Democracy?

....in action, sort of not.

Scrapcam - epetition reply
28 June 2007

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to scrap speed cameras."

Details of Petition:

"After 15 years of speed cameras on British roads, neither road deaths nor
hospitalisations have fallen as expected. Drivers know as if by instinct
that speed cameras are the wrong road safety policy. The extensive research
and analysis conducted by the Safe Speed road safety campaign confirms that
drivers have been right all along. Far from making our roads safer, speed
cameras have replaced genuine life saving policies and distracted everyone
from more important safety factors. Instead... - We must have road safety
policies based on skills, attitudes and responsibilities - We must have
effective roads policing especially to deal with 'rogue drivers' - We must
avoid needlessly prosecuting skilled and responsible drivers driving
safely - We must measure what is important, not make important that which is
easily measured - and you can't measure safe driving in miles per hour."


Read the Government's response:

Thank you for taking the time to register your views about safety cameras on
the Number 10 website.

Speeding kills. It is a contributory factor in 26% of all fatal accidents in
Great Britain.

The facts are stark. If a child pedestrian is hit at 30mph they stand an 80%
chance of surviving. But if they are hit at 40mph they stand an 80% chance
of dying. That is why the Government is committed to achieving appropriate
vehicle speeds on the roads as part of its integrated road safety strategy.

We are succeeding in changing attitudes, and in making drivers realise that
one of their responsibilities is to comply with speed limits. The proportion
of car drivers who comply with the 30mph limit has greatly increased over
the last few years.

Safety cameras provide a valuable and cost-effective method of preventing,
detecting and enforcing speed and traffic light offences. Their use is based
on solid evidence. All reliable research from around the world clearly
demonstrates that cameras reduce speeds and save lives.

Independent research published in December 2005, shows that safety cameras
had saved around 1,745 people from being killed or seriously injured, and
had prevented around 4,230 personal injury collisions on Britain's roads
each year.

And while they are saving lives, safety cameras will remain a key part of
our road safety strategy.

 

[snip]

Of course it's democracy. They are voted in using democratic
elections. It's easy enough to change, as long as enough people want
change.

 

exactly. It's the *bus lane* cameras we need rid of.

 

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to scrap speed cameras."

There's nothing wrong with speed cameras, don't speed in non-NSL and you'll
be OK. Very few in NSL zones and are more than visible enough.

It's 40 or 50mph limits that used to be NSL that bother me. Ruined many a
good road in the last few years.

 

CT wrote

Like that Mr Brown?

Fat chance! That requires education, and the general populace are
perfectly happy to be mollified with emotive propaganda.

 

Kevin Stone wrote

They've recently gone and plastered 50mph limits all around the
outskirts of Gloucester, the swine.

 

He's the Prime Minister, not a President. He was elected by his
constituents at the same time as Blair and every other MP in the house.

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman
So join the struggle while you may
The Revolution is just a T-shirt away

etc.

 

ogden wrote

But I understood that he could only assume office, without election by
the Party, on the unexpected death or permanent disability of the
incumbent PM.
(And that bloody sickeningly pally Commons farewell - yurgh.)

Shirley, Comrade, money would be better spent on AK47s than T-shirts?

 

As I had to tell Bullshit Bear once, in the UK you do not vote for a prime
minister, but for a party.

That's 'cos they're as thick as shit.

D.

 

platypus wrote

It pisses me off a lot. I am pretty scrupulous about the same, have
never been flashed, and when the open road beckons and begs me to drop a
gear and go for it, there's some fucking shiny new speed limit sign just
at the decision point.
Bollocks to it.

 

A is for Apple
K is for Killin
I'm killin 47 million civilians

Freedom got an AK.

 

Why? I exceed the limit in urban areas by 3 times quite regularly now. I
used to be quite respectful of them but it all got out of hand.

 

One interesting thing I found about the Bikesafe day was that the
traffic Police have a very liberal attitude to speed just about
everywhere but one thing they were absolute on was not crossing solid
whites. To the extent they'd failed Police drivers on advanced course
for crossing them.

 

when I picked up the Tiger from Phil a couple of weeks back, we were
bemoaning the state of the A4, which used to be quite a nice NSL road
in places, but now it's 40/50 limits everywhere and as you say, loads
of double-whites - real pain (though more-so in the car rather than
the bike)

in town, with traffic, yes - I sort of stick (ish) to near the limits
- in "heading out of town" 40s, I just gas it if there's no traffic in
front (and sometimes even if there is)

Double-whites I take as only applying to vehicles with more than two
wheels.

TBH, as above, I've never paid much attention to any limit[1] if I
thought I could get away with it. I still blame Adie for the one time
I've been done for speeding.

[1] I have, for example, exceeded 100 in a 30, on more than one
occasion, because I could and IMO it was perfectly safe.

 

Any Hardley rider.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

probably most people these days, I suspect.

 

I find this exceedingly difficult to believe.

 

The new Oakham bypass pisses me off. Brand new, nicely surfaced,
gently curving road, not even vaguely near any houses (for most of
it). The stupid cunts went and stuck a forty on it, rather than the
NSL it deserves. Traffic in the middle of Oakham dropped considerably
the first few weeks, then went back to the original levels as people
realised the bypass was fucking useless if they stuck to the limit.

The only upside? It's not enforced, and It's a nice place for really
opening up right now.

 

Really? I don't see why it would be a problem. I'd consider it quite
normal to accelerate from a 30-limit speed of, say, 45-50, up to the
ton in just the last couple of hundred yards of said limit, where you
can see it's perfectly safe.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Champ wrote

Oh all right.