Permanent speed cameras on the M4?

[Dr_Weasel]

From the sky news article on this it sounds like its going to be a rigid enforcement of 70mph too, maybe not just 70 + 10%.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1178026,00.html

It'll be interesting to see if they use Gatsos or the Specs cameras. If its the Gatsos then all people will do is brake for the camera then nail it to the next one. Hardly the safest driving pattern.... If its the Specs cameras then it will definately slow the traffic down as these work by capturing your number plate and working out your speed over a distance. Im not sure if the systems can handle the amount of traffic on a 3 lane motorway though.

// edit just found this link with more info

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1565657,00.html

 

[DaGaffer]

The Wiltshire partnership, which includes the police and the county council, will argue tomorrow that the casualty rate on the M4 is higher than on the average motorway and meets the level required by the department. There were 18 deaths, 69 serious injuries and 641 slight injuries between junctions 15 and 17 between 2001 and 2004.

Hmm, a quick google and you find that stretch of road is "4 star" rated - making it one of the safest stretches of road in England...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/roadsafety/4star.shtml

This stinks like a very stinky thing.

 

[rynnor]

Cash cow pure and simple - cameras are supposed to be used for safety but when Motorways are already the safest roads in the UK its not possible to use safety as a justification.

I imagine the M4 is being used as a testbed - expect rollout to the rest of the Motorways eventually - possibly the money raised will go towards the next system that charges you a per mile rate for using motorways...

Edit - lol made M4 into M$ first time which is strangely appropriate...

 

[Dr_Weasel]

If its saving lives that counts, its interesting that in 2003 184 people died on our motorways. In the very same year 955 people died in our hospitals of MRSA.

How about for each person that dies in hopspital they should fine the doctors and nurses that obviously didnt keep the place clean. For repeat offenders they should jail them. That'd sort the problem out and save more lives....

Im not against speed cameras, just put them somewhere where it really is in the interests of safety. Or instead of speed cameras on our motorways, have cameras that catch tailgaters and idiots that sit in the middle lane of the motorway causing congestion.

 

[~Yuckfou~]

The arguement for emmigration just grows stronger every day.
If Bliar gets in again I'm going to start seriously thinking about fucking off to somewhere less shite.

 

[Doh_boy]

How about for each person that dies in hopspital they should fine the doctors and nurses that obviously didnt keep the place clean. For repeat offenders they should jail them. That'd sort the problem out and save more lives....

I was told that it was the contracted out cleaning service people cutting corners to make more money that was the problem. Also I have a mate who's just qualified to be a doctor (now working as a surgeon in A&E) who says the procedure for MRSA is actually quite good. If it's found on a doctor all their patients are tested and the doctor gets paid leave for a few days. This may not be strictly true because I was trying to finish my mates box of local 'real-ale' at the time. But it's something like that.

 

[nath]

If its saving lives that counts, its interesting that in 2003 184 people died on our motorways. In the very same year 955 people died in our hospitals of MRSA.

I mean, how hard is it to keep a hospital clean?







(I imagine it's pretty fucking hard if you ask me.)

 

[Damini]

The cleaners aren't actually allowed to clean anything thats human waste. Which is pretty damned ludicrous. Poo, vomit, blood, and a nurse has to stop tending to patients and get down on her hands and knees and clean it up. Which is fine, if thats in their job description, but patently ridiculous when cleaners are hired in to point at poo and refuse to touch it.

 

[Embattle]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4439123.stm

 

[Dr_Weasel]

I was taking the piss about locking up the nurses in the hospital. I was just having a knee jerk reaction to 5x the amount of deaths due to MRSA compared to the number of motorway deaths.

The dudes comment in the letest BBC article

"Bearing in mind the motorway is virtually straight the only reason for this has to be speed"

Im glad hes using proper scientific data for this reasoning. If he can just pluck stuff out of the air then perhaps I can suggested that the vast majoirty of accidents Ive seen on the M4 have involved lorries? Is that because they drive 2 foot from each others bumpers? Do the cars then crash into each other because people tailgate each other?

Well I can say from my impressions of the M4 this morning that the traffic was indeed bunched up more than normal. People were driving very close to each other as there were 2 to 3 lanes of traffic all doing 70mph and no one could over take. Then when a lorry wanted to pull out into the middle lane there was momentary mayhem as people had to find space for this lorry and then creep past it in the outside lane. No one dared just stick their foot down for a few seconds to pass the lorry incase the bridge 1km down the road had a camera on it.

I always thought that there was provision in the law that you could temporarily exceed to the overtake someone more safely. Cameras remove this ability (if it ever existed and I didnt dream it up)

 

[Dr_Weasel]

Two days into this scheme and there has already been another accident caused by bloody lorry.

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/swindon/news/SWINDON_NEWS7.html

Ill say no more....

 

[Tom]

Foreign trucks are under no legal obligation to fit blind spot mirrors to their vehicles. This causes quite a few accidents, as the driver has no way of seeing down the offside of his cab.

What normally happens is that the car that gets hit is pushed across, spins around, and ends up stuck to the front of the truck, travelling sideways down the lane. Its normally quite lethal.


The M4 is mostly straight, and very straight where they're installing the cameras. So basically, its nothing to do with making the motorway safer, and everything to do with fining drivers. If they really want to improve safety on that section, they should stop people tailgating in fog. In light of this accident, perhaps foreign vehicles should be forced to carry a mandatory curved mirror to reduce/eliminate blind spots. It would only cost about £10 per truck, a piffling amount.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Vote Veritas and they won't even be allowed to drive ! Go Kilroy!




(note: proabably not true)