my real post in this thread, here it is again perhaps some replies this time instead of avoiding it and just going for the easy arguments.

In my county, Lancashire, we have the highest number of speed cameras in any county, yet our accident rate is at a five year high and over that period has almost doubled, coincidentally the accident rate started rising above statistical norms when speed cameras were introduced.

Our eyes should be on the road, and it would be a lot safer doing 40 then having to watch the needle on a dial half the fucking time, or people slamming their brakes on as they approach cameras/guns.

I also agree that arbitrary speed limits are retarded.
Like most I've driven on the motorway at about 20mph when visibility has been zero, and I've driven down it in the middle of the night with not another soul to be seen when it would have been safe doing 90+.

The problem isnt drivers like myself/tom/etc who drive faster than the legal limit when we feel its safe to do so ( I obviously drive 30 90% of the time living in an urban area - and never go over it during the day ) but the law is not there to protect people from responsible drivers it there to protect from the racers who drive with disregard to others safety - the ones who speed on housing estates and about town and do 120+ in a 30 or 40 limit and do it at unsafe times in unsafe conditions.

But heres the problem, drivers like that dont give a shit about driving responsibly and driving at speeds they are safe at they do it anyway, so who eats the shit?

Correct, the safe drivers.

Then we have those who shouldnt have a driving license anyway, those who are not safe to drive at 30 anyway.

For example, the area I live in has a lot of families+kids often playing in the streets during summer, I drive down the side streets at 15mph because I dont want to hit one - yet I see the parents of these kids driving around at 30-40 regularly and wonder when someone is going to get killed.


Imo the way to go is much tougher testing, driving tests should be an hour long, with another hour long test on a motorway before you're allowed to drive on one, with another hour test on a skidpad to make sure you can handle the car in an accident situation.

Instead we have a laughable common sense theory paper, a hazard awareness test "oh we're going past a bus, maybe we should slow down in case some tard walks out" that a three year old could pass and a 30 minute test you can take as often as you like.

Secondly public transport is shit and needs billions investing, but thats another issue isnt it.

 

[Bullitt]

Fuck me, Tony Blair would love to hear you say that, will give him another excuse to whack more cameras up.

Isn't 5% the lowest in europe including the Swiss?

I was simply pointing out that people are losing their lives due to people driving at unecessary speeds, granted a hell of alot more are due to driving irresponsibly.

I'd agree that undoubtedly they'd use it as an excuse to whack more cameras up. Which I believe isn't the solution. The quote from a similar thread posted a good while back:

In an ideal world we wouldn't need any cameras whatsoever as people would drive sensibly and rationally

This doesn't mean within speed limits either, because if everyone drove sensibly and rationally we wouldn't need them either.

 

[nath]

Yeah but people are questioning whether speed cameras actually save lives at all? There may be places that they do, but I think it's been suggested and proven that in the vast majority of places they don't save lives.

 

[Calaen]

<3 non drivers telling drivers how it is.

I do drive

Isnt it at all possible that the accident rate has gone up because of the breeding of iresponsible chavs passing their tetst in the last 4 years rather than the speed cameras?

You show me the facts on the amount of accidents that happen at a speed camera and I might agree with you until then it just looks like a feeble excuse to blame a camera.

 

[Trem]

Likewise.

You show us that accidents have dropped because of cameras, then you have something to back it up.

N00b

 

[ECA]

I do drive

Isnt it at all possible that the accident rate has gone up because of the breeding of iresponsible chavs passing their tetst in the last 4 years rather than the speed cameras?

You show me the facts on the amount of accidents that happen at a speed camera and I might agree with you until then it just looks like a feeble excuse to blame a camera.

Yes focus on your one small talking point, IGNORE THE BAD MAN.

I am in a safe place, the bad men won't hurt me.


Its funny that given your claim to be the happiest bloke we'll find how much vitriol and hatred you spew on an anonymous internet forum.

 

[Trem]

Cal is happy, like I said earlier it comes across lots better if you were speaking to him rather than typing.

 

[ECA]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Calaen
Jesus you are such fucking morons sometimes.
You are no different to scum bags that commit other crimes and get off with it due to some fucking loop hole..

Quote:
With all respect intended mate you can fuck right off. This comment shows everyone that probably already thinks you are a cock they are right.

You have no fucking respect for other people when you drive. I feel sorry for you I really do.

Quote:
Fixed for clarity. Cock bag.

Quote:
Its a road where people with more FUCKING intelligence than you have decided is safer, if people adhere to a speed limit.

Quote:
I really look forward to your I crashed my car into a wall post, no doubt it will be someone elses fault.

Quote:
Until then please carry on in your sub standard life.

Quote:
No mate I am the guy that could stamp on your face for eternity and never get bored.




HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

 

[Trem]

I admit that may look slightly unhappy...........

 

[Calaen]

Likewise.

You show us that accidents have dropped because of cameras, then you have something to back it up.

N00b

I am not saying accidents have not dropped though am I? I am merely saying that you are accusing the speed cameras of causing accidents. So all you need to do is show me where the figures are for accidents cause at the scene of a camera and I will agree with you about them causing more accidents.

 

[Calaen]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Calaen
Jesus you are such fucking morons sometimes.
You are no different to scum bags that commit other crimes and get off with it due to some fucking loop hole..

Quote:
With all respect intended mate you can fuck right off. This comment shows everyone that probably already thinks you are a cock they are right.

You have no fucking respect for other people when you drive. I feel sorry for you I really do.

Quote:
Fixed for clarity. Cock bag.

Quote:
Its a road where people with more FUCKING intelligence than you have decided is safer, if people adhere to a speed limit.

Quote:
I really look forward to your I crashed my car into a wall post, no doubt it will be someone elses fault.

Quote:
Until then please carry on in your sub standard life.

Quote:
No mate I am the guy that could stamp on your face for eternity and never get bored.




HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

Damn right now if you would just leave the house instaed of living in Sims I might chance a meeting and whoop you ass. happy enough for yah?

Are you having difficulty providing the % of accidents caused because of cameras :-( guess google isnt always the answer to your prayers.

 

[Trem]

All you need to do is to show that 'safety cameras' are infact improving safety, which is apparently the reason for them.