Safe Speed Forums

Total disregard?

Oh come on, you know we're big on courtesy and consideration don't you?

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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

not to mention that it's sort of, kinda, just a little bit hard to drive safely with total disregard for others on the road.

Of course , i could ask a mod to ask Cam Op to restrict his arguements to the facts -

he waffles on about crimes - he quotes speeding as a crime.
I counter asking if the police would respond equaly well to burglaries - A NASTIER VERSION OF CRIME - But - HEY - no crime cams yet.
And with this as yet another official ( or is this his personal version ) ---can /wil we see an offensive against crime ??

NO - MUGGING MOTORISTS IS FAIR GAME ,AND EASY.
Catching burglars - sorry too hard, oh, it also costs money

One of these days, when the police fArce is recuced to a pensioner in charge of 50,000 PCSOs , a cam op will sit in a van - a crowd in balaclavas will descend and upend the van - some poor Co will get hurt and then the outcrywill start.
If i was a Cam Op - I should start getting very worried in the breakdown in law and order.

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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'm sure that dpratt has wondered what's happened to his question here!
Have you all gone mad?

The limits are set - what we need to know is are they sensible, and why are drivers causing so much distress to the residents.
Also, why are they using the "rat run" instead of a perfectly good A road a short way away?
The drivers obviously do not respect the limit - why is that? Perhaps it's like the 20 mph limit at Ambleside, which is widely disregarded by all, because it is so ludicrous? It would appear the police do not enforce there for fear of being ridiculed in the press for doing so!

Has anyone found any info. on these lights which change back and forth according to speed?
Let's work together to find an answer to dpratt's problem. We know it's not a camera, unless they are every hundred yards, so what else can we do?

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

Oh FFS Botach I'm getting sick of this. By the same token, I could ask a mod to remove all YOUR posts that are little more than inane prattle. 3050 gone in a flash.
This thread is about the concerns of a village resident regarding the speed of the traffic through his place of abode.
It was YOU who first mentioned responses to other crimes, utterly irrelevant to the topic at hand.
It is invariably YOU who takes things off track into some fanciful parallel debate because you don't have the intelligence or perspicacity to engage with the issue at hand.
It is YOU who fills serious debate with vacuous nonsense.

Go ahead someone, tell me I'm wrong

Or give me a FINAL WARNING or something, but I don't give a damn. I'm fed up with this cretin and if nobody is going to say so , I will.

OK, back on track.

There is a pschology going on here that is quite deep and I don't confess to understanding it at all. I don't believe anyone is laying claim to anything tangible and physical when they say "this is our village", I see it as more of a plea, one which is often enforced with the addition of: "how would you like it if we sped past your homes?"
Basingwerk quite rightly points to stakeholders but of course there is a natural fluidity in the structure. Assuming the village is not some Edgar Allan Poe esque community where nobody leaves, the villagers themselves are also drivers going through other peoples village and perhaps even speeding; who knows, it could be the village of the people who are speeding through their own abode.
I'm categorically not saying that this applies to dpratt but there is an unfortunate tendency for cases like this to founded in hypocrisy i.e. it's not my speeding thats the problems, its everyone else's.




It could be that the road presents as a clearway straight through; such is the case in the village where my mother-in-law lives. There is little to persuade drivers that it might be an idea to slow down (except the speed limit signs), perhaps changing the way the road looks might help.

And then there is the question of respect, or lack of it which is endemic in our society. I firmly believe that there are genuinely times and places when drivers should just do what is being asked of them and observe the speed limit. It isn't actually all that difficult, it demonstrates respect for the law/residents/workforce and doesn't as some would appear to believe, reveal the obeyant individual to be weak willed, lacking in indivdual thought or some dithering buffoon who is clinging to the speed limit as their only reference. By the same token, ignoring the instruction doesn't infer the opposite, i.e. that the individual is strong of character, decisive of mind etc etc - they could just be bloody arrogant
I also recognise that this is a complex issue which is muddied by unintentional hypocrisy, but I stand by my point.

Holy shit, a half-convert is better than nothing! Now, I don't expect
everybody to line up take the pledge after Rigpig's outburst, but please
consider what he says. I made a similar plea earlier, but the post seems
to have mysteriously gone missing. Anyway, I know you English are
independent and like to plough your own furrows, but when driving about
in towns and villages (I've given up on m-ways etc.), be good chaps and
get with the programme.

In the mean time, I promise to lobby for rational limit setting - it can't
get fairer than that. So come on lads, pull your socks up and don't
let those tailgating bums force you into getting another 3 points!

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I stole this .sig

The post went missing because it libelled me.

I was going to PM you but got interrupted by the telephone.

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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

I think the critical issue is that we must promote tolerance and co-operation. Where villagers claim 'ownership', the opportunity for intolerance becomes huge. When the government says "speed kills; motorists bad" the opportunity for intolerance is amplified again.

We have to deal with these issues, working towards reducing the perception of conflict. And we have to distinguish between normal responsible behaviours and gross irresponsible behaviours. It's the gross irresponsible behaviours that the law can address. Everything else is psychology.

And it's high time we got the psychology right. Both for the through traffic and for the villagers. And for national policy for that matter.

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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

That’s half right, which is better than usual for you. Villagers don’t get
the chance to “cooperate tolerantly” when a speeder goes through – they
just clear out of the way or get knocked down. Your “SafeSpeed”appeals
to ask drivers to be considerate is all very nice, isn’t it? But it never
works, so villagers make drivers cooperate. Bad driving just brings
on a stronger backlash. So keep going, keep telling everyone the limits
make no odds, because that is the finest way to bring in more cameras
than ever! Go on, fill yer boots!

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I stole this .sig

Perhaps not. But what about when they get in their own cars, how do they behave then I wonder?

Basingwerk, you seem to be wasting your brainpower and our time. It amounts to trolling which is against the forum rules. Consider this to be a gentle reminder.

I SO want you to make intelligent contributions. I value your intellect, and I think it's a crying shame that you don't.

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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

has anyone actually considered that this might actually be the problem? Everyone is now so indoctrinated into the "speed kills" mantra that they all just blindly drive at the speed limit when half of that through the village may be more appropriate? I know I'm repeating myself for the 10000th time but it seems nobody on here believes that this is possible and yet it's certainly the case on the narrow residential streets of SE London where it seems nobody except me wants to drive/ride at a more appropriate 20mph or less.

Well there is a difference between observing the speed limit and driving AT the speed limit definately. The message that drivers are given is that the speed limit is not a target, unfortunately thats what m\ny treat it as, particualrly urban limits. Furthermore many will play the numbers game, gambling with a notional 30mph + a bit for allowance and error taking it right to the margin. Its quite obvious that this happens when you drive through areas of Wolverhampton (A4123) which is DC and a 40 mph limit, one car will pass another pushing their luck just as far as they think it can go.

I think the only part of that that I have doubts over is the 'rate of offending' against safe speed principles. You think it's lots, and I think it's only a few. No matter. We both agree that policy is increasing the number of 'offenders'.

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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

Hello chaps, just got back from the pub so sorry if this message isn't so coherenet, but having seen the traffic in the village I agree that, from observing it, it seems too fast. The funny thing is I couldn't work out why it was flowing so quickly; I didn't have the time to sit there unfortunately. But it is worth looking it... Maybe something for In Gear to have checked?

As a matter of interest, how would a speed check (for the purposes of data gathering) through this village be conducted? I mean, if unmodified driver behaviour is to be recorded then the equipment/operator would have to be completley covert wouldn't it?

Effectively covert, yes.

The most common equipment these days (I think) is a silver box about 18" tall by 9" by 9". It is fitted to an available post and measures vehicle speeds by radar through a window. Speed data is accumulated on a hard drive. It's put in place for a few days or a week then uplifted.

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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

Sadberge and surrounds - yes we know it's a rat run and we are monitoring it - partly thanks to you and your neighbours who have complained already.

dpratt and on behalf of Durham Constabulary - we apologise if it seems we are not doing anything. As you can appreciate - I can not say too much in public about any tactics we may use about this - but whatever we do - we hope to do fairly and educationally as far as we can. I admit, though, that we have had a few complaints about the problem in your area and we are keeping a stealthy eye on this area. We have prosecuted a few so far. Perhaps you could request some "Think! Slow!" signs from the council - and maybe a "Sadberge welcomes careful drivers" and you could also apply for a "Please Drive carefully through our village" sign from the council. You would need to get a few villagers to sign for this - but from what you say - seems your neighbours are with you.

Thank you for voicing your concerns . We will try to educate drivers - and we do issue fines in addition to advice as to safe driving where we believe a fine is 100% warranted. We do use - cough - discretion - but this is also a 100% professional and objective decision and we can judge quite accurately - through intense training - the best policy to adopt.

But make no mistake - we are quite strict here despite no camera partnership

Hope this reassures you and do please join in on any topic here. All here are genuinely concerned with improving things.

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

Maybe, just MAYBE, we should all re-learn the importance of good manners in a civilised society and try to put ourselves in the position of others. My wife tells me it is a 'Me, Myself, and I' society that we seem to have created over the last 30 years.

Why can't people slow down in villages ? It is just plain rudeness as far as I am concerned. It is nothing to do with speed limits and compliance with them; some villages are NSL.

It is all about consideration for others.

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Good manners maketh a good motorist