Vandalised Gatso's

[Dan]

Thing is we all think we are good drivers and would never admit that we were not well trained . Its not speed that kills but dangerous driving. Fact is speed limits are there for a multitude of reasons some good some bad, infront of schools I doubt many would disagree that 20 mph is sensible but what about the 3 months when the schools are on holiday? perhaps variable speed limits are the answer like on the M25.

 

As speed reduces capacity increases, so strangely enough increasing the speed limit on the motorways could increase congestion. To be honest who ever drives at 70 on the motorway anyway, only the speed limited vehicles usually, most drive at around 80mph and rarely get pulled over. The motorways are infact the safest roads to drive on so I say leave them as they are!! Gatsos are old technology now, the guy that designed them, a racing driver I might add who used to drive a Mk1 zephyr (remember them?) died a few years ago. You are much more at risk from the police car on the bridge with a hand held device.

Oh and the gatsos are now usually sprayed in reflective yellow paint so if you cant see them I refer to earlier remarks about drivers not paying attention!

The best way to reduce speed? take Jeremy Clarksons suggestion: ditch the airbag and put a sharpened metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel, bet you'd drive a bit more slowly then!

 

Dan

[davidP]

corydoras:

corydoras:

I'd never agree with a 120 limit simply because our roads aren't designed for it, and more importantly many of our drivers aren't either. 120 cruise takes some serious concentration even in a good sportscar and far too many drivers these days just have no concentration.

So if the average German can do it (on mostly two lane motorways) why can't we?

As I understand it the number of unrestricted motorways left in Germany is being slowly reduced. Why can the Germans do it when we can't? Simple answer I'd guess is that they're used to it and maintain lane discipline. After a couple of times pulling out in front of a Merc doing 120mph I'd guess that both drivers would have it reinforced that lane discipline was important.

 

In the UK, where all 3 lanes are often travelling at fairly similar speeds, people simply can't be bothered to maintain lane discipline. If they can see a slower vehicle inside them, even if it's on the horizon, then it's far too much effort to pull in and then pull out again when they reach it - they might after all lose their spot in the traffic queue and have to go to the effort of indicating and looking in their mirrors! There also isn't the potential differetial in speeds because even on empty motorways the number of cars that want to do more than 90 is not actualy that great, so you're unlikely to hit the 50+mph differential that's possible on an autobahn and acts as a tremendous reason to keep in the correct lane.

As a result of this lack of discipline many UK motorways are effectively turned into dual carriageways simply because the middle lane drivers effectively block off the inside lane. This means the overtaking lane is restricted to the speed of the slowest car, and if the middle lane is doing 70 then that probably means 75 and hence all the bunching and sudden jams that occur in the outside lane as the faster cars have to slow down.

[Colin Brett]

Dan:

 

The best way to reduce speed? take Jeremy Clarksons suggestion: ditch the airbag and put a sharpened metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel, bet you'd drive a bit more slowly then!

 

Dan

Which is fine until some idiot slams into you!!

 

You may survive the impact but perhaps not the steel spike!

 

Colin

[*Ant*]

Great site with the speedscams, sorry, speedcams Elton.

 

What about gatso's to detect slow drivers that are to timid to drive above 30mph. These in my opinion are more dangerous than someone driving at 80mph on a wide B road. They cause congestion and frustration for other road users and tempt drivers to take risks to get past. :mad:

 

If some drivers are too frightened to go above 30mph, should they really be behind the wheel of a vehicle? I think not!

 

I take issue with the theory that "speed kills", speed dosn't kill, poor driving does!

 

[ 07. June 2003, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: aanthony ]

[Dan]

Colin Brett:

Colin Brett:

 

The best way to reduce speed? take Jeremy Clarksons suggestion: ditch the airbag and put a sharpened metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel, bet you'd drive a bit more slowly then!

 

Dan

Which is fine until some idiot slams into you!!

 

 

You may survive the impact but perhaps not the steel spike!

 

Colin

Yes but that idiot will have a sharpened spike too, so he wont slam into you, he'll be careful! Everyone has to have one for it to work!

 

Dan

 

[ 08. June 2003, 12:48 AM: Message edited by: Dan ]

[Jim Roper]

NickInTheNorth:

 

In addition how many people realise that the 70 mph speed limit on motorways has only been in force since December 1965. It was introduced as an illogical reaction to a series of multiple accidents in poor weather conditions.

I think you will find that a certain sports car manufacturer being caught, in the early daylight hours, road testing one of their models on the M1 had something to do with it.

I can remember the TV news that day. I think it was an AC Cobra.

Just talk to anyone living along a busy road. I expect most of them are in favour of the cameras!

Can't remember how many cats we had killed by traffic. When my parents moved here, there was a strip of grass growing in the middle of the road. A 40 mph limit has just been imposed but you get a queue of cars behind you if you stick to it.

 

Does 'gatso' mean a speed camera or is that the maker's name?

 

[ 08. June 2003, 09:41 AM: Message edited by: Jim Roper ]

[Apache]

"Gatso" is the firm that makes them I think.

[Dan]

Apache:

"Gatso" is the firm that makes them I think.

Name of the guy that invented it actually! Maurice Gatsonides or similar, he used to race a Mk 1 zephyr and won the monte Carlo in it or was it the Tulip? anyway he wasnt bad in his time at saloon car racing. He died a couple of years ago (Havent I said this before... I'm off to bed!! )

 

Just found this "The MK1 was no slouch and in 1953 a Zephyr 6 piloted by Maurice Gatsonides ( co-inventor of the dreaded speed-camera) won the Monte Carlo Rally, beating a 3.4 litre Jaguar MK7 into second place! here, so there you have it!! http://www.fivestars.co.uk/

Dan

[kwakakid]

Agree with everything thats been said,travelling up and down the country day in day out some of the things you see are beyond belief,maybe it boils down to the rat race we live in,too many things to do and not enough hours to do them in.

Dont believe accidents are a speed oriented thing,I believe it's down to driver intelligence and in most cases sheer ignorance.

[corydoras]

davidP:

Why can the Germans do it when we can't? Simple answer I'd guess is that they're used to it and maintain lane discipline.

 

After a couple of times pulling out in front of a Merc doing 120mph I'd guess that both drivers would have it reinforced that lane discipline was important.

 

In the UK, where all 3 lanes are often travelling at fairly similar speeds, people simply can't be bothered to maintain lane discipline. If they can see a slower vehicle inside them, even if it's on the horizon, then it's far too much effort to pull in and then pull out again when they reach it - they might after all lose their spot in the traffic queue and have to go to the effort of indicating and looking in their mirrors! There also isn't the potential differetial in speeds because even on empty motorways the number of cars that want to do more than 90 is not actualy that great, so you're unlikely to hit the 50+mph differential that's possible on an autobahn and acts as a tremendous reason to keep in the correct lane.

Got it in one pal! Most UK drivers have no concept of lane discipline, although the way we use motorways these days does not help. I do a fair bit of motorway driving and in my experience the left-hand lane is pretty much unuseable for most car drivers most of the time because it is nose-to-tail with lorries so one cannot maintain a steady 65-70 without having to pull into the centre lane to dodge the lorries. This results in those who just want to cruise along at 70 having to 'hog' the middle lane.

 

One thing we could do is take a leaf out of the Dutch system where you are prohibited from changing lanes on a motorway for several hundred meters before and after a junction. Lorries are also confined to the right-hand lane at peak times.

 

One of my pet hates are the 'lorry races' that you get on roads like the A34, especially after the roundabout with the M4, you know the scene, lorry A pulls out to overtake lorry B. Lorry A can't really go any faster than lorry B so after 8 miles or so of blocking the right-hand lane lorry A decides to cut his losses and pull back in behind lorry B. I see this all the time and it is a real PITA.

 

Of course if we had a decent transport system at least 40% of the lorry traffic on the road could go by rail, especially the containerised stuff.