Thursday 28 August 2014

I am getting fed up with this...

Some months ago I was done for speeding by a mobile camera van.

Fair enough I was over the 'speed limit' (which in my sad old Kim's Game way I try very hard to stick to). Did the speed awareness course and suffered some hours of sophistry and learned a couple of useful things and went on my way. Thing is, I know for a fact that the piece of road I was done on has actually got safer over the years.

I know this because I surveyed it for safety and alignment, 'traffic management', traffic flows, turning movements (the van was near a left/right staggered junction on a rural dual carriageway) and all the rest of it in the mid eighties when the road was the main A12 into Ipswich and parts North. At that time it was OK-ish at 70. Now it's 50. I was caught at 57. And because it has been bypassed, all the hazards - especially the turning movements and traffic volumes - are a fraction of what they were. So it's bollocks that the speed camera was for 'safety measures. (It was hidden as well of course).

Since then I have intensified my Kim's Game. Why not? It relieves the boredom.

Today I was dodging gently along back to the office travelling from Darsham via Yoxford and Sibton back to my office in Ipswich via the pretty way.  I was trundling through one of the villages at about 30 and the character of the road changed to more rural and I was just thinking to myself  'hang on what's the bloody speed limit here?' (having not been recently aware of any repeater signs) when there, hidden in the verge in an obscure way was another camera van. I have no idea if I was over the limit or not, I think my speedo was about 35, but we shall see.

The point is though that I am pretty sure that the 30 mph repeater signs were all obscured by foliage.  OK.  So I can go back and spend another day surveying and photographing it all, but what's the bloody point?  I certainly cannot afford that time and if I do and prove the case I still won't get my costs and then I will be well out of pocket.

I have a view that they 'authorities' do the things that they can do most easily.  It's easy nowadays to process speeding tickets.  It's easy to process parking tickets.  The authorities can then say 'we've caught X tens of thousands of speeding people' as if that proves anything.

Meanwhile, in Rotherham...

6 comments:

The Cowboy Online said...

You know, if you could demonstrate that the introduction of LVT would also mean councils and the police would stop their automated revenue processes, I think you could win over a lot of people to your way of thinking.

Also just been on the receiving end of an automated pick pocket process by straying in to a bus lane, which I had done on purpose - admittedly - as the idiot in front of me didn't even seem able to read 20mph in a 30mph.

The Cowboy Online said...

Reach 20, not read 20. Tsk.

Mark Wadsworth said...

TCO, tolls, parking fines, speeding fines are all just crude and roundabout not to mention irritating ways of collecting LVT*. With proper LVT there would be no need for them.

* That is famously why council tax in Westminster is so ridiculously low - it's because the council prefers to get money from parking charges and fines.

Somebody said that actually, Westminster council is a parking provider which uses the profits to fund "local services".

Mark Wadsworth said...

Re Rotherham and speed limits, yes that's a hallmark of a totalitarian state.

Come down heavy on the small crimes (speeding, put your bin out on the wrong day, say something un-PC) and ignore the big ones (white collar crime, murder, rape etc).

ukFred said...

All I can say is that the entire society is corrupt.

ageing man said...

When I look at my twat tax calculator... in fairness I have done reasonably well....

http://newageingman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/twat-tax.html

So I have stopped worrying too much about getting caught speeding or not....It's a bummer getting caught...but if that is my worse crime... then guilty as charged your honour.. banged to rights...