M6 speed camera catches 5,500 drivers in five weeks

[david1605red]

I'd bet that a high percentage of those 5,500 were pinged when the coned off section was empty, and no road crews were working. This has nothing to do with road safety, it's just another stealth tax to keep the overblown infrastructure of the nanny state in employment.

 

In most other countries, someone would be along with a Lee Enfield .303 to take out those SPECS cameras ... here in the UK we're too ready to put up with this sort of cr4p.

[david1605red]

... Don't speed - you won't be fined. If you do... tough luck.

... And this is where the whole pro-speed camera argument falls apart. There have been many cases, some well publicised, where speeding tickets were issued from a camera flash, and it was subsequently proved in court that the driver wasn't exceeding the limit.

 

In some of these, the driver had to take it to a Crown Court appeal to get the Magistrates' verdict overturned, risking lots of time and money to get justice.

 

I helped out in a case, and I still have the video at home, where the camera pans across the back of a vehicle on a dual carriageway, and clearly shows the car is under the 70mph limit. But then the officer starts zig-zagging the cross-hairs violently across the tailgate, and a reading of 85 pops up. We had to get an expert report from a video analyst to get the prosecution to drop the case.

[david1605red]

People have been accused of many crimes including murder and subsequently been found not guilty, thats hardly an argument against prosecuting people.

I would agree that prosecutions should not stop just because some defendants are not guilty.

 

However, with speed cameras, very few people are willing to risk taking the matter to a court hearing, the whole system is geared towards getting people to accept the fixed penalty, when in many cases the evidence wouldn't stand up if it actually went to trial.

 

If everybody who received a NIP and didn't think they were speeding, were to elect to go to court instead of meekly accepting the COFP, the whole rotten system would quickly grind to a halt.

[david1605red]

No he said the Police had used it wrong he didn't say the camera was not working properly and we are discussing fixed speed cameras anyway not devices used by the police to measure speed.

Both mobile and fixed cameras can be inaccurate. Check out Fines 'unfair' due to problem Gatso (From The Argus)

[david1605red]

It's not up to the driver to prove he wasn't speeding, it's up to the Police / CPS to prove he was. In Mr Barker's case, they issued a NIP followed by a fixed penalty notice for an alleged 36mph, and it was shown in court that the primary and secondary readings differed by more than 10%, hence the charge was dismissed.

 

The point is that most people would have simply paid up, when in fact the inaccuracy of the camera meant they didn't need to, although I don't see anyone from Sussex SCP rushing to refund their fines / points.

 

As for the AA, who were originally formed to warn motorists of speed traps, they've clearly been "got at" by the establishment and their "safety camera" claptrap.