Top Gear's anti-speed camera campaign is SICK

[morningpaper]

Watched Top Gear last night (and I can't help but think that the current series is making too much of Jeremy Clarkson - who is basically a really nasty man).

ANYHOO I was particularly horrified by their anti-speed camera segment: they were praising an MP who had said he wanted to ban speed cameras in Swindow - awarding him a trophy and throne etc. to the ecstatic screaming of the audience. They routinely give speed camera detectors away as competition prizes.

They are in such a position of influence over young men - and their message is basically that if you keep to speed limits you are a 'loser'.

This kind of thing makes me FUME. Are these presenters ever responsible for walking their children across a busy road? Are they actually the ones holding the hands of their toddlers while they teach them to stop and look for cars? Do they REALLY not care if some young twat is doing 50 in a 30mph zone while they do so? Do they REALLY think that's a good campaign to throw their weight behind?

It really makes me SEETHE that the BBC allows them to broadcast their 'campaign.'

No they DO speed on the roads

Jeremy Clarkson claimed he has driven at 186 mph on public roads

'cos he is big and clever

doh, yes, lots of those flashy signs with speed and warning in Notts now. There are some on the way to my parents house, but they're always bloody wrong. I'll be doing 40 (speed limit) and they flash 24 Thank You!
Maybe my car is wrong!

Wasn't there something in the paper about a guy who argued that his sat nav or on board computer gadget or something could not be wrong, so he managed to get out of a ticket as the car displayed him slower than the speed limit?

morning paper - the sensors that flash "you are going to fast" they flash "you are going to fast" at everyone. I went past on on my bike - only person on road one sunday morning. I nearly fell of my like when it flashed me for going to fast!! I was doing 15 miles an hour tops by my bike computer (I cant pedal that fast)

But they dont work either they dont slow people driving cars. The sensors that display your speed some young people apparently see how fast they can make it register

palaver x post, thought you meant the speed display thingies.
No not seen them yet - I think they're like the ones on the ring road in Notts though?

Not many speed cameras on my route to work, just a red light and speed sensor. Too many sleeping policemen to go faster than 20mph!

hmmm I might have seen them in spain that flash your speed and a warning tbh

Message withdrawn

Speedcameras don't work and are dangerous in themselves.
The Top Gear trio are on the money with their plans as is the chap from Swindon.

there are always speed cameras on a Sunday morning at a certain spot in Nottingham, they get quite a few people as its a 30 but people assume its a 40 (if I were driving and didn't know the road, I'd assume 40).

They are annoying in so far as people seem to slow down about 20mph below the speed limit to go past them!

I wish they would introduce minimum speed cameras too - then that would doubley get the people who drive at 40 in a 50 & then keep going at 40 when they get to a 30.

There are a few places where I wish there were some ... I wouldn't mind a few more on my way to work where people overtake like idiots & drive far to fast, like 90 on twisty bits of road.

They are annoying in so far as people seem to slow down about 20mph below the speed limit to go past them!

I thought that was the idea - slow the traffic down?

im sorry but they do not campaign against them because they curb speed but because they are a way to raise money from the government

they regularly do features on saftey and fuel econmy and its not all aimed at young men i am a women and i love top gear

yes but people only slow down for a small portion of the road. they'll be banging along over the speed limit, whack on the breaks, tootle past the camera at the speed limit, and then drive off fast again, all big and smarty pants.

I've heard a lot of people say that speed cameras "don't work" but they all seem to be tabloid journalists

Have any ACTUAL REAL STUDIES shown this?

I do love TG myself.
James May doesn't speed...

I'm not saying "no they definately dont work" but I dont see the point in some of them when the drivers are only slowing down for the sake of the camera.

I think, for promotion of safe walking for pedestrians, there are better solutions than speed cameras. Near me, you cant drive for more than a minute before getting to another set of pedestrian lights, loads of the roads have sleeping police men / hump thingies.

There used to be a "circit" near me, in town, where all the petrol heads would try to kill themselves drive around at night, they changed the sequence of the several traffic lights so you can never get through more than one, therefore no speed. Works better than points + ban when people will still speed and drive without a licence.

Ok, they slow down for a camera. This is why I like the idea of the traffic lights changing if you drive to fast. Sensoors along the road and traffic lights here and there - you will not know for a while where the sensors are and then when you do learn where they are they move them by 200-500y and the lights will still change if you drive to fast

The person that set the lights to red gets tooted for being annoying and making everyone stop

Consequenses and hiden sensors make you tootle around like the tortoises

oooh, no, I drive at the speed limit given the conditions of the road
I get annoyed when people drive too slow and too fast
I know loooooooads of people who utter the "best be careful on x road, there is a new speed camera in x position" - it doesn't inspire them to be careful ALL the time they are driving.
That's why I think alternatives to speed cameras may work better iyswim

Is there any proof that speeding kills people?

Opposed to bad driving at the speed limit or stupid driving?

Just asking as I am under the imprssion motorways are safer than A roads. So genuine question?

I haven't seen TG in ages but speed cameras do seem to have reached epidemic proportions. In general, I support reducing speeds but I think the issue is that they're put in places where they'll trap lots of people and their money but not in the dangerous places. Round here, there are plenty of 'safe' roads with cameras on yet there are none on the roads with dreadful accident records or in villages which people speed through, such as ours. Dd1's friend and workmate was killed two weeks ago in an accident, though I've no idea what happened. My heart aches for her family.

We've just come back from Northern California where we were amazed by the difference in driving. Almost no one seems to speed, and we were rarely overtaken even though we were cautious due to not being accustomed to driving on the right. Yet the US has much higher RTA deaths than the UK - I wonder if that's due to car design? We went in a car that had no middle rear seat belt, whereas the UK has had 3point belts for some years now.

Dear Ivykaty - the faster you go the longer it takes to stop. It might not be the drivers fault that some idiot pulls out in front of them or steps off the kerb - BUT if they are speeding then they take that much longer to stop, and are more likely to hit something as a result.
PLUS the laws of Physics (which dictate that it takes longer to stop if you are going faster) also say that the faster you are going when you hit something - even if its not your fault - the more damage will be done.
Simple physics
Amazing how many people don't believe that the laws of physics apply to them......

What Donk says

I've never noticed speed cameras or been caught by one

Am I a freak?

Do the statistics for deciding on a camera work on fatalitis or accidents in total?

statistics for deciding where cameras are going to be placed will not have anything to do with safety - but money

This is why I think the money making revenue has to be taken out of the scheme

Elf, it seems to go on 'serious incidents'. People who disagree with speed cameras don't like the way 'serious incidents' is defined (includes broken arms and other piffling injuries .)

I do agree that some speed cameras are rubbish - I use a section of the A3 a couple of times a week, and I know exactly where each camera is, as do most of the drivers. Mind you, as a way of making money for the government, I don't mind it - why not tax speeding? It's anti-social behaviour and dangerous to boot.

I do like IvyKaty's red light scheme though, that's very cunning and might well be more effective.