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Speed cameras on 20 MPH roads

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I haven't read the whole of this thread so apologies if this has been brought up but: What does the Highway Code say about speed limit signs in "20" zones?

 

If you are driving through a built up area (defined by lampposts being less than a certain distance apart, I think) then the road you are on is defined as a 30 mph zone - unless there are repeater signs to say otherwise.

 

There is a road I know in Broomhall that has a 20 mph limit (I think it's Broomgrove Rd). A good few months ago, I turned onto this road from Clarkehouse Road and, due to the fact that there was some obstruction (woman with a pram or something) I took more care turning into the road and missed the 20 mph signs. Looked in my mirror and there was a panda car behind me with two police people in it. Carried on towards Eccleshall Road at 29 mph or less. Got to just before the junction with Eccleshall Road when I saw the 30 sign (i.e. I realised I was in a 20 zone). The police didn't do anything.

 

So, should there be repeater signs in a 20 zone?

 

G

 

PS - I fully support speed cameras; especially ones like on the Stocksbridge bypass where they are obvious and there is no way you can speed and you know that other people aren't going to speed either.

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All these complaints that speed cameras are a way of collecting money, a stealth tax.

It is the one tax that you can legally get away with not paying. Don't speed. The life you save may be your own, not to mention the money.

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I'm all for residential or shopping streets being 20mph as there are simply going to be more hazards (i.e. people) about and 20 allows traffic to move but lessens the risk of injuries in accidents. As a driver I'd be happy with it as I certainly don't want to run over and hurt a kiddie who runs out - as it is, if you decide it's safer to drive at 20mph on certain roads all you get is hassle from the speed-freaks. But there is no point in having a limit if it's not enforced.

 

Our street is supposedly 30mph, and it's got more hazards than most (steep gradient, high density family housing, no white lines, double parking, several junctions, a bus service and a tight bend) but that doesn't stop people rat-running at well above that and boy racers from using it as a test track. There's no point having a law to 'protect' people if it's not enforced, and a speed camera that caught speed the whole length of the road would be a great way of doing it.

 

I've seen many an altercation and one or two accidents on here in my time, all of them caused by people not respecting the conditions and going too fast or hassling others who were not going quickly enough for them. You can throw all the arguments you like at me about speed not killing, I agree it's not actually a problem on some roads, but on this road it IS dangerous and people should be punished for not respecting the conditions.

 

Sadly we have to have speed limits because not everyone understands when it's safe and not safe to go fast. I'd love the chance to drive (legally) at the limits of a car's potential but it aint just me driving, it's all the other morons who spoil it. ;) The speeding fine is a kind of "Idiot tax" in a lot of cases. Oh, and I agree, it ought to be graded - you pay/get points on a sliding scale according to your speed. 32mph coming into a 30 zone is a small issue, but above 35 consistently in a 30 can't be explained away.

 

It kind of throws it into perspective when you're out there in the dark getting screamed at by some harridan who dirtied her pants because she came bombing round the bend and down the hill at 50mph only to be confronted by you wrangling a baby seat out of the car. The dozy mare has no spatial awareness, no speed awareness and has just been caught out by a potential hazard and has been frightened. As she screeches off, you notice she has a baby seat in her own car and you wonder if she's going to be the one ranting on SF when the local chavs turn up on her cul-de-sac bombing round on their mini-motos.

 

It's because of thoughtless people like that why I call it "Idiot tax". ;)

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I'm all for residential or shopping streets being 20mph as there are simply going to be more hazards (i.e. people) about and 20 allows traffic to move but lessens the risk of injuries in accidents. As a driver I'd be happy with it as I certainly don't want to run over and hurt a kiddie who runs out - as it is, if you decide it's safer to drive at 20mph on certain roads all you get is hassle from the speed-freaks. But there is no point in having a limit if it's not enforced.

 

Our street is supposedly 30mph, and it's got more hazards than most (steep gradient, high density family housing, no white lines, double parking, several junctions, a bus service and a tight bend) but that doesn't stop people rat-running at well above that and boy racers from using it as a test track. There's no point having a law to 'protect' people if it's not enforced, and a speed camera that caught speed the whole length of the road would be a great way of doing it.

 

I've seen many an altercation and one or two accidents on here in my time, all of them caused by people not respecting the conditions and going too fast or hassling others who were not going quickly enough for them. You can throw all the arguments you like at me about speed not killing, I agree it's not actually a problem on some roads, but on this road it IS dangerous and people should be punished for not respecting the conditions.

 

Sadly we have to have speed limits because not everyone understands when it's safe and not safe to go fast. I'd love the chance to drive (legally) at the limits of a car's potential but it aint just me driving, it's all the other morons who spoil it. ;) The speeding fine is a kind of "Idiot tax" in a lot of cases. Oh, and I agree, it ought to be graded - you pay/get points on a sliding scale according to your speed. 32mph coming into a 30 zone is a small issue, but above 35 consistently in a 30 can't be explained away.

 

It kind of throws it into perspective when you're out there in the dark getting screamed at by some harridan who dirtied her pants because she came bombing round the bend and down the hill at 50mph only to be confronted by you wrangling a baby seat out of the car. The dozy mare has no spatial awareness, no speed awareness and has just been caught out by a potential hazard and has been frightened. As she screeches off, you notice she has a baby seat in her own car and you wonder if she's going to be the one ranting on SF when the local chavs turn up on her cul-de-sac bombing round on their mini-motos.

 

It's because of thoughtless people like that why I call it "Idiot tax". ;)

 

 

 

Good post agrre with you

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All these complaints that speed cameras are a way of collecting money, a stealth tax.

It is the one tax that you can legally get away with not paying. Don't speed. The life you save may be your own, not to mention the money.

 

I think you have missed the point (at least, my point).

 

I have been caught 'speeding' in a 30 mph zone on two occasions - once doing 35mp and another time doing 34mph. Neither of these occasions would I consider that I was either driving excessively or dangerously, yet I am fined and I get points on my licence (which adversely affects my insurance premimiums for the next 5 years!

 

On the first occasion I was driving in to Sheffield city centre, near to the Mecca bingo and Wickes DIY places (I can't remember the name of the road - Penistone or Halifax Road. The road goes from 2 lanes to 4 lanes, yet the speed limit drops from 40 mph down to 30 mph and very soon after, there is a fixed camera, clearly visible (which I should have noted and slowed down for - my fault).

 

On the second occasion, I was caught by a mobile camera, hidden from view until the very last minute (long after the camera, which was obscured by a lamp post, had caught me - 34mph).

 

Was either 'fairly' positioned? One camera fixed where a 40mph changes to a 30mph, yet the carriageway lanes increase from 2 to 4 lanes (more than most motorways) and the other, hidden from view.

 

The police are not allowed, by law, to lure people to commit crime - if they staked out a jewellers and left the door open and all the priceless jewels out on display and someone came in and thought 'I'll have them' - that would be entrapment and against the law.

 

Yet, they are perfectly able to hide behind trees or parked vehicles and catch motorists slightly or grossly exceeding the speed limit.

 

I get 3 points and a £60 fine for being 4 or 5 mph over the speed limit, whereas someone who drives 15 or 20 mph over the limit gets a 3 pt penalty and £60 fine. And they say that the faster you drive the more likely you are to kill someone if you hit them. I would see it that, from the penalty point of view, I might as well drive a 45 mph in a 30 mph rather than 34 or 35, the punishment is still the same.

 

But, yes, if you don't speed, you don't get punished - and I bet you have never, ever driven over the speed limit (be careful - consider defective machinery; if you drive at 30mph, but your speedometer is defective and you are actually driving at 33 or 34 mph, how would you know? So, unless you ar one of these irritating people who drive 10mph BELOW and given speed limit, I do NOT believe for one minute that you have never exceeded the speed limit).

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I'm all for residential or shopping streets being 20mph as there are simply going to be more hazards (i.e. people) about and 20 allows traffic to move but lessens the risk of injuries in accidents. As a driver I'd be happy with it as I certainly don't want to run over and hurt a kiddie who runs out - as it is, if you decide it's safer to drive at 20mph on certain roads all you get is hassle from the speed-freaks. But there is no point in having a limit if it's not enforced.

 

Our street is supposedly 30mph, and it's got more hazards than most (steep gradient, high density family housing, no white lines, double parking, several junctions, a bus service and a tight bend) but that doesn't stop people rat-running at well above that and boy racers from using it as a test track. There's no point having a law to 'protect' people if it's not enforced, and a speed camera that caught speed the whole length of the road would be a great way of doing it.

 

I've seen many an altercation and one or two accidents on here in my time, all of them caused by people not respecting the conditions and going too fast or hassling others who were not going quickly enough for them. You can throw all the arguments you like at me about speed not killing, I agree it's not actually a problem on some roads, but on this road it IS dangerous and people should be punished for not respecting the conditions.

 

Sadly we have to have speed limits because not everyone understands when it's safe and not safe to go fast. I'd love the chance to drive (legally) at the limits of a car's potential but it aint just me driving, it's all the other morons who spoil it. ;) The speeding fine is a kind of "Idiot tax" in a lot of cases. Oh, and I agree, it ought to be graded - you pay/get points on a sliding scale according to your speed. 32mph coming into a 30 zone is a small issue, but above 35 consistently in a 30 can't be explained away.

 

It kind of throws it into perspective when you're out there in the dark getting screamed at by some harridan who dirtied her pants because she came bombing round the bend and down the hill at 50mph only to be confronted by you wrangling a baby seat out of the car. The dozy mare has no spatial awareness, no speed awareness and has just been caught out by a potential hazard and has been frightened. As she screeches off, you notice she has a baby seat in her own car and you wonder if she's going to be the one ranting on SF when the local chavs turn up on her cul-de-sac bombing round on their mini-motos.

 

It's because of thoughtless people like that why I call it "Idiot tax". ;)

 

It's a question of whether you try to 'enforce' safer driving or just try to catch speeding motorists.

 

On residential roads there are many different 'traffic calming' measures that can be employed - humps in the road, narrowing the road so two cars cannot pass at speed without risk of coming together, width restrictions at either end; make it one way, double-yellows to prevent kerbside parking and so on.

 

All these are designed to prevent or make it very difficult for motorists to speed.

 

Sticking a camera at the side of a road (unless it's one of those 'long range' efforst, as on the Stockbridge by pass, that can monitor speed over a distance), then all you are doing is effectively saying 'motorists will speed, so we might as well make a bit of money out of them'.

 

Using the same logic, the NHS should stop trying to prevent illness and disease and just spend the money on better cemetries or cremation centres.

 

After all, we're all going to die one day and the world is getting a little overcrowded. Consider a sort humane cull.

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And you think this is a bad thing why exactly?

 

Halibut, you always jump on drivers putting things like this on the forum: are you actaully a car owner?

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Tis extroadinary that people are prepared to kill/die just for the sake of making haste.

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I still don't understand the problem with speed cameras, just don't speed...

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It's a question of whether you try to 'enforce' safer driving or just try to catch speeding motorists.

 

On residential roads there are many different 'traffic calming' measures that can be employed - humps in the road, narrowing the road so two cars cannot pass at speed without risk of coming together, width restrictions at either end; make it one way, double-yellows to prevent kerbside parking and so on.

 

All these are designed to prevent or make it very difficult for motorists to speed.

 

Sticking a camera at the side of a road (unless it's one of those 'long range' efforst, as on the Stockbridge by pass, that can monitor speed over a distance), then all you are doing is effectively saying 'motorists will speed, so we might as well make a bit of money out of them'.

 

Using the same logic, the NHS should stop trying to prevent illness and disease and just spend the money on better cemetries or cremation centres.

 

After all, we're all going to die one day and the world is getting a little overcrowded. Consider a sort humane cull.

 

Our roads' unsuitable for most traffic calming unfortunately. Speed bumps are no good because of the severe gradient. Restricting parking just hurts residents, and they're the ones who should benefit from any measures. The roads is already single track because of parking but this doesn't slow people down. It can't be one-way as it's a vital bus route.

 

So a speed camera may extract money out of speeders? Extract enough and their depleted bank accounts will hurt enough to stop them doing it again. They also get points, so with enough of these they'll soon be prevented from speeding in the most effective way possible, by not allowing them to drive at all! ;)

 

But one of these new long distance jobbies would be best of all. Bring 'em on. I've not been averse to driving like a demon myself in the past but on wide open roads, drive like a loon past houses in a narrow street, and you deserve to get fined.

 

I'd like you to go and suggest speeding is a humane cull to the mothers who've lost children. You might lose your balls. ;)

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And you think this is a bad thing why exactly?

 

Maybe because speed cameras do nothing to increase road safety...

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