300 miles yesterday and thaks to the bikers.

[P400PLS]

Had to go down to the south coast yesterday, so an early start was called for.

Great driving day, as many other people thought, saw five other TVRs on the journey,
hundreds of bikes and many police who appeared to be having a speed trap convention.

Anyway, thanks to all the bikers who gave me prior warning of speed traps.
I'm not prone to blatting through towns but I could easily have strayed over the
30mph limits without their friendly "slow down" signals.

[SmokinV8]

Must say so myself, that when out driving my cerb the local bikers are much more car friendly. Also talking to a lorry driver this week, he told me he went through a speed trap and was stopped by a copper the other side and warned he could be prosecuted for warning an oncoming driving of the trap. He had flashed his lights to the other lorry driver because he knew him!

[Hut49]

I'm confused by the "nicked for warning" penalty - surely the overall objective behind deploying officers to a particular site to set up a trap (ignoring the temptation for revenue generation) is to reduce traffic speed? Alerting oncoming traffic to the presence of a radar trap causes traffic to slow and achieves the objective! This overly controlled society we've allowed to evolve is starting to get it all backwards.

[tempus]

I dont think its an offence,I think it has been tried and it failed when a chap stood at the side of the road flagging traffic down in front of a speed trap in Derbyshire.Tempus

[rev-erend]

Probably just one cooper mouthing off..

Just ignore it.

[Far Eastender]

rev-erend said:

Probably just one cooper mouthing off..

Just ignore it.

That sounds like a load of barrels to me!

[Rocket Pepper]

Obviously a job for Cooperman!

[gemini]

So what do barrel makers have to do with speed enforcement then?


The stated cases vary

If the alledged offender caused any vehicle to slow then they may be found guilty

However just warning motorists could be successfully argued that they provided the same effect as a warning sign. Therefore no conviction.

Grey and dodgy area!

[Rocket Pepper]

gemini said:

So what do barrel makers have to do with speed enforcement then?

Depends on how many coopers are mouthing off

[anonymous-user]

gemini said:

If the alledged offender caused any vehicle to slow then they may be found guilty

For what specific offence Rich?

And do you know if the CPS have ever persued such a prosecution?

[gemini]

obstruction of a police officer and yes

theres a few stated cases on tinterweb

[anonymous-user]

So if I see a scamera van and I stand a few hundred yards downwind of it with a sign saying "warning scamera van ahead" I can be arrested for obstructing a Police officer? (or civilian jobsworth type presumably?).

I can't see the logic in that because all I would be doing is replicating the signs that (AFAIK) have to be placed by law ahead of all fixed scameras?

[Far Eastender]

unrepentant said:

So if I see a scamera van and I stand a few hundred yards downwind of it with a sign saying "warning scamera van ahead" I can be arrested for obstructing a Police officer? (or civilian jobsworth type presumably?).

I can't see the logic in that because all I would be doing is replicating the signs that (AFAIK) have to be placed by law ahead of all fixed scameras?

Presumably, If you stand with a sign stating 'Police speed trap ahead', that's an offence. But If your sign stated 'Dangerous area for speeding' it wouldn't?

[H10TVR]

I will defer entirely to others greater knowledge on the issue of speed enforcement it did however remind me of a strategy employed in Western Australia to counteract the cameras, sorry improve road safety, when I lived there in the nineties.

Western Australia (and the states differ with their enforcement policy) used to be very hot with the speed cameras both fixed locations and those that were concealed camouflaged in bushes, listeners to the radio station would call in and highlight the locations of the mobile cameras, the radio station would broadcast/anounce the locations, highlighting the need for motorists to pay particular attention to their speed and overall road safety at the specific named location (and be observant of wildlife in the undergrowth, conscious of the kangaroo problem), without mention of the (offending) mobile camera.It used to amuse me no end and knowing a number of police officers in the state amused them (perhaps not so amusing to their superiors).

I'm sure its a very "grey" area, I know that all on Pistonheads are vigilant safe drivers whop pay attention to all matters of road safety.

Edited by H10TVR on Wednesday 11th June 08:11

[Rocket Pepper]

Watching this thread I can't help but wonder why everyone that drives is not in ownership of a Road Angel Connected. For those that don't know, very simply it's a camera locator with a GSM card just like a mobile phone. You pass a camera of any description that's not a fixed one and or already known to RA, then all you do is press a button on your RA Connected. Within a matter of seconds everyone else subscribing to RA's connected locators will be warned of the device if they are approaching too. It's got to be the way forward. It's only drawback is it's a relatively new system so will take a good while to be firmly established - if it ever does. To work most efficiently it's a system that requires many many subscribers\users across the country. If you can afford a TVR you can afford a Road Angel Connected. It's also battery operated so you can simply use it from vehicle to vehicle if like me you drive several a day.

So what are you waiting for? Get hooked up today and protect us all from scamera evil!!!

[s6boy]

Rocket Pepper said:

... then all you do is press a button on your RA Connected. Within a matter of seconds everyone else subscribing to RA's connected locators will be warned of the device if they are approaching too.

How long does this stay on the data base for though, as I can imagine in some areas of the country where the mobile cameras are used and moved a lot people speeding up and slowing down a lot for old and therefore false information.
Good idea in principal though.

[Rocket Pepper]

The unit is connected to Orange so constantly updates itself every few seconds. As for mobile camera sights, the unit will warn you of such an area where a camera might be in use. If someone has already seen a mobile camera and they activate the 'live' facility, I believe the system works because Road Angel operators monitor the 'live' information. 'Known' and 'live' sightings show different warnings so the user is aware of the difference in activity or non activity.

I don't know how or what information RA staff use, but 'live' sightings are confirmed by them, then all RA connected users are updated. I imagine mobile cameras remain 'live' in any given area for a limited time. RA must work on this principle, but I don't know. What I do know is RA aren't stupid enough to launch such a smart device that would be floored by keeping reported sightings of mobile cameras as being 'live' when the mobile camera in question has moved on elsewhere.