Safe Speed Forums

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/22 ... ector_bust
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... ttr=797084
http://www.ade651.com and http://atscllc.en.ecplaza.net/ (and more, and more, and so much more)

Is it April 1st?
I mean, this would be really funny (if untrue) and it wasn't for all the deaths surrounding it.

Edited to expand:
A British business group, which has made countless millions from governments by selling safety devices for use by their various agencies, is under scrutiny for blatant and wilful misrepresentation of the effectiveness of these units. These units cost tens of thousands each. The authorities using the devices continue to stand by these devices even though the basic and obvious flaws raised by those questioning the effectiveness remain unacknowledged and unaddressed.
What makes it far worse is that reliance on these methods has resulted with many needless deaths, at least hundreds more than using traditional effective measures.
I guess people can fall for the most ridiculous of claims if spun hard enough by so-called 'experts'.

And how is this related to the aims of this campaign?

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

I suppose it depends upon how much money it took to lubricate the wheels of government/s.
Probably not too much.
After all, you do not have to be that bright to figure it was a con....

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

I guess the people who are actually 'using' these don't think it's a con.

edited to add:
The ADE-651 is in use at most checkpoints in Baghdad (BBC)

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

http://www.ade651.com/ade651in.html


so I waited in line for a fake bomb scan at the airport?

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

The fact that the salesman turned up on the morning of April 1st, wearing a clown's outfit, should have been a bit of a clue....

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

“We are working on a new model that has flashing lights.”
And the award for Most Egregious Missing Of The Point for 2010 goes to…

These units are nothing more than dowsing rods.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/11/04/when-antiscience-kills-dowsing-edition/

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Wait a minute, didn't lots of Gatsos have nothing inside the box?

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

This whole issue has the stench of an organised and officially approved scam!

Did nobody along the supply chain ever have the idea of actually testing these devices???

(You know, will it "sniff" that bit of semtex/gunpowder/nitro/etc)

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

They did loads of tests.
One person after the other was sent into a minefield to test the devices.
Every single person stole them and never came back.....

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

It is makes me wonder who was conned first. Then having conned one person how quickly that one person then convinces another and so on until $85M has been spent.
He must have been laughing all the way to the bank.

I think it incredulous that they believed him ! People can be so gullible especially if someone they trust believes in the system. Makes you realise too how little research was done before the money was spent - mad. To spend that much money without credible evidence shows staggering incompetence. The fact that people have trusted their soldiers and have been killed is just disgusting, they need to be remanded in Custody not bailed for trial - They have murdered - or corporate manslaughter at least ! The forces and innocent parties to this will be totally unaware that it is a 'pup' and to trust it is to put their own lives in grave danger. Tragic.
I think this pinpoints it from your last link :

The only dowser services that I am aware of that can work are for water. It does seems to work for some. It is thought that not everyone can obtain a reaction, thought to be due to 'our own electricity'. Some think that you do have to be trained but a dowser told me that you have to know how to work with the rods, ask the right questions & so keeping it very simple.(Here)

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

If dowsing does work why has no one managed to win the one million dollars that the James Randi Foundation has offered to anyone who can demonstrate the phenonam under controlled conditions?
http://www.randi.org/library/dowsing/

Whilst their belief in dowsing for water is mainly harmless these people become dangerous when they imply that their are therapeutic usess ("How can dowsing help with assessing health problems?" )

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

This is all about desperation and having to be seen to do "something".

There is no simple way to detect roadside IEDs. All the big defence companies are working on directed radar, sniffers and other ideas but nothing is successful yet. Then along comes someone who says "I can do it." and voila the civil servants at the MOD buy it.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

I hadn't heard of the dowsing $1M but I am not a 'dowser' I have just had a go. I think the chap I know, might love the opportunity but I will have to notify him of it ...
There maybe 'something' in it and it maybe that no one has shown 'how' and 'why' it works when it does. Only once a 'good enough' scientific reason is fully understood, can we start to develop the system. At the moment only some can truly get (probably) some good results. The chap I know told me a story of how when he was looking for water (for building projects), he got a positive reading, they dug and found a very old long forgotten Victorian water supply ! He searched again and then about 2m away found the modern water supply that he wanted. He had been using this system for years.

I can never agree to ever 'doing something' for keeping up an 'appearance' for voters or for whatever.
People have to do things because they have been proven to be the correct or best practice next step or action to take for that product or service.
I suppose people in tiered systems have bosses that pressure them into trying to find solutions (wrong but it happens) and so maybe it is stress and tension that they try to preserve their position by showing 'action' and whether right or wrong, takes second place to them than their job.
Ought to be held for trial !
This is a prime example of how this has got out of hand and how each person in the tiered layers must ensure for themselves of others actions than just sign off without properly looking. So then are their either too many or too few, people dealing in these 'force buyers' tiers ?
Has modern technology led us into a false belief that neigh anything is possible?
I have a local bomb squad who go and explode those bombs that didn't go off for whatever reason (target practice) I wonder if they use them?!

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

I've taken the time to try and understand what Derren Brown does, absolutely fascinating stuff. From that I was unpleasantly surprised to learn just how suggestible many folk are. I've also read up on the processes of human bias (confirmation bias, congeniality, congnitive dissonance, etc).
All considered, I reckon it is far more likely this detector (or any form of dowsing) has 'worked' because of suggestion (from others or one's self) and the desire to believe (and the desire for rewards no doubt).

A device that can locate something passive, non-conductive and contained, through any material, at up to thousands of meters away, without contact of any kind (vapour, contamination or otherwise), by using a means of totally passive "electrostatics" - is beyond physical comprehension. Yet:

Iraqi Interior ministry still backing 'bomb detector'
Apparently, it's all down to the user



Returning and adding to my underlying point:
A British business group, which has made countless millions from governments by selling safety devices for use by their various agencies, is under scrutiny for blatant and wilful misrepresentation of the effectiveness of these units. These units cost tens of thousands each. The authorities using the devices continue to stand by these devices even though the basic and obvious flaws raised by those questioning the effectiveness remain unacknowledged and unaddressed.
What makes it far worse is that reliance on these methods has resulted with many needless deaths, at least hundreds more than using traditional effective measures.
I guess people can fall for the most ridiculous of claims if spun hard enough by so-called 'experts'.

And how is this related to the aims of this campaign?

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

Oh yes I totally realised & there it is as you say
Yep agreed propaganda when woven well to those that are selected (those a few mph above limit) then 'believe' and pass on the message and the original spinners then just sit back and every now and again make a few (wrong or mis-understood) statements. Sweeping statement like if you go slower you hit less hard and speed kills, all sound reasonable to those that don't think about it or really understand it. Add into their fold those that are vulnerable helps them add to apparently show that others 'believe' too!
Hence propaganda ...
No way to run safety for bomb squads or road safety.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Suddenly realised this is about the "bomb detector" -glancing at it first -thought you meant the road "Safety " pollicy - though mind you great similarities

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I can't believe this is still rumbling on!

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

Quite. He should have been released months ago - in the middle of a minefield, armed only with his dowsing rod.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

You mentioning dowsing rods DCB makes me think of an even more ridiculous ‘cure’ which makes a fortune. The healing power of magnets.

I’ve heard people use them in their shoes or around their wrists and they swear blind it has worked yet there isn’t a single bit of scientific research anywhere which proves it. I've seen infomercials with people claiming they work which always makes my mind boggle as to how they can claim that and legally get away with it.

Just had to quickly get that off my chest soz. Maybe I need a magnet for my head? Don't answer that!

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Tone. The difference is this. Whilst there isn't any scientific evidence for magnets there is a placebo effect strong enough to work a cure on some people. But I can categorically assure you that however much you believe in the effect of those dowsing rods it will not prevent you from being blown into little pieces if you tread on a mine.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown