AR

The lunatics have well and trully been let out of the asylum. Not content with making a £20,000,000 profit from speeding motorists, the UK Government has a second reading today of a new bill that will create "super" traffic wardens who have the ability to tow away broken-down cars and motorcycles (at a cost of £105 - even if you are waiting for one of the rescue services), able to set up diversions and temporary speed limits in order to free up 550 police officers for "other duties" (making the tea ?? as they seem completely unable to police the country - other than the beleagured motorist!). In addition, cameras are to be intalled so that if any motorist strays into yellow junction boxes or bus lanes they will be fined £100.
The car rental companies will be only too happy to give your name when the fines arrive and take the money from the credit card that you gave them.
And before the pious amongst you say that anyone that transgresses the law deserves to be caught, I challenge anyone to say that they have NEVER exceeded a speed limit (even unintentionally) or made an accidental error on the road.

BTilke

I'm not sure how I feel about this latest rule, but it is amazing how many video and photo cameras there are in the UK, particularly in the London area. The UK must have the most filmed/photographed population in Western Europe, if not the world.
FYI, a recent episode of Top Gear showed that it IS possible to beat those speed cameras if you have a *very* fast car--one of their test cars (a street legal car, but one very few members of the public would own) went so fast that the camera didn't even try to snap a photo. But as they say, don't try this at home.

melr

> In addition, cameras are to be
> intalled so that if any motorist
> strays into yellow junction boxes or
> bus lanes they will be fined £100.

This is excellent news!! Now hopefully those irritating boy racers will stop using the bus lanes to jump the traffic. And maybe people will start respecting the yellow hashed areas of junctions, therefore not blocking those with the right of way at rush hour.

As for speed cameras, you can't say they're unfair. I was zapped by one a few months ago for the first time. You know, it's not actually that difficult to stick to speed limits, although I didn't do this before I got fined.

Fine for breaking down? I think you read this in The Sun. Or maybe the Daily Mail?

The fact is that there are so many idiotic, unsafe and anti-social drivers out there that I think we need these kinds of laws. Whereas if we were better drivers there would be no need for these measures, would there?

illusion321

In the Us they sell some type of spray that you put on your liscense plates, that will somhow block the camers picture. I have seen pics of it in work it and it causes a glare to form where your plate numbers would be. I think some states are taking steps to outlaw the use of this stuff, but i dont know how far it has actually gone.

JonJon

I suspect that if you asked folks who have been involved in an accident caused by a speeding or red-light-running motorist you might hear nothing but praise for any and all attempts to reduce the risk of accidents on the highway. The lengths people will go and the costs they will endure in order to avoid obeying the law are always astounding.

Of course, there are always going to be people who will cast it all as some sort of "government plot" or "cospiracy" ..."Not content with making {huge amounts of money}...so I guess it all comes down to one's own point of view as to what is reasonable.

I assume this is posted here because it is meant to be of use to those who travel on the roads of the UK...or perhaps it belongs on the "whine" board.

ira

>The car rental companies will be only too happy to give your name when the fines arrive and take the money from the credit card that you gave them.<

Well!!,

I am shocked and appalled that the car rental agency wouldn't willingly, and happily, pay my traffic fine for me. I shall never rent a car in UK.

Patrick

I think the ridiculous part when these things happen is that people act like there will be total enforcement. Let's face it. Do you really think they're going to go after ever single person who strays over a yellow line by 2 inches? And do you really think they're going to tow away a broken down car that just broke down and has someone waiting patiently by it for the tow truck? People here raved when they added cameras at our stop lights. Hooray, they have reduced the number of red-light-runners, but that doesn't mean they stop every car that failed to slam on the brakes as the light turned red. Overall it sounds good to me.

What's your suggestion for improving traffic safety???

AR

Don't be so sanctimonious Melr. I could inform the DVLA today that I sold my car and just get new plates made up. I would then be completely undetectable unless I had a major accident. I wouldn't have to tax or insure my car or bother to stay within the speed limits. Will these new rules stop that? I would love to follow someone for half a day who says that it's easy to always stay within the law and point out their very many mistakes. The problem with these pious comments is that it infers perfection from you, the speaker. This is extremely dangerous if you never think that you could ever be driving incorrectly. Cameras just indicate someone's driving in a millisecond. You can drive like a prat all day long and be perfect in front of a camera, or the opposite.
BTW, I am a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists which take a far more pragmatic approach to driving. Let's catch the serial offenders whilst Traffic Police still exist eh?
Also, wher did I say there would be a fine for towing away? I was quoting our transport minister who said that wardens would be able to remove obstacles - including broken down vehicles.

AR

But Patrick - that's the whole point about cameras is that there IS total enforecement without excuse. It's so easy just to send out postal fines 100% of the time.
As for safety? Take the M4 in South Wales where there is a 3 mile 50mph stretch. When the police patrolled this stretch regularly, the general public as a rule adhered to the speed limit. They have now just plonked a camera in the middle of the stretch. Cars now ignore the 50mph limit until just before the camera and slam their brakes on. Peter Black (Assembly Member for the area) want's it removed as it has increased the accident rate by 700% due to late breaking (why do people always do 20mph past cameras?).
My point about rental cars came out wrong. Police don't chase camera fines from foreign registered cars as it costs too much. It's different for rental cars. What I'm saying is that it is terribly easy to get caught out.

Sue_xx_yy

I'm a bit confused because you seem to be addressing several issues at once. One is the increase in power retained by civilian traffic wardens; the second is the application of the law to broken down cars (should it apply equally to cars accompanied by owners awaiting rescue services, as for abandoned cars); the third is the method of apprehension (a greater reliance on cameras than on officers); and the fourth is the ability of rental car outfits to supply a renter's name to the police.

I can't speak to number one; I haven't enough knowledge to comment on the state of policing in Britain. As far as I can tell, your non-police wardens still can't make any actual arrests or write tickets.

Regarding the second, on first reading I was apt to agree that ordering broken-down car removal when the driver is waiting for rescue services seems harsh. But I can see extenuating circumstances. What if I break down in an intersection, or in a high-speed lane with poor visibility?

Regarding your third point, the cameras, seems to be working rather well for the enforcement officials. They are, after all, hired to ensure that the law is enforced; £20,000,000 sounds like they are doing very well. As to whether I've ever broken the law and how this applies, I'm not sure I see the relevance - the law wasn't designed for my convenience, but for my safety. If I get caught, maybe it's the best thing for me (whatever I might think at the time) not to mention other people. Better a fine than an injury, or worse.

Regarding 4), that's always been the case. As ira says, the car rental company makes quite clear in the agreement that the renter pays all fines. Nothing new there.

I do note your point that if the cameras correlate with an increase in accidents in certain stretches, that that might warrant some extra investigation. But as a rule you seem more upset about laws designed to prevent accidents being enforced, than you are about their being not unenforced.

melr

AR, I'm not being sanctimonious. All I'm saying is that it's not that difficult to stick to the speed limits. Yes I creep over them sometimes. But I know that if I get caught I've only got myself to blame.

Frankly, there are always signs indicating speed cameras ahead and if you're not concentrating enough to see those, along with big fluorescent green boxes on the roadside, you deserve to be caught! They're much more visible than a child.

What I object to is your inference that should you break the law by speeding, using bus lanes, blocking traffic at intersections by delibrately entering hatched areas, it is somehow not your own fault.