Safe Speed Forums

You appear to have discovered the "truth".

Speeds go down, but safety dosent improve in the vicinity of cameras.....any cameras.
So the point of them being touted as a safety device becomes negated and the lie is exposed.

Why cant those idiots in positions of authority see this?
Cos theyre far too interested in the take.

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"Safety" Scamera Partnerships;
Profitting from death and misery since 1993.

Believe nothing- Question everything.

Once again you have missed the point.

The fact is that wet concrete does not protect drivers as well as hardened concrete.

A glancing blow against the central barrier, perhaps due to a burst tyre, usually results in the car staying on the same side of the barrier and on its wheels.

I don't underestimate the danger of being stationary in lane 3 but its safer than going south bound on the north bound lane 3 while upside down.

Which has happened when a barrier collapsed due to the concrete not having set properly. I saw the aftermath of just such an incident many years ago when it was the practice to remove temporary speed limits as soon as the workforce had finished.

The reason for a reduced speed limit in such circumstances is to limit the maximum speed at impact to one at which the barrier will (hopefully) work as designed.

Even if this is the case, how about all the other roadworks where 'setting concrete' is not a player?

I believe this to be largely BS, wishful thinking or - worse - a cover story for arse-covering health and safety types.

The product of difference-in-risk and probability-of-event is close to zero, especially when you compare one mile of motorway with central barrier work to countless thousands of miles of single carriageway road with no barrier at all.

I don't blame you for this Fisherman, I believe you are repeating someone else's (let's be kind) wishful thinking.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Going home last night I was paying more attention to the roadworks after reading this thread. M25 slip onto M3 now coned off to one lane with a SPECS on the slip road speed limit 50mph. Slip roads marked with temporary cats-eyes. About a mile from the M25 intersection is the next SPECS camera with the NSL about 100 yards after.

No workmen at all in this area.

Approximately 2 miles up the M3 behind a temporary steel barrier erected on the hardshoulder line were the workmen laying (data?) cables in the verge on the inside of the hardshoulder.

What health and safety reason is there for the SPECS to be on the M3 at all?

Why have the slip roads been changed?

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Prepare to be Judged

I believe it for a test of a new slip road layout. Previously both the M25 entrances were merged into one lane and the M3 used the other two, the M25 slips were always queued. Now the M25e, M25w and M3s have one lane each. This in theory will prevent the delays on the M25 entrance slips. It seems to have worked, but only to an extent as the M25ers tend to immediately shift into lane 3 so now queues are formed on the M3s instead.


Here’s an interesting point regarding the SPECS cameras which no-one has picked up on. There are two on the M3s before and after the junction. I believe there are more on route from the M25 slips. If so and type approval stipulates that these cameras can only be used in pairs then it must mean that some of these cameras must be dummies.

I have been taking photos of these cameras with my modified camera only to find that both the IR illuminators for both left side cameras on the M3 are off
(I don’t know the status of the M25 cams as I’ve never been down there as a passenger)

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

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Prepare to be Judged

So would this logically mean some/all the M25 SPECS onto the M3 are simply dummies?

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

I'm not sure what dummy SPECS mixed in with real ones would hope to achieve, given they are 'area denial' rather than 'point defence'. The only thing that springs to mind is making drivers think a 'zone' has ended when it has not, thus 'catching out' anyone who speeds up.

The setup isn’t as you envisage. Drivers coming from the M3/M25 will pass one SPECS camera set (a 'set' is a number of cameras mounted on the same pole monitoring multiple lanes) prior to entering the junction; all will then pass one more camera set further down the M3 after the junction. There is no third set (live or dummy).

Edit: I have seen zones with 3 sets of SPECS, I can only guess this is to cover a rolling set of roadworks such that at least 2 cameras are live while the third is decommissioned/uprooted/reinstalled/commissioned as the works section moves along.

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

I think there might be another set of SPECS cameras heading southbound on the M3 prior to the M25 intersection so maybe those and the last set are probably the live ones as I can't understand what use filtering everyone through one lane on the slip road can do as most of them will have changed lanes as soon as they get on the M3.

We all know how effective SPECS is at catching lane changers

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Prepare to be Judged

It may well be that the incident I was involved with was the only one of its kind. Its entirely possible that the collapsing barrier had no part to play in the car crossing over.

But you could make the barrier wobble by leaning on it and I don't see how that would offer the same protection as one which didn't move. In this case it had gone over to lay flat on the ground and the police on scene were confident that this had "encouraged" the car to roll.



I suspect there is a touch of overcaution in many decisions where there is a potential serious adverse affect on people. I usually take the view that its better to be safe than sorry.

Yes, but when you compare it to thousands of miles of perfectly acceptable single carriageways, it all starts to look barking mad - let alone 'overcautious'.

I believe there are still a couple of 70mph single carrigeways too, that benefit from motorway designation.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Frayed rear seat belts will cause a car to fail an MOT. Even if the owner has no friends and never takes passengers.

The official view is that, if you have safety equipment it should be in good order for that 1 in a million time that you need it to work.

Like the police that turn out when some yob puts a brick through your new car window (and then get an arrest, or the reactive team that arrive to find a teenager climbing out of a window, take him down town , go for a break and find the yob out on the street as they go out.
And New Labia wonder why police numbers are declining.
Then suddenly some residents group asks why said yob is released(MP, CHIEF MAGISTRATE , ETC,ETC), and "surprise ,surprise " young gent gets remanded.Not so much a group aiming cameras , but a group aiming political intent, and thats more lethal.