ricky78 wrote:
First of all I speed once in a while and not excessively.
I have skimmed through and will assume you are lurking.

You seem very angry in this initial post. I can only assure you that 95% of the posters to this site are genuinely concerned with road safety .. love driving and are seriously smitten by the power of the internal combustion engine
But that does not mean hooning it on public roads not disrespecting other road users. The truly skilled enthusiasts would not entertain such an idea.
BUT...
Unfortunately.. if copped in Lancs/Staffs/ and the other 13 or so pratnerhsips offering a speed aware course.. you will have been required to have paid £60-120 for this course.
Now do not read me wrong. Lancs and Staffs speed courses actually teach and preach C O A S T (and please do a search on this for In Gear's "set in stone but from the heart post" on COAST..
However, by nit picking and cherry picking the blippers as candidates for the course .. they do really undermine something which would really focus the more OTT brigade towards a more evaluating and skill aware approach to the craft of handling a car
with some decent ability A speed camera can never determine the most appropriate invitee to such courses. It can only ping a speed with scant regard as to actual road conditions. A police officer may not have let 38 mph in a 40 mph pass without a word or two.. but he may have lectured and penalised and punished as a last resort. A bit like the head teacher deciding whether or not a misdemeanour warranted three strokes of his cane or not in my school days
ricky wrote:
I've also been driving for at least ten years and have never once been flashed by a camera or stopped by police.
Am .. er.. OK .. my eldest son is almost 20 .. my twins almost 18.. and our youngest just 2 and half years
Am a consultant medic in my own field .. so I think I must admit that I passed test aged 17 years and had a RoSPA gold before completed my final exams ..
trained at St Andrews.. had hard choices between golf, whisky, girls, cars
Don't tell Wildy
But have to say my licence issued at age 17 had not one blemish .. nor have I had an accident.
I will have to say that incidents happen to the innocent best of us.
My wife Wildy

who posts occasionally on this site and more often to Pistonheads. Colourful.. funny.. infuriating and cannot type two words ..

.. which leads to all kinds of daft twaddle from those who claim that a quaint mis-spelling of "is" and "and" makes her "impossible to undertand" when "i" see lots of other spelling and grammatical errors which even I as a native speaker have to read twice to fully understand.
She nearly lost her life when someone was taken ill behind the wheel of his car.
Her eldest cousin died when a lorry with defective everything veered in rush hour traffic across the other two lanes.. crashed through the central reserve barriers and into the car crawling in L3. The Swiss chap died instantly. We still thank our God that he probably never knew what hit him at the time. Never saw.. never suffered. His family suffered at the time.. and our routine lives still think .. "What would Ferdl have thought of .. this .. that.. the other.. " and it would be very dishonest of me to say that these thoughts have no sadness, regret or feeling of a void left by Ferdl within them - but on the other hand .. we do remember him with much warmth and love... and through us who knew him (and Rudi who died in a plane crash).. the quintessential existence does not die or fade.
So you see - Rick - the ones who profess to be "pee cee tolerant and not racist" are not as "pure" as they seem

Yes .. of course as Wildy

's husband .. I defend her just as Martin stands by and protects his wife. This does not mean Martin and his wife are disrespected.. quite the contrary.. though we reserve the right to disgagree respectfully with Mrs Martin

I am sure if she is reading.. she will chuckle to herself and hopefully .. er.. she may try to balance the two polarisations to be herself.. and form her own views which could be per In Gear.. accepting error within normal reason and stamping hard on the definitely disrespectful and illegal beyond decency
Quote:
So I've got no pity for you all moaning about speed cameras. All of you know the law and the speed limits and most of you can probably read the speed limits signs, they ven warn us about the cameras.
Only if you read the maps and the prat sites

talivans can move at the last minute and tolerances seem to vary. It also seems calibration may be a bit dodgy too.
I admit to liking my origin gadget. It warns me of blackspots and speed limit on these blackspots.
It tells me when I am in a mile radius of any school. Useful if in a strange area. Schools are not on main roads., Most are tucked down residentials. Kids saunter along the quietish side streets and .. lulled into false security .. may jay-walk.

My gadget forewarns me in enough time. Forewarned = fore armed and VIGILANT more so than ever as a result
Quote:
So if you get flashed it is 100% your own fault.
familiarity has problems. People become "blase" and forget .. even believe they are legal.
Our submarinated Speed Finder Genera;l when challenged about the dangers to the tourist industry does take a glee in pointing out the locals and not the tourists get pinged
People get pinged by out of sight mobiles on motorway bridges and both Wildy and self have come across crude attempts to conceal fixed Gatsos to our Southern neighbour

Hiding them behind road side furniture.. removing the "tell tale" paint on the tarmac.. and so on...

So... perhaps not quite as clear cut as you are thinking here .. Rick.
Next time you see a speed "trap" or trap.

- take some time out.. sit by it for an hour observing. The Swiss morons did just that .. and filmed it. It was enlightening ... educating...and they chose 50 randon sites across country. It convinced them that speed cams do not cop dangerous.. only the inadvertent who believe themselves to be 100% legal all the time.. but who get pinged and "converted" when the NIP arrives

Quote:
But then I guess that's the problem with this country today now, it's a blame culture some people would rather behave like spoilt kids and try blaming their foolishness on others.
Yep.. fear of litigation even closed schools. I had to attend in worse weather and my own kids in the Independent School had to attend. The fosters had the day off. We contacted the school our own attend (and before anyone asks.. the fosters have to attend the school our social service dictate about.
But .. closing down schools in the snow.. gives a message that you skive paid work if it snows and is "dangerous"
A blame or ambulance chasing society is borne out of a pee-cee removal of responsibility and accountability.
It manifests itself in blaming everyone else for your mistakes - and
failing to choose a safe speed to proceed .. even if this is below the speed limit

and failing one or more of IG's and Franklin's COAST requirements.