Safe Speed Forums

I was staggered to read in this weeks MCN, that they have applied for their own No 10 petition. They are asking for motorcycles to be exempt from proposed road pricing.

Thanks, guys. Thanks for showing a united front!

Have MCN completely missed the point here? Have they no concept of what this whole debacle is about?

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

I would guess that, like us, they acknowledge that little is likely to come of the petition, the arrogant government will just ignore it. If the road pricing is ostensibly carried out on the grounds of congestion, however, which it purportedly is, then they (the government) should surely be keen to not charge congestion reducing (and very fuel efficient) forms of transport, such as bikes.

It may well be a masterstroke by MCN, since if the government does press ahead with road pricing, and does not exempt bikes, then they will have shown that the pretense of congestion relief was just another lie from this administration.

I would love to know where they would find room for a transponder on something like a VTEC anyway; with pro-oiler and alarm fitted there was not even room for waterproofs under the seat on mine!

Yeah, this is the very argument that MCN use. I would have thought there will be plenty of time for these points to be raised - right now, the issue is more about distrust in the government and (I think), the opponents should be displaying a united approach.

Bikes will be almost impossible to equipe, as you say - but that's only one of hundreds of problems raised by the proposal.

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Why?

By the time the proposals would be implemented the hardware would be the size of mobile phone. All you need is power from the ignition circuit and ground and you have a system.

Mandatory road-side spot checks with the threat of 6 months in prison will make sure no one tampers with the kit.

Remember, its not about conjestion because high Co2 cars will pay more. Also electric vehicles will probably be exempt (as per London)

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Speed camera policy Kills

Until the fuse blows.


Do you really believe that the threat of 6 months is going to worry (say) a back patch??
What makes you think that once we get to that stage, people on 2 wheels are actually going to stop for plod to start with?

Besides which, the government has already stated that nobody is going to jail unless they are an immediate danger to the public because the prisons are already overcrowded.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

As technology for black boxes becomes that good, I'm equally sure technology for covert jammers will too.

Sorry, not even room for a mobile phone under the seat of my VTEC with an alarm and pro-oiler fitted!

Unless the adopted protocol/s do not allow for a no-signal operation. Don't forget, with a gps based system there is always the potential for mandatory AUTOMATIC speed control, it has already been tested. Once you have the system effectively having control of the vehicle speed, you also have a system in place for the vehicle to stop in the case of signal corruption or loss, or for the vehicle to BE stopped.
I have monitored (albeit on a "when I remember" basis) the development of such a system for some years now, ever since I read that such a system was being tested in my town. As far as I know, the system worked well, within the limits of the technology available then (early 1990s')
You can see some of the needed technology on your in-car nav system, which displays the speed you are travelling AT, and the speed limit for that area.

http://www.its.leeds.ac.uk/projects/evsc/exec.pdf

There are quite a few other projects on the go as well.
Maybe you can see now why the galileo system is being built ?

Galileo is being 'built' because if we were to base 'European' policy on a system that is wholly owned and controlled by the Americans we might as well publish a picture on the front page of The Times with all the major European leaders bent over, bare-assed, being buggered by 'Dubya' with a large replica of the Statue of Liberty. Without lubricant.

Bluestreak or TSR 2 anybody?

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

My solicitor is already being instructed as to the amount of damages I will be seeking when my car is forcibly stopped in the outside lane of the the M3 because the transponder lost contact with the satellite

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Ah but!......

You blatantly ignored the instructed command to: "PULL OVER!"........"PULL OVER!"......."PULL OVER!" three times via your transponder in the voice of our "Big Brother".......

To which, You replied: .........."Nah Mate! ......... fachin' T shirt innit!".....and put your foot down even further!....

Keep dreaming guys. If they want to impliment tracking for motorcycles the WILL do it.

The government is already preparing legislation which deals with tampering with registration plate and tracking equipment with a maximum penalty of jail!

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Speed camera policy Kills

There is some truth in that
It's more to do with the low signal strength from the US system in towns, cities and hilly areas though.
The galileo system is nearly ten times the signal strength of the US gps.

One wonders how foreigh vehicles will be incorporated into the scheme. Of course, it would/will be possible to track all European vehicles, so long as the will to do so is there and the various EU countries ALL manage to agree all the time. Having worked on the design of the Concord(e) it was hard enough to get the engineers of England and France to agree and we ended up with the fuselage dimensioned in inches and the wings in cms. (and that is absolutely true!).
If all the EU is not in agreement 100% on the entire scheme, then it will be easy to buy a vehicle from one of the non-agreeing nations and use it anywhere in the EU quite legally so long as it's insured and licenced in its country of registration. That's one of the few benefits brought to us by EU membership. The only regulation applying is that it must not stay in the UK for more than 6 months in any 12.
So for all this to work, an EY-wide tracking module will need to be fitted to EVERY EU registered vehicle and be logged into the specific country's national tracking system as soon as it crosses a border. Then, presumably, the billing will go to the vehicle's owner in whatever country the vehicle is registered, with payment made directly to the revenue service of the country in which the vehicle was used during each billing period.
Does anyone seriously think that this will happen? Or will happen within 15 years, or 20 years? Or at all!
This entire proposal has the potential for ending up as the greatest gov't cock-up of all time. Greater than the 'Ground Nut Scheme' (who remembers that?), greater than the Poll Tax, greater than the so-called NHS improvements, greater than 'The Nimrod 2000 Project', greater than the 'Respect Initiative', greater than 'Education, education, education', greater than 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'; the list is long and getting longer.
Not only will it destroy our economy, it will destroy any political party stupid enough to impliment it.

Then ,how long before someone decides to clone transponder id ,and kit out cars with cloned plates to match--

the possiblities are endless