Speed camera mega-thread ***Read first post before posting***

Gary ITR

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Are these some of the needle threaders I wonder?

And does taking photos while driving come under the rubric of 'concentrating on driving in the conditions'?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69442943&postcount=9

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69440250&postcount=1

That is off topic posting and against the charter. You have already been warned about this recently so I'm banning you for 3 days

worded

Hi,

Is there a (free) ap for iphones that alerts to speed traps?

Thanks,

Dempo1

worded wrote: »

Hi,

Is there a (free) ap for iphones that alerts to speed traps?

Thanks,

LOL:D However even if there was, surely would it not be illegal to use it pretty much like your phone while driving?

Atomic Pineapple

worded wrote: »

Hi,

Is there a (free) ap for iphones that alerts to speed traps?

Thanks,

There is another thread that deals with that, do a search for "Trapster" been using it on Android and it seems decent enough.

samsemtex

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Nothing to do with the general case for speed cameras.

It seems to me you have three issues to deal with:

1. The legalities of receiving a speeding ticket in such circumstances.
2. A lack of control and awareness regarding who is using your car, where and when.
3. Absent-mindedness or memory loss.

Its almost 3 weeks since the offence occurred? Do you remember exactly where you were at a certain time 3 weeks ago?

And what does me allowing my car to be driven by other people have to do with anything? Its perfectly legal for them to drive it. How can I be convicted of a criminal offence for something I might not have done? I own knives, if someone I know uses one of them and stabs someone would I be convicted for it without trial because its my knife? Of course not. Why should road traffic offences be any different.

Dempo1 wrote: »

I'm no fan of these speed cameras but i beg to ask the following question.

Surely when a summons is issued, the date, time and place of offense is listed on the summons, in addition i was led to believe a photo with date stamp would be submitted? based on these facts, surely it would not take a rocket scientist to work out the details you refer too and whom was driving the car?

The time and date are listed but its over 3 weeks ago. If i went through that trap 6 times that day which im sure people who live in the area could do I could be off the road? If a garda had stopped you after the first time that wouldnt happen. Considering most of these traps are put in highly lucrative areas where there is no danger of an accident someone losing there license in one day, which has happened, seems unfair.

It lists the area as Brigown which means it could be anywhere in a 3 mile radius. We've been narrowing down where we think the fine was given and if its where we think then it is on a straight stretch of the old N8 with no houses on it. Probably one of the least dangerous stretches of road in the country and up until 2 years ago it had a 100kph limit but it has now been reduced to 60kph. Real life saving stuff there...

The photo shows a zoomed in photo of the number plate and nothing else.

ironclaw

samsemtex wrote: »

The photo shows a zoomed in photo of the number plate and nothing else.

Is it your plate? I know it seems odd but maybe do a comparison.

And as far as I'm aware you can request a larger image to include the car & driver. A friend of mine got a summons on his reg, in the larger photo it wasn't even the same color car.

andykells

Anyone know how long it takes from when you get caught to when you get the notice in your door. Reckon i got caught last friday between Toomevara and Nenagh (a truck doing 90 so i passed it prob doing 110 - 115 and then slowed down). Not sure i could be fully seen though because of the truck. Long shot i know but would like to find out for sure.

Atomic Pineapple

andykells wrote: »

Anyone know how long it takes from when you get caught to when you get the notice in your door. Reckon i got caught last friday between Toomevara and Nenagh (a truck doing 90 so i passed it prob doing 110 - 115 and then slowed down). Not sure i could be fully seen though because of the truck. Long shot i know but would like to find out for sure.

Can be anything up to 6 months, if you did get caught its a prime example of how the speed cameras aren't a good enough technology to differentiate between actual speeders, advocates of speed cameras would have you down as the spawn of the devil yet you were simply overtaking a truck safely.

ART6

First point: Anyone exceeding a speed limit is guilty of an offence in law.
Second point: Anyone doing so dangerously is guilty of the same offence.
Third point: An accident at an unsafe speed is likely to be more serious than one within a speed limit.
Fourth point: Speed limits are set for average drivers, not for experts.

The fact that a number of road users are still exceeding limits is an issue that must be dealt with, but how? It's more than just a case of how many people have been killed. Of course, the solution beloved of politicians the world over is one which is simplistic and which penalises the many for the sins of the few. It is a symptom of the control freakery that seems to infect politicians within a year or two of their election. That there is adequate technology available to better address the issue is irrelevant when there also exists to possibility to raise considerable revenue, while using the excuse that it is simply punishing law breakers. "If you don't speed you don't pay". I wonder though, is there a motorist alive who, while being as responsible as possible, can say that he or she has never ever exceeded a speed limit during a few minutes of distraction caused by traffic, road conditions, or simply driving on autopilot on a boringly familiar road etc etc?

It this thread is anything to go by a majority of motorists believe that speed cameras are simply and cynically revenue raisers (this statistic is no more adapted for purpose that are those published by AGS and the RSA), and it is difficult to escape the conclusion that they are right. A number of posters have said that the money invested in cameras should have been spent on the roads instead, but that is missing the point. That is that the money spent on cameras is an investment that can confidently be expected to yield a profit. Money spent on the roads instead is a net cost with no measurable return.

There is another way I believe. Not far from where I live there is a steep hill with a fairly dangerous bend halfway down it. There is a 50k speed limit that is not unreasonable. At the top of the hill is a radar sign that displays both the limit and the speed of an approaching vehicle with a flashing warning telling the driver to slow down. It is not an enforcement camera, and when approaching it you don't know if it's referring to you or the guy behind, but it does prompt people to glance at their speedo and correct if necessary.

Now if that sort of sign was placed (say) half a mile before a reduced speed limit, then everyone approaching has the opportunity to prepare for it. If then, within that speed limit, there were average speed cameras spaced (say) one mile apart to detect those who were over the limit all the way, then the guy or gall who slips over for a moment or two will not be penalised.

With such a system, and with modern technology, it would not then be difficult to have a ranking of penalties such that someone exceeding the speed over the whole distance by X kph gets a warning letter with the notice that their behaviour has been logged and will be held on record pending a further offence when it will be taken into account. Someone exceeding the limit by Y kph gets a fine. The Z kph driver gets a larger fine and penalty points.

With such a system, I suggest, there is a good chance of catching the lunatics while not persecuting the normally responsible people. If it was supported by variable speed limit signs that automatically changed according to visibility and road temperature -- another automatic function that is easy to achieve -- then the speeds X, Y, and Z above could easily, and again automatically, be modified to suit road conditions.

That would play a number of roles: It would inform drivers of road conditions of which they may not be aware. It would advise them that they are exceeding a limit rather than simply prosecuting them for doing so. It would take the speeding issue out of the hands of AGS patrols and might actually save money. It would stand a chance of dealing with those who couldn't care a s**t what the speed limit is or why. Being fully automatic it would not be susceptible to human foibles or the depredations of the 'holier than thou" brigade. And it might even be viewed by the motoring public a fair and reasonable, and therefore be supported.

I would guess that such a system could be implemented for the money spent on cameras every year from now on. My problem is that I wouldn't trust any politician as far as I could throw a dead rat, so I wouldn't expect them go easily be prised away from a nice little earner. Therefore, it ain't going to happen.

beertons

andykells wrote: »

Anyone know how long it takes from when you get caught to when you get the notice in your door. Reckon i got caught last friday between Toomevara and Nenagh (a truck doing 90 so i passed it prob doing 110 - 115 and then slowed down). Not sure i could be fully seen though because of the truck. Long shot i know but would like to find out for sure.

Got me too on Sunday evening, overtaking a very slow car. Don't think I was much over 100, and was slowing down after I overtook it. Grrrr.

Berty

Saw two of them today on the move from the depot. I fvcking detest the sight of them EVEN on the move.

I started to adjust my driving to mess with his head I managed to get him to overtake me at above the speed limit and did a "taking a picture of you" motion with my hands.

He was none too impressed so I overtook him and left him behind.

Score one for the common man. aware driver is also the common man before you remind me

ironclaw

ART6 wrote: »

Not far from where I live there is a steep hill with a fairly dangerous bend halfway down it. There is a 50k speed limit that is not unreasonable. At the top of the hill is a radar sign that displays both the limit and the speed of an approaching vehicle with a flashing warning telling the driver to slow down. It is not an enforcement camera, and when approaching it you don't know if it's referring to you or the guy behind, but it does prompt people to glance at their speedo and correct if necessary.

Now if that sort of sign was placed (say) half a mile before a reduced speed limit, then everyone approaching has the opportunity to prepare for it. If then, within that speed limit, there were average speed cameras spaced (say) one mile apart to detect those who were over the limit all the way, then the guy or gall who slips over for a moment or two will not be penalised.

With such a system, and with modern technology, it would not then be difficult to have a ranking of penalties such that someone exceeding the speed over the whole distance by X kph gets a warning letter with the notice that their behaviour has been logged and will be held on record pending a further offence when it will be taken into account. Someone exceeding the limit by Y kph gets a fine. The Z kph driver gets a larger fine and penalty points.

In Portugal, the whole motorway network is a average speed system. When you pull on you get a ticket, you then pull off to pay a toll. It also nabs your average speed.

Personally I don't think there should be any leniency. If someone is guilty, they are guilty. I do however believe there should be some common sense. There are two posters here, within days, who say they might have been done over taking. I think thats too much of a coincidence.

Many people don't overtake, I find, due to lack of confidence. So someone who does generally has half a brain. A few over on an overtake, I don't see the problem. Its a necessary evil. If your in a collision on an overtake, speed isn't going to matter too much as its going to head on.

markc1184

I thought all these new vans were to be all marked up with the fluorescent livery? I passed one this morning at Plattin just outside Drogheda, a red one with no stickers but it did have the small extension above the rear doors that some pictures have shown. I also noticed it had an orange beacon light on the roof. Definately didn't stand out because of the light. Only reason i spotted it is because the flash lit up the road ahead as a car passed by. I know that they had said the plain vans would be out testing but are they still doing that now?

Dempo1

markc1184 wrote: »

I thought all these new vans were to be all marked up with the fluorescent livery? I passed one this morning at Plattin just outside Drogheda, a red one with no stickers but it did have the small extension above the rear doors that some pictures have shown. I also noticed it had an orange beacon light on the roof. Definately didn't stand out because of the light. Only reason i spotted it is because the flash lit up the road ahead as a car passed by. I know that they had said the plain vans would be out testing but are they still doing that now?

Predictably not all these vans are marked clearly nor are they park in spots where deaths have taken place despite the blatant lies from the new rsa marketing campaign, in fact i have yet to see a single van with any of the fancy high visibility markings as was being suggested when they were launched.

Saw a funny thing today, one of these van drivers having a piss at the back of his van, at least for a change he wasn't taking the piss for a change.

Nothing but a money making scam!

jaffa20

I haven't seen any vans yet and there are 2 locations near me where the vans are meant to be. Both on local roads at 50k/ph speed limits but i can't see where they would park as not much space around.

Iwannahurl

Berty wrote: »

Saw two of them today on the move from the depot. I fvcking detest the sight of them EVEN on the move.

I started to adjust my driving to mess with his head I managed to get him to overtake me at above the speed limit and did a "taking a picture of you" motion with my hands.

He was none too impressed so I overtook him and left him behind.

Score one for the common man. aware driver is also the common man before you remind me

Bravo.

johnos1984

The only place I have come across these vans or water safety devices as the ads will tell you is on safe enough pieces of road just past where the limit drops down.

My 65 year old mother has been caught by them dangerously overtaking (66kph in a 50 just leaving the zone) a safe corolla going 30-40kph for the last 10 miles on a straight stretch of raod. She got done leaving THE RAGG for anyone who knows it heading towards Nenagh

From what I have heard, from a friend with 8 points (I've told him everyone else would of gotten the message by now) your premium doesn't go up as insurance companies no longer have faith in the validity of the system.

I can't comment if that is true tho as I have NIL POINTS

franksm

Think I may have got zapped by an unmarked white van parked on the hardshoulder on the N4 citybound just before Kennelsfort Road in Palmerstown. It's a 60 zone, I was doing 70.

Anyway, I wanted to post about the TomTom "safety cameras" download that they are selling at the moment. I bought and installed it, but it does not seem to have the new camera zones we now know about here. Pity.

What I did find is that there's a free POI for TomTom and others that, while not 100%, does look as if it has more camera zones that are useful to us:

http://poi.gps-data-team.com/ireland/safety/

Atomic Pineapple

markc1184 wrote: »

I thought all these new vans were to be all marked up with the fluorescent livery? I passed one this morning at Plattin just outside Drogheda, a red one with no stickers but it did have the small extension above the rear doors that some pictures have shown. I also noticed it had an orange beacon light on the roof. Definately didn't stand out because of the light. Only reason i spotted it is because the flash lit up the road ahead as a car passed by. I know that they had said the plain vans would be out testing but are they still doing that now?

Not all no! The unmarked cameras are supposed to be used for surveying only and not for actively catching people breaking a posted speed limit. They are also used for training which might explain why a flash went off.

sambermo

Would you take the chance of going over the speed limit because theres no markings on the van, bearing in mind that they are supposed to be only surveying or training, eh dont tink so, they are no more training or surveying now than I am.. Thats just to catch people out "money spinner"... A red unmarked van on Trim to Navan road this morning,straight stretch of road too, positioned where there has been no accidents in the 10 years I am living on it!!!

Atomic Pineapple

sambermo wrote: »

Would you take the chance of going over the speed limit because theres no markings on the van, bearing in mind that they are supposed to be only surveying or training, eh dont tink so, they are no more training or surveying now than I am.. Thats just to catch people out "money spinner"... A red unmarked van on Trim to Navan road this morning,straight stretch of road too, positioned where there has been no accidents in the 10 years I am living on it!!!

Well thats whats been made public knowledge so I'm fairly sure that if someone gets caught by an unmarked van in an area not marked as a GoSafe zone it would be immediately quashed in court. If not then its disgraceful practices by GoSafe, the RSA and the courts.

shedweller

sambermo wrote: »

A red unmarked van on Trim to Navan road this morning,straight stretch of road too, positioned where there has been no accidents in the 10 years I am living on it!!!

It's marked on the Garda website alright. It's in the Balreask area of Navan. I passed it this morning heading out of town. I hope i wasn't over the limit there.:(

Iwannahurl

draffodx wrote: »

Well thats whats been made public knowledge so I'm fairly sure that if someone gets caught by an unmarked van in an area not marked as a GoSafe zone it would be immediately quashed in court. If not then its disgraceful practices by GoSafe, the RSA and the courts.

Enforcing speed limits disgraceful?

Simple rule of thumb: no breaking of speed limit, no fine.

Dempo1 wrote: »

Saw a funny thing today, one of these van drivers having a piss at the back of his van, at least for a change he wasn't taking the piss for a change.

Nothing but a money making scam!

The whole "money-making scam" angle is very tiresome.

shedweller

But it is really hard to maintain 30 kph, especially after you pull out at a junction for example. You just want to get going and i find 30 kph comes up really quickly.
I do find myself being more aware of the speedo and am constantly checking it. Much moreso than i'd like as i am taking my eyes off the road to do this.

Atomic Pineapple

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Enforcing speed limits disgraceful?

Lying to the public is what I posted as being disgraceful.

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Simple rule of thumb: no breaking of speed limit, no fine.

Over simplistic ideal, if posted speed limits were dynamic and correct then maybe it could be applied but they are not.

Iwannahurl wrote: »

The whole "money-making scam" angle is very tiresome.

Where did I mention anything to do with money making in the post you quoted?

maxextz

in Holland they hide behind walls in the city and catch you going by or they use black wheelie bins with a hole in for the camera also car trailers with a speed camera hidden inside left in the middle reservations on duel carriageways.

maybe we've already been caught by a black bin.:rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T43LtGNFLPw

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso.htm

Iwannahurl

draffodx wrote: »

Lying to the public is what I posted as being disgraceful.

draffodx wrote: »

Well thats whats been made public knowledge so I'm fairly sure that if someone gets caught by an unmarked van in an area not marked as a GoSafe zone it would be immediately quashed in court. If not then its disgraceful practices by GoSafe, the RSA and the courts.

That would have to be a lot of people doing a lot of serious lying. An appalling vista, to be sure.

Personally I care little about where the vans are sited, since I have no intention of risking a speeding ticket on any road at any time. I can see no problem with enforcing the speed limits on any road at any time, by whatever legal means necessary. I can't see that any motorist who avoids a fine by virtue of complying with the speed limit has any reason to complain about the siting of an individual van on any one occasion either.

draffodx wrote: »

Over simplistic ideal, if posted speed limits were dynamic and correct then maybe it could be applied but they are not.

I have been driving for a lot longer than you have, and I assure you that I have no problem adhering to the posted speed limit in any given location (regardless of whether it's "correct" for the given location or not). In all my years' driving I have never incurred a speeding fine, not one. I'm confident I won't get one under the new regime either. Never say never though.

draffodx wrote: »

Where did I mention anything to do with money making in the post you quoted?

I was making a general point, as it's a recurring (and hence tiresome) theme in this forum. I had responded to the most recent comment along those lines, but I think it was removed by a Mod (too minimal perhaps). Anyhoo, I'll edit my earlier post to make it clear that I was not directly attributing the "money-making scam" comment to you.

Dempo1

draffodx wrote: »

Not all no! The unmarked cameras are supposed to be used for surveying only and not for actively catching people breaking a posted speed limit. They are also used for training which might explain why a flash went off.

I don't mean to be argumentative but has anyone actually see one of these supposed HIGH VISIBILITY VANS?, i certainly have not and i am on the road quite a lot, it appears to me most if not all these vans are not clearly marked and i have to say i have seen them in bizarre "easy catch locations"

Dempo1

Iwannahurl wrote: »

That would have to be a lot of people doing a lot of serious lying. An appalling vista, to be sure.

Personally I care little about where the vans are sited, since I have no intention of risking a speeding ticket on any road at any time. I can see no problem with enforcing the speed limits on any road at any time, by whatever legal means necessary. I can't see that any motorist who avoids a fine by virtue of complying with the speed limit has any reason to complain about the siting of an individual van on any one occasion either.



I have been driving for a lot longer than you have, and I assure you that I have no problem adhering to the posted speed limit in any given location (regardless of whether it's "correct" for the given location or not). In all my years' driving I have never incurred a speeding fine, not one. I'm confident I won't get one under the new regime either. Never say never though.




I was making a general point, as it's a recurring (and hence tiresome) theme in this forum. I had responded to the most recent comment along those lines, but I think it was removed by a Mod (too minimal perhaps). Anyhoo, I'll edit my earlier post to make it clear that I was not directly attributing the "money-making scam" comment to you.

Welcome Back!:pac:

Iwannahurl

maxextz wrote: »

in Holland they hide behind walls in the city and catch you going by or they use black wheelie bins with a hole in for the camera also car trailers with a speed camera hidden inside left in the middle reservations on duel carriageways.

maybe we've already been caught by a black bin.:rolleyes:

http://www.policespeedcameras.info/images/dutch_cam.jpg

You have to hand it to the Dutch: very pragmatic and efficient people. Great at building roads, bicycles, cycle paths, bomb-proof speed cameras and sustainable road safety strategies!

And despite all the overt and covert speed surveillance, lots of them break the speed limit (according to SWOV). Just goes to show how hard you have to work to achieve a road safety record like they have in the Netherlands.

When I was in the Netherlands a few years ago, I encountered many 20 kph zones in the area I was based in. Yet the speedo on the car I was driving started at 20 kph, not zero. Since sitting still with the engine running was not a reasonable option I took my chances. I was frequently overtaken by 'speeding' motorists in the 20 kph zones...