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…It never was. I see in Rider Magazine (no online copy) that the French are clamping down on speeding. Like our government, they have been steadily increasing the amount of This, though, is to cease. Also, any satnavs with speed camera warnings are to be outlawed (you have to disable the feature). Not only that, but with effect from the beginning of 2013 they are bringing in a new law mandating reflective clothing for motorcyclists. All of this alongside the absolutely absurd requirement to carry two breathalyser kits. As if someone who is pissed up is going to bother testing themselves before getting behind the wheel. On the other hand, the manufacturers of breathalysers and reflective clothing are no doubt rubbing their hands… Now, you would think that warnings about speed cameras would be a good thing – after all, the desired effect is achieved; people slow down. But, no, that is not what they want, is it? What they want is for people to speed and get caught – that way government gets to pocket more money. Some might say that I am being cynical. However, having witnessed the behaviour of the anti-speed lobby who see ever lower speed limits as some sort of safety measure, I realise that I am not the cynic here. Keep ramping down speed limits and setting traps to catch people and the effect is not so much lower speeds, but motorists who are paying so much attention to their speedometer, they fail to observe the hazards ahead of them on the road. A driver who is travelling quickly and is able to stop in what he can see to be clear while observing and responding to the changing road conditions is far, far safer than the drone who is travelling religiously to the speed limit come what may.
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From time to time a mobile speed trap operates in a village close to where I live. During summer, the speed limit signs on one of the roads that feed into the area are completely obscured by the hedges. If there was any interest in road safety, the speed limit signs would be the first priority. In any case, it can hardly be referred to as a fair cop if someone who has entered the village on that road doesn’t know what the speed limit is.
Here’s a tip – if there are streetlamps, then the speed limit is 30 unless there are signs to say otherwise (every 120 yards iirc).
If there are no streetlamps, and the signs are obscured, the limit is the default 60 and you’ve got a case.
But you’d better have pretty clear proof that ALL the signs you could have seen were obscured.
It’s the preaching which goes along with the moneygrubbing which gets me.
Nothing to stop you putting your own waypoints into a Satnav, of course. Surely a kind of samizdata industry will grow up circulating the locations of cameras.
We came back from France at the beginning of the month. Before we went we made sure we had all the crap their law requires you to carry… the visibility jacket, the warning triangle, the plastic beam adjusters, and of course the bloody breathaliser kit.
We has a wonderful time. The French roads are extremely good, long straight and the two lanes for overtaking and the one on the other side not, then swapping round is a great idea. The Sat Nav was doing its thing spotting fixed cameras, so we were bombing about and literally didn’t see a Policeman for the whole of the two weeks.
Then there we were speeding down the highway on the saturday about 9am heading back north to the Caen ferry, when we were scrobbled by the rozzers! Two motorcycle gits with hand held radar hiding behind a hedge (sat nav no use there) and an on the spot fine of 90 Euros. They were very polite and non censorous, but there was definately a big smirk on their faces. While we were getting processed they pulled over another half a dozen cars in half an hour (everybody speeds in France), then when they’d hit their quota, they packed up and left.
Oh and another nice little earner is that the fine has to be the exact amount, no change given. Well we didn’t have 90Euros exact so we had to give ’em two fifties. Bastards!
RAB
you should have asked them if they accepted Reichsmark.
Australia is far worse than this. They are in the vanguard when it comes to nannying.Something to look forward to.
This seems to have stopped now, but there was a period when the Police were setting up checkpoints and pulling over law abiding citizens and checking their vehicles for roadworthyness. Presumably, if you know enough about the law, you would actually be able to tell them where to go, because they have no legal reason to detain you. In the real world it is easier to go along with them because you know that they have a million ways to make your life a misery if you don’t.
I ride a 1996 Triumph Daytona 900. It is very well maintained. The chain tension, according to the owners’ handbook is correct when there is forty millimetres of deflection. PC “you have done nothing wrong but I’m going to hassle you anyway” decided that it was too slack. I explained that the chain was adjusted exactly to the manufacturers’ specifications and that I could prove it. They accepted this and allowed me to go on my way. I now carry a laminated copy of the relevant page of the owner’s handbook under my seat.
I am not aware of what is driving (HoHo) the political agenda in France. I am new to this but can claim some libertian stuff thingy. However, I used to work on transport safety and get head bangingly annoyed that everyone thinks the speed bit is a cash cow. Funding for traffic cops got superceded by speed cameras in the 90s.
The usual speed on one of my local roads was 40 or get in the inside lane, ten years ago. Now it is 30 and it is one my I-am-really-not-that-holy routes to work on my bike and I used to cycle it with 2 kids in a cycle wagon.
In the free market, if you decide you want more holiday in or beyond France and need to cover x miles per hour/day to get x amount of enjoyment, that is your choice. If you were driving at above a speed limit for a road and you got caught, it was a calculated risk and, yes, the French police love it. So would you if Germans heading to Ireland decided that Autobahn rules applied to them on British roads.
I am really not going to convince anyone here. Go and do some Advanced Driving Training and enjoy driving.
The Swindon decision demonstrated pretty conclusively that speed cameras are not road safety devices and never were. The only use for them is to exert control and raise revenue.
Yes, sure, let’s see some German drivers using our motorways like their own – maybe the incumbents will learn a thing or two about lane discipline.
I am an advanced driver and rider with some thirty-odd years of experience. As an erstwhile ADI and current motorcycle instructor who has spent a significant part of my working life riding and driving professionally, I am more than capable of differentiating between an arbitrary speed limit and a safe speed and I’m not sure that patronising me on the basis of an ill-informed assumption will win me over to your argument.
I think that’s a fairly universal template:
It’s not about [stated reason to exert more control/steal more money]… it never was.
We were speeding yes, fair enough, but we were only doing about 70mph, on a dead straight road, visibility and road surface perfect, and very light traffic, so no it had nothing to do with road safety.
The French police had chosen their spot very carefully and I calculate that they were pulling in close to 1000 Euros and hour. Not a bad result for a bit of light morning’s work eh?
@Malmomum
Just curious, do you have any take on my first comment about the illegal operating of speed cameras in places where the signage is not maintained?
Your first paragraph is self contradictory in that you confirm the point that you are arguing against. Traffic police are much better than pedantic mindless speed cameras but cost money. Speed cameras make money. Why are you headbangingly annoyed at people saying something that, by your own admission is true? I am afraid that your second paragraph is so poorly worded that I can’t actually understand what you are trying to say. Maybe you could rephrase it.
Although I cannot match Longrider’s credentials, I have done quite a bit of advanced motorcycle training. I have also been driving and motorcycling for thirty seven years and have a pretty impeccable safety record.
It appears that Malmomum was a drive by comment.
Anyway, I just popped back due to having observed a totally non safety positioned speed camera on the main road west out of Hull. There is a nice bend in the road that conceals their criminal activities. There is a nice stretch of straight dual carriageway which is inside a forty zone for no reason. There is also a slip road which makes for lots of jockying for position that could well involve doing forty-five just to avoid getting in someone’s way.
I can’t say that I am surprised. The patronising final comment was designed to be a parting shot, not an invitation to respond.