Your Comments

They say they do not hide speed cameras, so why are they always behind a tree, or just round a bend etc? and why do they want to ban the detectors?

They are nothing but a trap and money making device.

I have never been caught on one thankfully.

Whilst i appreciate how frustrating it must be to be caught speeding, the only feasible answer is - don't speed! Many people see Gatso's as a money making venture - it's the people who speed who feed the machines.

As the man behind them once said on Top Gear - 'We put up ample 'speed camera' warning signs for you to see, we paint the things bright yellow - if you're still sailing through them and happen to get flashed, then who's fault is it?'

If you don't want the hefty fine or the points on your licence - no matter what the width of the road, the weather conditions, or which particular tree that sneaky police officer was hiding behond, then stick to the speed limit.

30 mph is in place for a very good reason. That being that you are quite simply 10 times more likely to kill someone if you hit someone whilst you're doing 40 mph, as opposed to 30 mph.
39 mph is only 1 mph behind that figure, so if you were to hit a person at that speed, they still are 9 times more likely to die at your hands. Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

I always stick to 30 mph or less in speed restricted and built up areas - always. I don't want the death of someone else on my conscience. Is that not good enough reason to stick to the limits, bite the bullet and swallow your pride if you DO happen to get caught doing over the speed limit??

As with all areas such as this, there is a fine line between right and wrong - and being caught doing 31 mph in a 30 mph zone *can* land you a fine, but it may well not. It depends who caught you. Chances are, if it's a police officer at the side of the road he will offer a little discretion.

I just thought i'd add that my partner (who is a police officer, by the way, so he is NOT beyond the law!) got caught speeding on a dual carriageway - as he quite rightfully put it 'I was speeding, so i deserved it'

Speed cameras are dangerous, you are more likely to knock somebody down when you go through the camera because you are watching the speedo and not the road, and also just before you go through the camera people brake hard to get their speed down which can catch people out and then run into the back of them.
And yes they are overused.

Whilst driving along a dual carriageway I encountered a 30 mph sign with a sign saying road works ahead, I duly slowed to 30 mph. After a mile no road works were visible so thinking they must have finished I started to speed up. A Quarter mile further on, just reaching the top of the hill, bang a mobile camera van came into view. I slowed down again, still no road works. They were actually another half mile further just before a major island which was being extended. Where you had to slow down anyway! Needless to say I have received a fixed penalty offer, for doing 55mph on a road that is derestricted where I would normally be traveling at 60mph.

No Mark, the country is going to the dogs because of pandering to all the 'do gooders'.
We all know there are times when 30mph is too fast to be safe and we also know there are times it is perfectly safe to exceed it. There will always be a small percentage of idiots but the vast majority of drivers drive at a speed that is suitable to the conditions at the time.
There are plenty of campaigns telling motorists all about the dangers of speeding but where are the campaigns teaching kids (or encouraging parents to teach them) basic road safety?
I have no penalty points and have not been caught speeding in 25 years, nor have I injured anyone, I just drive sensibly. Cameras are there purely to make money in the vast majority of places.

Regards speed cameras, I do not have a problem with them being used where there is a clear danger such as in built up areas, near schools etc or at accident black spots.
As a driver who drives 30,000 miles per year on UK and 10,000 miles per year on European roads the standard of driving and aggression on UK roads is appauling and the revenue generated from fines should be ploughed back into driver education, attitiude and road manners such that our roads could be better used and safer to dirive on. European drivers are far less aggressive and have better road sense than us.
A huge number of UK road users seem to be ignorant to the use of full/dipped headlamps, use of fog lamps, lane discipline and general courtesy to other road users. TV campaigns to educate drivers ned to be used.

In and around glasgow there are not many cameras, i can think of 5 off the top of my head that i would pass in a normal week to/from work and leasure. Dont get me wrong though, i have been caught speeding so many times i lost my license.

Of these 5 or so cameras not one of them is place in an area i would consider is just a money maker. 3 are positioned near primary schools, one is at an accident hotspot where a few junctions meet in a small stretch of motorway. and the other on the lead up to a town centre that has cars parked either side and kids about.

However, i travel for business to london, bournemouth and newport quite a lot and the amount of speed cameras just dotted around seems totally random and thoughtless of the road conditions etc.

It's easy not to get a speeding ticket. Don't speed.

People always say "oh it's wide road totally safe" etc. etc. But cameras are only sited where there have been several accidents. I checked for cameras in the Thames Valley - it's true.

I drive a long commute and I've seen a lot of crashes - some fatal, including a young woman at the end of July going home who was hit by two cars that were racing. If there'd have been a speed camera on that road, maybe she'd be alive today.

I'd rather have a few cameras and many live people, than no cameras and a lot of ghosts.

I know people caught doing 33 in a 30 limit, Why dont pedestrians get tickated for being stupid? have you sean kids going and coming home from school? its always the drivers fault NO its stupid people be they drivers or pedestrians. And its always some poor sod going 3 mph to fast that gets it what about the twits in blinged up hatchbacks driving like idiots, doing 50mph round an island and going round it 4 times because they like the noise the tyres make. I have seen cameras in the middle on no ware on a straight road with no junctions why? Its all about screwwing as much money out of drivers as posable, and they are not reliable, some vehicals set them off even if they arnt speeding, vans with roller shutter doors for example some car and caravan combinations. And as for mobile units they hide themselves I dont care what they say.

I do agree that cameras, in certain areas are are purely for making money and that 33 in a 30 zone is a little excessive. However, I live on a one way street with several children in the area and some cars drive way to fast down it. Also, the comment made about why cameras are placed on straight roads with no junctions, in the middle on nowhere, this is because these are the very roads that people speed on, over-estimate their abilties and cause acccidents, the A1 for example, on which I have witnesses several very serious accidents due to speeding. At some point there has to be a limit and cameras to enforce that, we just have to live with it.

Asif Ali has been caught on the same stretch of road that I was on.
I was clocked at 84 m.p.h.
It was a sunday, road conditions were perfect, the nearest vehicle would have been at least half a mile ahead and the authorities enforce a speed limit in this type of area for no other reason than filling the coffers.
My car is well mainted, is only 2 years old and I consider I am aCOMPETENT DRIVER especially in these conditions.
Cars are safer now than when some of these limits were set.
I support sensible limits round schools, pedestrian zones and built up areas.
But sensible limits in other areas with some common sense used.

was this a continuous 30 mph stretch of road? If so, then he deserved to get caught. however, If like me, he got slammed on a stretch of road that switches form 30mpoh to 40 mph four times in a 5 mile distance, then ny all means complain. What happened to me was i came out of a 40, into a 30, didnt brake in time and got done for doing 39 mph in a 30 zone! I was livid. As i mentioned though, if the speed limit was nominal threoughout, then speeding is speeding!

the police have one law for them and one law for us.so i think i might join and get let off any speeding fine..

I recently got snapped doing 36 in a 30 limit (I was in an unfamiliar town and mistakenly thought I'd seen a 40 limit sign) and attended a speed awareness course in place of receiving points on my licence, an offer I gratefully accepted. I simply realised that I'd made a mistake and got on with it. There, I learnt that 30 limits can only be imposed on roads where several serious accidents have happened. Also, I was astounded at the other delegates lack of knowledge conerning which speed limits apply on which kind of roads - only me and one other out of 25 people seemed to know the Highway Code regarding speed limits. No wonder so many people get caught out.

Some posters comment that they spend too much time looking at thier speedo, well I put that down to the fact that you aren't used to driving at or within the 30 limit. I find that if you consistently keep to the 30 limit in town regardless of speed cameras, you know how this speed feels. I now only glance occasionally at the speedo and it always shows that I'm at or under 30. Simple.

Please everyone stick to the speed limits, they are there for a reason - saving lives. Speaking as someone who lost his father in a road accident, believe me you don't want this sort of thing happening in your life.

I have been caught once, 35 in a 30. Sunday morning, wide stretch of straight road, going downhill into a town, minor traffic.

The reason I was done, is that it was a mobile unit. If it was fixed everybody would have seen it, brake lights would have warned others, and the camera would have done its job, slowed the traffic in a dangerous area.

But it can't have been a dangerous area, no fixed camera, so what was the mobile doing...MAKING MONEY, and getting a 100% success rate for the crime stats.

All the arguments come out ad infinitum...but as was said a few blogs ago, if only the police dealt so efficiently with other crime, the sort not committed by "middle-class law abiding citizens" (you know what I mean), our country would be a better place to live in.

Rather than re-investing speeding fines in more cameras, how about it should be in more Police in more cars. I would go for that.

i dont understand why speed cameras are allowed to be placed on a down hill road. going down hill speeds up the vehicle however is this the real reason behind the motive. more car owners being forced to speed up when their trying to slow down,, is this a money spinner for some fat cat. speed cameras should be banned from catching drivers going down hill.

I got a ticket for doing 38mph in a 30mph limit, and yes I did see the camera but thought the limit was 40mph - I think the limit sign was behind a parked lorry. I was told I should have known it would always be 30 in a built up area but I was driving across country at 1am and it didn't look built up to me (ok, I'm a Londoner). I went back to see how I'd made such a mistake and the signs reducing the limit to 40 and then 30 were very close together. I think a lot of drivers get caught like this when limit signs are unclear - I notice they nearly always slow down for cameras to a lower speed than is necessary. The signs that light up when you're going too fast are helpful.

Overall I think drivers should be responsible for driving at a speed suitable for the road conditions - being forced to do 30 on the A30 dual carriageway into London at 3am is very frustrating but probably makes sense during the day. Unfortunately we cannot always trust motorists to take this responsibiltiy seriously - they just say if they are driving within the limit it must be ok - which may be why we have so many irritating and seemingly unnecessary limits and are tempted to ignore them.

I don't accept that there shouldn't be cameras on downhill roads - if your car speeds up when you are going downhill then perhaps you need to get it under proper control!

Go on, continue speeding until some poor kid get killed or worse has to live with the horrific injuries for the rest of their lives.

The cameras only make money because people just can't control their speed.

Its so simple IF YOU DON'T BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT YOU WON'T GET FINED!

I think the news that speed fines are set to quadruple is great news, they should take the car away too.

Of course Speed Cameras are overused; are inappropriately located; the limits are often set at an inappropriate level, and are intended to finance other policing activities.
But I really can't see why people don't feel able to stick to the limits - whatever they are; whatever time it is, and whatever is the traffic volume at the time!!! Just what is the problem?
Is it caused by ignorance, arrogance or plain stupidity?
Yes, I have been caught - doing 36mph in what I believed to be a 40mph zone. It was my mistake, and I accepted the consequences.
(If the roads are VERY quiet, it's a good time to practice sticking to 30mph - you won't be holding anyone else up, will you?)
In my kingdom I'd have many more mobile speed cameras, heavily disguised, and would paint all fixed speed cameras to blend with the background - and no warning signs.

Cameras in most areas are justified, but what they remove is the education of what you are doing wrong.
If a police officer stops me for speeding he will discuss the danger of my actions. If a letter falls through my door with a fixed penalty notice I'd just pay it and hate the government/police for sending it to me. I'm a firm believer that education is the real key to the driving standard issues we have in this country.
A good friend of mine (who is a police officer) made the comparison that some one will train three years to become a bricky or a plumber but you can train for 5 days and then drive a car.
I passed my advance motor cycle test in January this year and have found it of real value and as a result I feel I am a much safer and courteous driver/rider.
People have no problem spending 100's of pounds on gadgets for their car or bike but won't spend £80 on some advanced training.

i read the comment earlier about someone waffling on about it costs less to put up a gatso that pay a police officer etc. training, blah, blah, blah, and buy him a sooped up volvo. but how many gatsos would follow a speeder (say 35 in a 30), pull him over and have a quiet word or even a good saying too about the dangers of speeding. all gatsos are for is the easy way out for our penny pinching government. i would rather pay more council tax etc, and have say police outside schools patroling for speeders and druggies peodophiles etc, than some camera designed to flash at the slightest discrepancy.
also regarding looking at your speedo, i have personally only been driving 6 months (clean licence too!!) and im always watching my speedo in camera infested areas as i dont yet have that probable myth of a sixth sense whereas you can tell by looking at the road that your doing 29.554 mph in a 30. if your doing 31 in a 30 you could still get belled from a camera for it, whereas if a police officer saw it thay may use a little discrepancy, and see if you were driving safely and watching the road, one mph or 1/3 of a normal mand walking speed wouldnt make much difference.

I do a lot of motorway driving , maybe 200 to 400 miles a day ( in a car) and i think some people who drive to slowly ie 45 to 50 mph are a great danger on the motorway,this happens alot,,,please stick to something close to the limit!i have been driving for ten years and no points or fines etc...because i drive sensibly.what about the cameras at scotch corner ,north A1, every saturday...there is a camera van on a bridge and at least two to three police cars ready to leap into action,,, seen it happen! No signs , no warnings, on a bend...and as far as i am aware not a black spot area( i pass it twice aday)never seen an accident!! So would someone care to tell me why they are doing this?..............ok i will tell you ....its money money money...!Surely the police force have better things to do on a saturday afternoon??is this why i pay so much council tax???

Speed Camera are simply an profit making scam for the police force and government. I regularly use the A34 to comute to my studies at stafford and there is approximately at least 10 speed cameras on a stretch of road that is only about 10-12miles which equates roughly to 1 speed camera per mile. As well as this the speed limit always vary - some cameras will say 60mph, some will say 50mph and some will say 40 mph but they are all very random. You end up always looking at your speedo rather then at the road- surely this is more dangerous. As well as this - I have seen many ppl drive with mobile phones without Handsfree kit, and in particular young female drivers who simply keep messing with their hair whilst talking on phone and one hand on wheel and then speed past you and when they see a camera, they simply slammed the brakes on and swerve into your lane just in front of you so when the camera flashes, it catches your number plate instead of theirs and they get let of speeding and you take the blame for them- I have seen this happen very often and I hope that one day they wil be caught. A prime example evidence is my mother has been a victim of this illegal speeding crime - a young female driver in the same car as her speed past her, cut inside into her lane - slammed on the brakes and got away with speeding because the camera snapped my mother's car instead of the young female speeder. Please note - I have notice this happening very frequently.

A much better idea is the warning sign which flashes the limit when it detects speeding vehicles.

If there must be camaras then put them beyond the warning signs. Drivers getting caught will only have themselves to blame.

I am from Birmingham and most of the cameras are on Dual carrigeways were speedlimits are 40 and i have never seen a kid crossing the road there!!!!!!!!!! However the street I live in is quiet wide (with lots of kids around including mine) and people normally drive over 50 mph and there are no cameras!!!!!!! But then again not enough cars come on the side streets so maybe its not worth putting a camera there u know not enough revenue!!!!!!!!!!So what are the lives of my kids worth (and others)????????Maybe 0,0,0!!!But nevermind speedcameras make about 7000 a day. hey Good business that is.

I think that there are excessive numbers of speed cameras, and agree at the lack of discretion that they offer. Against that, of course - going too fast is not legal, so they are just doing a job.

What I would like to see more of around here in Surrey is traffic light cameras - there is hardly a day now without me seeing several drivers deliberately go through red lights (even when traffic in other lanes have stopped).

Camera and attendant police bikes etc. are more likely to looking for tax/insurance dodgers - a separate and dangerous manace.

Anything that increases my chance of getting where I am going in one piece is OK by me, if there was a speed camera on every lamp post it wouldn't worry me as long as the roads were safer as a result. My car has an anti speeding device in the dashboard called a speedometer.
My main worry with cameras is that they seem to be replacing police presence on the roads and any number of cameras will not stop the bad driving, tailgating and the dickheads on their mobile phones who are more likely to cause accidents than most of the speeders.

My hubby got caught on a wide deserted stretch of road at midnight, he was doing 36 in a 30mph, the road layout etc made it appear to be a 40mph area.
No apparent signs either!! Makes you wonder why they leave the real speeders to get on with things and usually when they are on mobile phones too.... I say catch the REAL criminals :o)

I have been fined for speeding in 1989 on the M11 on the way to LHR, in 1994 in Germany and last month in Hertfordshire doing 42 in a 30 zone.

I do 20-30,000 miles a year mainly on business across East Anglia.

I have passed the camera in Herts several times and was always aware of it. This time I must have just missed the brake! Its not really an accident blackspot from what I can see. It is a great place for HERTS to make some money. It is a very, very busy road.

The £60.00 and 3 points has made me look at getting a gps camera warning system.

When I look out of my living room everyday I see neighbours driving around the road, a blind bend, we live on at speeds well in excess of 30mph. They do not care about our children or any of the children who might play in the area let alone other drivers. But no sign of the police or their cameras.

speed limits are there for all drivers, they are in place for a good reason-to reduce accidents and save lives, like it or not. My gripe is knowing what the speed limit is; I regularly travel on a 22 mile stretch of road where the limits change 28 times. To travel from one side of my home town a short trip of 2.7 miles there are 6 changes of limit. Is it a wonder I end up doing 20 in a 30 and 30 in a 20. Oh my aching head.

Speed cameras are a pain but the colour they are painted and whereever they are hidden is irrelevant. As long as you stick to the speed limit it doesnt matter if you see them or not

Cameras are simply money makers. Whilst I don't speeding, I feel many speed limits are inapropriate and that road conditions should be taken into account as well. It would make sense to have variable limits - slower when it's wet, foggy or icy & faster when there's little traffic, it's dry and clear.

I think speed cameras are over used, I agree that speeding is dangerous, but sometimes the speed limit on a road is wrong. I also think that some speed cameras actually make a stretch of road more dangerous. There is a stretch of the A303 where a speed camera is one one side of the road, facing up a very steep hill, but there are also white lines(that accompany speed cameras) on the other side of the road. These caused my wife to trash my car in an accident because someone up front breaked for the non-existant speed camera, the location this happened in is just over the brow of a hill so she had no chance of stopping, the most annoying thing is that no one was speeding, just seeing the white lines was enough for the person in the front.

It happens a lot, people see a speed camera and automatically hit the breaks, wether they are speeding or not. What is needed is some common sense.

Many cameras are used on straight safe areas of roads and not at or approaching juctions or near bends. Some unnecessary speed restriction also make drivers watch there speedometer more than the road! To me this is more dangerous than speeding.

I don't like randomly placed speed cameras on fast, open roads, that are purely there to 'catch out' the motorist, but some are there for good reason. My main reason for disliking them is that they cause sudden breaking and distract drivers from concentrating on the road ahead. Properly placed cameras will be in a place where the sensible road user will be at or just below the speed limit anyway, and are there to teach a lesson to the Jakes of this world.

You'd really start moaning if we went the way of most US states where if caught speeding in school zones during school start/finish times the fine is automatically doubled. Also if there are roadworks with men at work the same applies, a double fine!

Although I don't approve of all cameras, if you don't want to get caught, DON'T SPEED.

JAKE - 39mph in a 30mph zone is unforgiveable, it is not for the driver to judge if the conditions are safe to speed. I have never come across a 30mph limit that is not justified - has your 'offfice boy' Jake not seen the advert about the difference between 30mph and 40 mph with the crumpled little girl?

Jake should be ashamed of himself - he deserves every penny of the fine and the points on his licence. He has obviously never had to give first aid to someone hit by a car!

Jake was breaking the law and it was not up to him to decide to change it for his circumstances. It is against the law to inflict ABH or GBH, but when I'm angry with someone who is rude to me I don't change the law and beat them sensless because in the circumstances I thought they deserved it.

Jake you need to grow up and abide by the law whether you agree with it or not. As I say, I don't agree with poorly placed speed cameras, but more so, I also don't agree with breaking the law.

You're lucky Jake, in a few weeks time you'll have forgotten about the fine and in a few years the points will no longer be on your licence. But think about the person who knocks down a child doing 39mph and kils them, when if it had been 30mph the child would've recovered to leed a normal life. The person who kills someone when speeding has their whole life to think about it ALONG with the relatives of the person killed!! THINK ON THAT JAKE.........

As per usual the PC brigade sprouting out their usual cack about 1mph over the limit blah blah blah. I bet those like James Stephens don't even drive, or if they do probably do only about 1000 miles a year around town averaging 20mph on the clear roads. Really - the majority of experienced drivers will judge the road situation depending on how wide the road is, the weather conditions and how they affect braking, the visibility, the perception of possible hazards. Dont you think for one minute that just because someone in a council office decides a speed limit, that somehow it must be right? Do you think most of those council officers travel that road every day? Probably not. Also, it depends on the car your driving, how well you know the car and its limits. Just to let you know, the largest of the major arteries into where I live (Swansea) has a posted 50mph limit most of the way along it - the bottom half really should be 30 as it has houses most of the way, but thats something thats been overlooked). Prior to those houses, the road is perfectly capable of 70mph. So why is it 50mph? Simple - lowering the speed to a falsely low level to nab those for speeding who are only using common sense.

As far as I'm concerned, long live common sense over our stupid, retarted fricking nanny state. Oh and I bet your the type of person who voted (yet again) for the stupid r*tard thats dragged us down to the nanny state that we now had to suffer with for the last nine years... I bet your the type of person who thinks its dangerous that kids should have conker fights as well!

Oh and one final point.... try driving down the road where I live at 30 mph... this is the standard speed limit, but do even half that speed limit and your asking for trouble. Out of all the politially correct and other speed camera f*r*eaks here.... email me today - just google for opelfruitcase - and I'll happily drive you along my street. and you'll see how useful your universal 30mph speed limit is!