Speed Gun Vigilantes

[L3nny]

Just coming back from my lunch break and saw on the side of the road 3 hi-viz wearing busybodies measuring everyone's speed as they go past.

One of them had a speed gun, one had a clip board and the third had a video camera.

The road that they were doing this on is preety busy and there are 4 or 5 junctions in a small area so it is a place where sticking to the speed limit at 1.30 on a Thursday lunchtime is probably a good idea. Although I am not aware there has ever been an accidident there.

The sight did make me very angy though, even though these people mean well and could potentially prevent an accident I don't agree with what they are doing. They are like the school swat who runs to the teacher and tells.

Anyway do these people have any way of prosecuting you if they do manage to record you speeding? If they present there findings to the police is it sufficient evidence for a prosecution? Do the police even care?

I wonder whether they might have been doing a traffic survey?
I know that sometimes the Highways dept. require a traffic survey if you're wanting to create a new access into a development on particularly busy/tricky roads...

[L3nny]

Haha, if so I apologise for all the nasty things I called them under my breath lol

[timwilky]

Some plod do issue speed guns to vigilante groups

They cannot prosecute you, plod is likely to write a letter to you saying your speed is causing concern, Stop being a naughty boy.

If you think about it, plods interest should be to reduce speed not prosecute speeders. Therefore they get their work done for free

id welcome them to our village, fecking numpties not grasping that 30 is 30 for a reason, even in a built up area, I hope they hit a dear to 60 and they get the **** point...

Haven't seen any around here, though I do see a camera bike (with proper operator) sometimes. TBH you'd probably to well to find out who these do-gooders are and post some dog turds through their letter box.

They often report their findings to police and you get a letter like timmy says.
They do annoy me though in the same way they annoy you Lenny.
Oi numbers blokey person... perhaps a bit far I'd say.

[L3nny]

So really they are wasting their time and police time as well.

Good work

[Skip]

My Mum had one of those letters - it just says to watch your speed and it can be taken further if you keep repeat offending. Not sure how that works though.

[CheGuevara]

If people aren't speeding in their neighbourhood, then surely they wouldn't have a reason to be stood their. If you are speeding and fail to notice a group of people wearing high-vis vests and aiming a radar gun at you then you're getting off lightly with a letter instead of a ticket for your carelessness (not directed specifically at the OP).

I've seen them around here in 30mph residential areas. Doesn't cause me any fuss as I'm not speeding in front of their homes. I know it's a problem in these particular spots though, and if I lived right there I'd probably also do what I legally could to try and slow people down.

Can't see how it's a waste of police time either. Presumably if there's enough residents complaining then the police would otherwise have to allocate officers and a car to sit there issuing tickets until the problem was resolved. If it's effective in the least then the only time they might be wasting is their own.

Next there will be complaining that Neighbourhood Watch are time-wasting vigilantes for wanting to keep their neighbourhoods safe. People should be commended for making the effort, rather than turning a blind eye, waiting for the state to do something about it, and whinging about how bad things are getting.