German traffic cops angered by British driver

[JamieLei]

In accident blackspots, they are worthwhile, but the average speed camera's do more to combat speeding than a lone camera.

The requirements for a speed camera in the UK is that there must have been certain number of deaths over the last few years attributed to speeding to be able to place a speed camera there. They are never used as a precautionary measure. Hence why when there's a road which is littered with speed cameras (ie: A45 Coventry Road, Birmingham, or A456 Hagley Road, Birmingham) it's due to the fact there have been many deaths already. If the speed cameras slow people down, even for a short stretch of time, they're doing their jobs and preventing accidents and deaths.

[Ploes]

For anyone who is interested here is the UK guidelines for Speed Camera placement. Not that I could find that information on a government website!

DfT officials revealed that although Government guidelines maintain that fixed cameras are supposed to be sited where speed-related incidents in the last three years have caused serious or fatal injury to at least four people per kilometre, or one person per 400 metres, councils or police have the power to place cameras virtually anywhere they wish.

This is some interesting reading.

Fife doesn't have any fixed cameras, and gives you an idea of where the mobile cameras are going to be

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I didn't realise that the USA had a higher accident rate than Germany. Amazing when you think of the de-restricted Autobahns.... and what fun they are

[michael blunck]

I didn't realise that the USA had a higher accident rate than Germany. Amazing when you think of the de-restricted Autobahns....

More than 80% of German motorways have a speed limit for one reason or the other.

regards
Michael

[Ploes]

I didn't realise that the USA had a higher accident rate than Germany. Amazing when you think of the de-restricted Autobahns....

More than 80% of German motorways have a speed limit for one reason or the other.

regards
Michael

Yep...

...and I was on some of the 20%.

[jvassie]

I didn't realise that the USA had a higher accident rate than Germany. Amazing when you think of the de-restricted Autobahns....

More than 80% of German motorways have a speed limit for one reason or the other.

regards
Michael

"On average, about three quarters of the total length of the German autobahn network has no speed limit, about one quarter has a permanent limit, and the remaining parts have a temporary limit for a number of reasons." from Wikipedia.

Is that not true then?

[Kevo00]

Athanasios - out of interest, given that you were complaining about being poor in another thread, how come you can suddenly afford to pay a hired driver to do your speeding for you?

And if you, or your hired driver kill someone, what will St Peter say?

[michael blunck]

"On average, about three quarters of the total length of the German autobahn network has no speed limit, about one quarter has a permanent limit, and the remaining parts have a temporary limit for a number of reasons." from Wikipedia.

Is that not true then?

How could it?

On average, about half of the total length of the German autobahn network has no speed limit, about one third has a permanent limit, and the remaining parts have a temporary limit for a number of reasons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Autobahns

German autobahns have no general speed limit (though about 60% of the total length is subject to local and/or conditional limits), [...]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Autobahns

More than 80% of German motorways have a speed limit for one reason or the other.

regards
Michael

[Ploes]

what will St Peter say?

Duck?!

HE'S BEHIND YOU?!

LOOK OUT!?

[athanasios]

Athanasios - out of interest, given that you were complaining about being poor in another thread, how come you can suddenly afford to pay a hired driver to do your speeding for you?

That was on vacation times. He came with the car. Distant relative of my wife. It would cost us much much more to rent a car or a wreck. Unless I would hire a tricycle and still be there-not that I didn't ride one though! And I haven't been on vacations for more than 3 years now.

I don't want to say I am poor. I make a little money but the government makes me poor with the taxes I have to pay = the money they are stealing from my pocket.

And if you, or your hired driver kill someone, what will St Peter say?

What does he usually say in such cases?

Ploes it was really interesting to read your quotations. Now I am more convinced that they are after the money. That's what they care about, not our lives. My street ends on an avenue and every day I have to cross it to go to the bus stop just opposite. 2 pedestrians (at least from what I know) have died (one was a child) crossing on the very same spot because there is a bent on the avenue and visibility is not good. Also, as I have already mentioned, while I was waiting for the bus to go and visit some friends, a moron over speeded there with his bike and ended riding on top of the cars coming from the opposite direction. He was injured and I don't know if he survived. I was next to him till the ambulance arrived and I returned back home with spots of his blood on my hands-not to mention that I felt awful for the rest of the day and didn't go out. One and a half year earlier I fell down and hit my knee on the same spot. It troubled me for months. I mistepped on watering system pipes. Next day I went and dragged them and cut them (they wasted thousands of Euros to install those rubbish pipes to water the grass). I sure I saved someone from being killed or at least an elderly person breaking his leg. We have protested repeatedly to build an under passage... If they don't care for us, why should I care to obey their s*** money-collecting rules? It is evident those rules are not there to protect us.

[Ploes]

Ploes it was really interesting to read your quotations. Now I am more convinced that they are after the money. That's what they care about, not our lives.

Have a read of the rest of the site if your interested, but it is all UK related

...crossing on the very same spot because there is a bent on the avenue and visibility is not good...

See and that irks me. In the UK, there would be a camera stuck up... rather than improving the road layout.

But then there are times when they can improve things. Of course these are average speed cameras which don't suffer from the "camera... brake" syndrome.

...but sometimes they work to well. Well when your trying to make money from them anyway.

[athanasios]

I am aware of that. It is the same here. Cameras work occasionally. Maybe whenever the government runs out of money? Something is wrong with my mind. I am getting insane as I wonder why for a couple of days roads are full with traffic police cutting fines, and then they suddenly disappear...

Regarding that dangerous crossing a camera wouldn't help at all. There is no lower speed limit than on the rest of the avenue (70km/hr) and a lower speed limit (unacceptable, because it is a main avenue of the city and that would cause extensive traffic jams-actually it is hell during rush hours. During those hours we usually cross between the jammed and immobilized cars) wouldn't ease the view of pedestrians. There is vegetation blocking the view which should be cut, instead they water it to grow more. And yes there is a camera but on the opposite direction less than 100m from the spot: Only to check bus lane violation. That is a more serious matter than a human life. Actually it is a more acceptable (to the community) way to collect money. I do not want to say that violators of bus lanes shouldn't be fined-mostly I use the bus network to move, but such a violation doesn't cause any accident. Actually I think that those cameras create accidents out of nothing. People who want to exit an avenue see the camera and turn from the middle lane abruptly just a few meters prior to the exit. This is very dangerous, considering that bikes are allowed in bus lanes. So bikes go fast even when the cars are jammed in the other lanes. I have witnessed a couple of cases where a biker braked hard and just avoided bumping into the turning car.

[athanasios]

I think I 'll make you a visit with a tin of black paint and a brush.

[Ploes]

Clingfilm over the lens is supposed to work quite well to.

[Xrufuian]

Or a fake license plate, like these guys did...

The guy in the white shirt thought of it...

I'll find the video later...

[Ploes]

I see that picture and your user pic and instantly think of this:

[Born Acorn]

Adding traffic calming measures such as speed bumps and chicanes to even major roads in towns that have been bypassed by either single or dual carriageways should cut road deaths.

The morons who speed have to slow down for speed bumps otherwise they may harm their "oh so fine" ride.

[athanasios]

You are welcome to inspect how many of the plastic/rubber bumpers are intact in my city!
Also some morons used similar material to prevent cars from entering bus lanes, but they apparently succeeded to injure or even kill many bikers... Most are removed now.

[Xrufuian]

Adding traffic calming measures such as speed bumps and chicanes to even major roads in towns that have been bypassed by either single or dual carriageways should cut road deaths.

The morons who speed have to slow down for speed bumps otherwise they may harm their "oh so fine" ride.

Umm, those guys in my last post, got some interesting results testing that going faster on bumpy roads give you a smoother ride.

Also some morons used similar material to prevent cars from entering bus lanes, but they apparently succeeded to injure or even kill many bikers... Most are removed now.

Most are removed now?

[orudge]

Adding traffic calming measures such as speed bumps and chicanes to even major roads in towns that have been bypassed by either single or dual carriageways should cut road deaths.

I would disagree on doing this on major roads, mainly because it'd just add more congestion and pollution to towns. Such measures, if they are deemed really necessary, should only be applied to residential areas, etc. If there is a major problem with significant speeding on a main road, sensible use of speed cameras might be appropriate (e.g., in advance of a pedestrian crossing), or alternatively, perhaps the speed limit should be raised a little bit? The 85th percentile was commonly used to set speed limits (the speed at which 85% of drivers do not exceed), but is increasingly ignored by politicians these days.

[Lilman424]

also, the problem with 'traffic calming' measures such as speed bumps and traffic circles (that is, chicanes, they're called traffic circles in my dad's neighborhood for some reason) is that emergency vehicles that NEED to speed still have to deal with them.