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.'

MP you are not a freak - I have never been caught speeding either. But I have to admit to having noticed speed cameras. Round here they are large and yellow and frequently accompanied by road markings to allow them to calibrate things. Kind of hard to miss really.

Oh I dont mean cycle things we thought of after and painted a line down the road paths. I mean proper cycle route away from roads and cars with a curb between the road and path if we must be that close style cycle paths

Where one larger path will be on one side of the road but seperated by a bush and cyles go in both directions along the path and people say good morning and have baskets on the front -I really do need to go to bed

never been clocked by a camera, but kinda hard to miss.

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yes, they're okay
I did almost hit a cyclist the other week who came zooming down the road as I was turning left onto the road. No cyclists cars busses pedestrians or furry visbile animals coming up the road, but some cyclist zoomed down the wrong day down the road. To then cut up onto the pavement and ride the rest of the way down the pavement!
Not sure why we only have one "lane" on one side though!

repeater for speed limit?
No, I was asking when it changes - there is a road near me where it is 40mph, but turns to 30mph, but the sign is on the opposite side of the road - i.e. three lanes to the right.
I was wondering if that were legal - should they not be on the side you are travelling and paying attention to?

There is an off button if you don't like it ladies!!

Amazing how many people say they HATE TG but can quote great chunks of it .........

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I also noticed that whilst Jeremy (although he did mention Lady Gardens in the show) was driving his fox painted car chased by hounds, through ditches, round woods & across muddy fields wasn't wearing a seatbelt - presumably because he was on private land & therefore didn't need to by law. He'd have looked a bit silly if he'd rolled the car in a ditch & ended up through the windscreen wouldn't he?

Cod - I need to know! Not repeater signs, just in this example!

(No speed camera there, just curious!)

Dear fish I am not a repeater sign freak and glad to stand corrected. I believed that in the absence of repeaters in a zone with street lights then the speed limit was 30 mph.....

Well I'm quite glad they are taking away all the cameras in Swindon because it will solve the argument once and for all won't it? Either the accident rate will go up or it won't and we will know if the speed cameras really are safety features or just giant money-boxes.
I recently read an article about a town (can't remember where, somewhere in Belgium I think) where they have got rid of all their traffic lights, speed restrictions etc. The only rule is that everyone, including vehicles, bikes and pedestrians has to give way to the left (or right, like I say I can't remember!). Their accident rate immediately dropped by a huge percentage. I would imagine there is something to be said for people paying attention to what is around them rather than having their eyes glued to their speedo in case they accidently creep over the limit.

And no, I don't speed, I have a very clean licence .

pixel, priority to the right is standard road policy in Belgium. It's a nightmare to deal with if you're not used to it - tootling along a main road at 30mph and cars pull out in front of you with impunity...

Belgium fwiw has one of the highest road accident rates in Europe.

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Yes, Clarkson is a bit of a twit.
Yes, speeding is stupid.
And yes, there are fat too many boy-racers who need to be re-educated in how to drive.

But speed-cameras? They're not mainly about reducing speed. They're mainly about making money.

Part of the problem is the way the driving test is structured. In an age when everything else is going towards continuous assessment, this is still a 40-minute "performance" exam where someone can have a good day and a bad day. It's easy for an irresponsible young man to pretend to be a sensible driver for 40 minutes, then go off and be a boy-racer again. It would be much better to have one's driving assessed continuously over a period of a year before a licence could be awarded.

far too many, not fat!

Sorry, , what are repeaters?

Dh knows someone who knows someone who supplies something not entirely legal to one of the TG lot and so won't watch TG (the friend that is I couldn't care less if one of them is off their face I find the programme hilarious!) as he says is obvious he is off his head - apparently he is such a good customer that this guy doesn't need anymore customers IYKWIM!!

Aledgedly.

You don't mean he supplies them with some... Top Gear?!

I love TG

But I did find the speed camera thing a bit OTT (wouldn't go so far as to say sick though)

I have been caught speeding three times , twice by a camera. Each time it was a case of me straying over the speed limit on a main road by 10mph as the road was clear and I wasn't keeping an eye on my speedo. Fair enough, I was driving above the limit and I coughed up and took the points without (much ) compaint. However I do see bad driving, and I mean really bad driving, every day as there is a lot of farm traffic on the roads around here and people overtake tractors etc on blind bends. They are usually under the speed limit but are still driving like twats. IMVHO they deserve the tickets far more than I did.

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b-boom uqd!

3000!

[wanders off to bore the tits off someone else with car death stats, ancient mariner style]

I agree with Unquiet Dad. Someone can pass the test with a minimum amount of experience & no nerves etc on the day due to perhaps arrogance(?), while others fail due to nerves, but otherwise have driven for several months without this.

Of the people I know who passed first time more have had accidents than those who didn't. May be a coincidence as one person who took 5 attempts has had about 3 accidents, but who knows.

I think if TG was all about, this is my little sensible car, I drive everywhere at 50mph, then no-one would watch. Part of it is about the fantasy aspect - expensive, fast cars that most people will never get the chance to drive other than on a games console. The fact that they do review more normal cars is good. Not everyone watches and is compelled to go out & drive like lunatics, in the same way not everyone who watches the bill goes & commits a crime. They are just one opinion in a whole media full of opinions.