Speed camera in Shurlock Row FFS
Discussion
Pootling back from the office this evening on my usual "back route" home in the Chim, i just could not believe it. There, in the middle of Shurlock Row, was one of our Boys in Blue pointing a hand held speed gun at me. It's a tiny village in the middle of nowhere FFS
Those of you who have driven with me will share my joy as i drove noisily past him, a big smile and a nod, and off i went. It was a 30 mph limit and i was doing 29
At least i got a smile back from him.
It is terribly sad that his superiors can think of no better job for him than to stand there like daft Fred, waving his gun around.
ETA
i didn't mean camera did i? I meant trap...
ah well
Those of you who have driven with me will share my joy as i drove noisily past him, a big smile and a nod, and off i went. It was a 30 mph limit and i was doing 29
At least i got a smile back from him.
It is terribly sad that his superiors can think of no better job for him than to stand there like daft Fred, waving his gun around.
ETA
i didn't mean camera did i? I meant trap...
ah well
Edited by Blues on Thursday 24th July 21:07
Unfortunately Dave the problem lies with the public.... All the 'Trap' sites are designated by the Roads Safety Officer who allocates the site according to RTC stats and also local complaints. So basically if enough residents at a meeting with their Beat Officer have a moan about people speeding down their road, the Safety Officer has to do something about it. 95% of the time residents complaining is tosh as they are complaining based on their perception of speed which as we all know, if you are standing on the pavement, a passing car generally seems to be going quicker than it generally is.
I suspect the BiB standing in Shurlock Row would have much rather been in Slough or Reading mixing it up a bit, but as you pointed out, we are under pressure from the management to enforce these sites, and if we don't questions are asked.
I'm not asking for sympathy BTW, just trying to explain the lowly Traffic PC's position.
edited due to fat typing fingers
I suspect the BiB standing in Shurlock Row would have much rather been in Slough or Reading mixing it up a bit, but as you pointed out, we are under pressure from the management to enforce these sites, and if we don't questions are asked.
I'm not asking for sympathy BTW, just trying to explain the lowly Traffic PC's position.
edited due to fat typing fingers
Edited by wiliferus on Thursday 24th July 22:14
wiliferus said:
Unfortunately Dave the problem lies with the public.... All the 'Trap' sites are designated by the Roads Safety Officer who allocates the site according to RTC stats and also local complaints. So basically if enough residents at a meeting with their Beat Officer have a moan about people speeding down their road, the Safety Officer has to do something about it. 95% of the time residents complaining is tosh as they are complaining based on their perception of speed which as we all know, if you are standing on the pavement, a passing car generally seems to be going quicker than it generally is.
I suspect the BiB standing in Shurlock Row would have much rather been in Slough or Reading mixing it up a bit, but as you pointed out, we are under pressure from the management to enforce these sites, and if we don't questions are asked.
I'm not asking for sympathy BTW, just trying to explain the lowly Traffic PC's position.
edited due to fat typing fingers
I do understand Matt, my thoughts were with the BiB. He just looked bemused, and smiled as i burbled past him in third. Its surprising how many people confuse exhaust noise with speedI suspect the BiB standing in Shurlock Row would have much rather been in Slough or Reading mixing it up a bit, but as you pointed out, we are under pressure from the management to enforce these sites, and if we don't questions are asked.
I'm not asking for sympathy BTW, just trying to explain the lowly Traffic PC's position.
edited due to fat typing fingers
If you know that road, there are usually cars parked either side along a narrow road. It would be pretty difficult to actually get any speed up along there most of the time.
I'll have a count when i next drive through there, i suspect there are no more than 25 to 30 houses in total (and two pubs!) so getting a large percentage of the community to complain would probably only require a couple of large families.
Blues said:
Pootling back from the office this evening on my usual "back route" home in the Chim, i just could not believe it. There, in the middle of Shurlock Row, was one of our Boys in Blue pointing a hand held speed gun at me. It's a tiny village in the middle of nowhere FFS
I have got no problem with the BiB enforcing a speed limit in a village. After all, some child might run out after their ball etc. and someone is going through too fast not paying attention.He may have not caught anyone, but it has served it's purpose, as I am sure you are not going to go blatting through there in case he is back!
Have fun twisties and open roads, be good in the villages.
smack said:
Blues said:
Pootling back from the office this evening on my usual "back route" home in the Chim, i just could not believe it. There, in the middle of Shurlock Row, was one of our Boys in Blue pointing a hand held speed gun at me. It's a tiny village in the middle of nowhere FFS
I have got no problem with the BiB enforcing a speed limit in a village. After all, some child might run out after their ball etc. and someone is going through too fast not paying attention.He may have not caught anyone, but it has served it's purpose, as I am sure you are not going to go blatting through there in case he is back!
Have fun twisties and open roads, be good in the villages.
I have no difficulties sticking to the speed limit in a village - i am well aware of the implications, and teh many on here that hoon with me know my views on this.
How has it served it's purpose?
The fact that i will not go blatting though there is nothing to do with him being there or not. I DON'T GO BLATTING THROUGH 30 MPH AREAS PERIOD
But thanks for taking the time out to share your sanctimonious patronisations.
Blues said:
smack said:
Blues said:
Pootling back from the office this evening on my usual "back route" home in the Chim, i just could not believe it. There, in the middle of Shurlock Row, was one of our Boys in Blue pointing a hand held speed gun at me. It's a tiny village in the middle of nowhere FFS
I have got no problem with the BiB enforcing a speed limit in a village. After all, some child might run out after their ball etc. and someone is going through too fast not paying attention.He may have not caught anyone, but it has served it's purpose, as I am sure you are not going to go blatting through there in case he is back!
Have fun twisties and open roads, be good in the villages.
I have no difficulties sticking to the speed limit in a village - i am well aware of the implications, and teh many on here that hoon with me know my views on this.
How has it served it's purpose?
The fact that i will not go blatting though there is nothing to do with him being there or not. I DON'T GO BLATTING THROUGH 30 MPH AREAS PERIOD
But thanks for taking the time out to share your sanctimonious patronisations.
Never tried to insinuate that you were or do speed through villages, and was not giving an instructions on egg sucking. But sometimes we all get blasé about it, and seeing the BiB actually doing something will get people to drive differently. I am going to draw attention to myself if I see that they are targeting an area.
Sounds like we are like minded on this, and I am no saint that preaches for others to do no wrong.
He probably was standing there as a local in the village complained, so they had to make an appearance. From the reports from BiB, in this situation it is usually the locals that get nicked, who think it is fine to speed it their part of the world, but no one else’s...
I drive through Shurlock Row to/from work most days. I don't generally speed in 30 zones, and certainly not there as it's fairly narrow, has cars parked on one side of the road, shops and houses on to the road and a children's nursery. However, it's amazing how many times over the years that I've followed some numpty driving along at 40 in the national speed limit roads which lead in to SR, only to find that they carry on at 40 when they reach the 30 zone, totally oblivious to the change of conditions. To be honest, if they caught anyone doing more than 35 or so that day then IMHO they deserved to be caught!
Incidentally, they've recently changed one of the NSL stretches leading into the village into a 40 zone - a stretch where a couple of years ago I drove round a bend to find a runaway horse in the middle of the road without it's rider! Managed to stop in time no problem, but made me think about what can go wrong. Also, not far from there I was once following a 911 at a fairly brisk pace and witnessed a deer run out in front of him and get clipped by his front wing, so now I tend to be even more alert when driving round there!
Incidentally, they've recently changed one of the NSL stretches leading into the village into a 40 zone - a stretch where a couple of years ago I drove round a bend to find a runaway horse in the middle of the road without it's rider! Managed to stop in time no problem, but made me think about what can go wrong. Also, not far from there I was once following a 911 at a fairly brisk pace and witnessed a deer run out in front of him and get clipped by his front wing, so now I tend to be even more alert when driving round there!
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