Welsh motorists taking revenge on scameras

[metalangel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-13961496


Fixed point speed cameras in north Wales have been sawn in half, pulled from the ground, glued, smashed and driven into, a road safety group has found.

The camera worst affected in north Wales is located on the A525 at Coedpoeth, near Wrexham.

It has been struck six times with damage caused to the front of the lens box and paint thrown over it. In the latest attack in 2008, there was an attempt to set it on fire.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2011/5/19/1305817387611/Vandalised-speed-camera-O-007.jpg

Some pics of burnt cameras:
http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm

Can't find any of the burnt vans.

[jonny.boyd]

Correct me if i'm wrong but is it not our taxes paying for these cameras to be replaced??

Why then are people so content on destroying them ultimately costing the government (our pockets) more!!

As said in the first article the cameras are put there to save lives, not make money.. Are some people so simple that they don't realise that... okay yes once in a while we may be caught going a little bit too fast past one and curse them, but that event then causes you as an individual to pay attention to the roads and actually follow the speed limits for fear of getting caught again....

[metalangel]

I think the arsonists a) don't care, and b) might be seeing the articles saying that a lot of the safety partnerships have had their budgets cut and therefore can't afford to keep replacing these things forever.

[Specialone]

Not put there to make money ???

Take a look at some of the locations of them, they serve no purpose apart from slowing drivers down right by the camera.

Accidents on the Bristol road in brum increased when cameras were introduced compared to previous years, so they are not always effective.

Councils that have turned them off haven't noticed a difference in accident rates.

[jonny.boyd]

I know around my area there is a hill with 2 camera's on it, it is a 30mph road and had a pedestrian crossing about half way down it which is used alot by kids leaving school etc. I know for a fact that if those camera's weren't there people would happily do 40+ down that hill, and very soon a kid would be knocked over and killed. Actually just last week a little young'un was mowed down by a car, it was a 20mph zone yet somehow the kid managed to be flung over the top of the car!?! (Bet ya he was speeding) anyway the kid died... is it really worth it? Speed cameras may be a PITA but at the end of the day if just one camera saved one persons life would it not be worth it?

[timwilky]

The argument for the placing of a speed camera is the location has to have had a history of serious and or fatal collisions. In accepting the location has dangers the onus should be on engineering out the danger, not on revenue generation with a camera.

Cameras do not and cannot stop a collision. Most drivers know just how cynical the scamera partnerships are. They are in it for job creation though a revenue stream that is sold as being in the public interest. It is not. The public interest is best served by removing the danger.

I can take you to one camera site that is justified by the injuries to my best mans parents at that location. However their injuries were caused by the sitting of the camera and the KSIs have gone up for this location since the camera was installed. (http://www.lep.co.uk/news/braking_car_hits_strolling_couple_1_140124)

[JamesMio]

Put them near places like Schools, busy junctions, bad sections of road and make them both well sign posted and highly visable - I have no problem with using them as a deterrent in situations like this.

However every single point I've (stupidly) picked up has been on long, empty straight roads after 9pm at night by copper's hiding in the bushes with a mobile camera.

Noone will ever convince me that is not purely for making money, and most copper's I know (including our very own MKB) agree with me.

[jonny.boyd]

Tim that is a very sad and unfortunate incident. I can understand how when something like that happens you begin to see things that are meant to prevent accidents and things causing them... I wonder what the driver got for that? Probably a good 'ol telling off a slap on the wrist knowing the way these things go now'a'days..

[Dave20046]

I thought this might happen when they announced they copuldn't afford them it's just a bit infuriating they're throwing more money at them to repair them.
Put them near places like Schools, busy junctions, bad sections of road and make them both well sign posted and highly visable - I have no problem with using them as a deterrent in situations like this.
I always question why they put them near busy junctions as people either take their eyes off the junction to check their speed or slam on the brakes.

[metalangel]

Speed cameras may be a PITA but at the end of the day if just one camera saved one persons life would it not be worth it?

www.gigstaggart.com/blog/?p=60 (http://www.gigstaggart.com/blog/?p=60)

[Hyweldrums]

The numbers speak for themselves; these cameras DO NOT decrease the number/severity of collisions on our roads... that is a fact. If you have a contradictory opinion, I suggest you look at the statistics a little more closely.

If after reading the numbers, you still have the same thoughts on the matter... well you must be a Daily Mail reader, in which case, all hope is lost :smt077

I personally wouldn’t destroy a camera, but I do feel a twinge of delight when I see one lying on it’s side covered in paint.

[MisterTommyH]

There are several roads round here where there is just camera after camera after camera.

I think there are 13 on the A34 between Cannock and Walsall (google map it. It's not very far)

People just speed up between the camera's and then brake at the last possible moment.

All these cameras do it ensure that the majority of motorists will be doing approximatly the speed limit for the 20 yards that there are lines on the road. And ensure that a good percentage of them will have braked heavily before hand, risking a collision.

[metalangel]

Oh man, visited a friend in Cannock recently and accidentally got GPS'd onto that road, it's just camera after camera. Not knowing the area I took it easy and sure enough people were right up my chuff the entire way because they wanted to punch it between each camera.

[-Ralph-]

The irresponsible people involved should realise the cameras are put in place to protect road users and to save lives.

"Any cameras that are damaged or vandalised will incur an unnecessary financial cost to repair the camera and could result in a fatal or seriously injured road user, as cameras are only placed where somebody has been killed or seriously injured.

"There is a simple message - cameras are in place to save lives, not to make money.

Not often you get the change to post exactly the same thing twice in one evening


:smt044 :smt042 :smt082 :smt037 :smt005 :smt036 :smt046 :laughat: :lol:

=D> the guy is a :toss: 'er and a :^o

[andrewsmith]

I might do the catering cling film trick

[Lozzo]

Correct me if i'm wrong but is it not our taxes paying for these cameras to be replaced??

Why then are people so content on destroying them ultimately costing the government (our pockets) more!!

As said in the first article the cameras are put there to save lives, not make money.. Are some people so simple that they don't realise that... okay yes once in a while we may be caught going a little bit too fast past one and curse them, but that event then causes you as an individual to pay attention to the roads and actually follow the speed limits for fear of getting caught again....

How do you manage to ride a motorcycle with your head shoved so far up your own ar5e?

I'd suggest you take a good look at statistics detailing the number of KSIs on roads with cameras before and after they were installed. Then look at the revenue generated from said cameras and then decide if they are a money-maker or a life-saver.

Just about every camera installed on Bedfordshire's roads are on sections of road where there has never been a serious accident or a death, they are installed in areas where it is known that cars speed and where it would be easy to catch them. The rules governing the installations were carried out to the letter, with the bare minimum of in-sight viewing allowed on the approach - most of them are just round gentle bends where they are out of sight as you approach and through the bend, but as you enter the straight bit you have 50 metres in which to see the camera and slow down to an appropriate speed. All of them are on roads where, to be perfectly honest and frank, you can quite safely do in excess of 80 - 90 mph. Some of the roads they are on have been downgraded to 50mph, again for no safety reason at all, purely to generate more revenue.

Luckily, all Bedfordshire's cameras bar a couple are the front facing ones, so I simply ignore them every time I pass through them unless I use them every day at the same time... which thankfully isn't a situation I am now in.

[Biker Biggles]

Seems Captain Gatso has emigrated to Wales.
He used to be very active in the London area.

[matt_rehm_hext]

Money, money, money. That's all they are there for.