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PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 08:32 
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My wife has just received an NIP, for an alleged 62mph in what we believe is a 50mph stretch of dual carriageway (no side turnings, perfectly OK to do 70 - it used to be a 70 of course). (We need to check exactly where the so-called offence took place.)

My point is, is that there was a camera van on the other side of the dual carriageway at where we think the event took place and if this is the van then how can it possibly have measured my wife's speed from such an extreme angle? From the camera van in the verge on the other side of the carriageway to my wife's car travelling in the opposite direction much surely be too wide an angle to get an accurate measurement - "slip error". Are there "guidelines" or regulations governing the siting of camera vans? (Incidentally, there was an accident and a tail-back of traffic just in front of the van (on its side of the carriageway) no doubt induced by panic braking by drivers seeing the "safety" van.)


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 09:58 
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james_J wrote:
My wife has just received an NIP, for an alleged 62mph in what we believe is a 50mph stretch of dual carriageway (no side turnings, perfectly OK to do 70 - it used to be a 70 of course). (We need to check exactly where the so-called offence took place.)


Hi James and :welcome:


Typically and sadly - lot of roads which were once safe enough at a higher speed now have lowered limits.


Sometimes this has come about by increased traffic volume (which was the prime cause of collsion as opposed to the actual speed :roll: - the "driver error" of failure to use our COAST system :wink:) . Sometimes - because of plans to further "urbanise/build" in the area . :roll:


Unfortunately - we do know that, on such roads, drivers will be tempted to drive above the posted limit and it's why you may even find our lads and lasses larking around on such roads - but - ahem - we are old fashioned here and "'ave a word there and then !" :wink: It does not always end in tears either. We do use the one brain cell we share between us! :wink: Some call it - cough "discretion". We call it "professional judgement of each individual situation" as enforcing the law should not be a case of "hand out punishments" - it has to be about making sure the logic behind that law is understood and that the person may avoid such bother in the future.

So would we have prosecuted in this area where we "just have the one van and fixed cam" - but a shed load of potential woe to drivers in the "plodmobiles" :twisted:


:scratchchin: Would depend on what we actually saw in the cicumstances - but we usually do prosecute at the "wider margin of error" - and the person does fully understand why we had to do so.

We think this avoids and even removes that "us v them/mutual distrust" element and allows us to continue enforcing the law with our public's consent.

So maybe we may have issued a NIP to her - but she would have known the reason why. Or just maybe :hehe: she would have had to sit through a much longer verbal lecture version of COAST than the really "wild" :neko: sometimes types up on PH :lol: :yikes: :shock:


Lot of points in this section and "cam op"'s the bloke with the more intimate knowledge as I have never actually sat in a cam van with a hair dryer. :wink:

I was trained up in the generation of Traffic :stop: which did the job the right way :wink: and we still do so up in this little corner of the scenic North East :lol:


Quote:
My point is, is that there was a camera van on the other side of the dual carriageway at where we think the event took place and if this is the van then how can it possibly have measured my wife's speed from such an extreme angle? From the camera van in the verge on the other side of the carriageway to my wife's car travelling in the opposite direction much surely be too wide an angle to get an accurate measurement - "slip error".



Possibly they were monitoring the speed of the opposite carriageway and not the one on which they were sitting - and mounted the cam accordingly on steadying tripod gear etc.


See if you can get hold of the photos.

james-j wrote:
]
Are there "guidelines" or regulations governing the siting of camera vans? (Incidentally, there was an accident and a tail-back of traffic just in front of the van (on its side of the carriageway) no doubt induced by panic braking by drivers seeing the "safety" van.)



Sadly - no longer given some areas are using horse boxes and unmarked vans again :popcorn:


Ironically - we publish where our van will be targetting and put up :listenup: SLOW DOWN! signs .. and still cop some folk :roll: at a wider margin than we will realistically tolerate.

Again - if jamming traffic was obscuring its vision of the opposite carriageway - you still need to try to get hold of the photos showing the recorded speed. My normal everday observation of when an accident occurs - all traffic in each direction slows due to "rubber necking" - which in turn causes more collisions :banghead:


If she really was 62 mph in the 50 mph - not much you can do other than chalk to experience and use my COAST scheme in future ... or get an origin doo-dah.. and set the rather wicked gadget to blip when you "overspeed" :wink:

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