monkiboi
old hand
Reged: 11/11/2006
Posts: 825
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I found this on the Virgin Media news page, could be interesting to see what happens:
Speed cameras could be scrapped under proposals due to be considered by a Tory council, the leader said.
Swindon Borough Council is reviewing its involvement with the local safety camera partnership scheme and considering whether to spend its £400,000-a-year contribution elsewhere.
Conservative councillors moved a motion on the issue two months ago, according to the leader, Councillor Roderick Bluh.
He said a full paper is due to be presented to Cabinet, which will consider the options for road safety spending.
A decision will be made by September.
Mr Bluh said: "We are not going to compromise safety, but we are taking the opportunity to review how we utilise the money.
"We have not made a decision yet.
"A huge amount of money is being raised by speed cameras and we are seeking better ways of ensuring road safety without penalising motorists."
It is believed to be the first time that a council in the UK has challenged the Government over the issue.
The Conservative-run council is considering withdrawing from the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership after a shake-up of speed camera funding rules which mean the Treasury now keeps the proceeds of fines.
The Government then makes road-safety grants to councils.
Ministers argue this breaks the controversial link between cash and camera, which critics had argued gave the authorities a financial incentive to fine more motorists.
Tory councillor Peter Greenhalgh, head of highways, transport and strategic planning for Swindon, reportedly said the money should be spent on a range of local safety measures.
"These are far more effective than speed cameras which, I feel, are a blatant tax on the motorist," he said.
"They are being used as a cash cow. I do take exception to the positioning of some mobile speed cameras. They are designed to raise revenue.
"I think enough is enough. There are much more important things we as a council should do instead of acting as a law enforcement arm of this Government."
But Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, parliamentary private secretary to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, has accused council leaders of playing "politics with lives" and is calling on the council to drop the plans.
The MP for South Swindon said the removal of the cameras could see road accidents and deaths rise and has launched a Hands off Our Speed Cameras campaign.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the funding decision was a local matter for Swindon, but added: "Safety cameras are there to save lives not to make money.
"There are 1,475 fewer deaths and serious injuries at camera sites each year.
"The Government is clear that the best safety camera is the one that takes no fines at all but succeeds in deterring drivers from speeding."
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Only ride as fast as your guardian angel can fly!
I've been wondering, can a tortoise swim?
Not according to 118118!! (can someone lend me a tortoise to see if they're right?)
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Mogster
stranger
Reged: 18/06/2008
Posts: 20
Loc: St Albans
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 about bloody time!! They should spend more time gettin OAP's, women doing the school run, Reps, MPV's err oh! van drivers (unless they delivering bike bits) and any other near-sighted dumb arse, fukker they can find, off the bloody roads!
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Justa one Cornetto geeve it to me sexy Aprilia from Italy
Edited by Mogster (15/07/2008 14:15)
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Chez
enthusiast
Reged: 16/10/2007
Posts: 270
Loc: Gloucestershire
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Heard this on the news but im not sure if it will go ahead though.
I ride to swindon quite often (only about 10 miles from where i live) so finger crossed!!!
Maybe other counties will start to see sense if one takes the initiative......
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"Racing is life... everything before and after is just waiting." Steve McQueen
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xxrider
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 07/11/2006
Posts: 2151
Loc: Somewhere over the rainbow.......
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Inevitable, this. (From Yahoo! News)
"The leader of a council which is considering scrapping speed cameras was once banned from driving for speeding, it has been revealed.
Swindon Borough Council is looking at proposals to get rid of cameras and find other ways to spend the £400,000 annual contribution it currently makes to the local safety camera partnership.
Roderick Bluh, the leader of the Conservative-controlled council, was banned for three months after he collected 12 penalty points on his licence for speeding.
Mr Bluh said the ban, which was imposed before he became Swindon Council leader in 2006, had changed his behaviour but said there were other ways to improve people's driving.
"I was banned for three months. It has affected my behaviour," he said.
"But all cameras do is catch you when you have speeded."
Swindon South MP Anne Snelgrove, who is parliamentary private secretary to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, called on the council to reject the plan.
"It will be an invitation to boy racers from all over the country to come to Swindon and break the speed limit with no fear of a fine or points on their licence," she warned.
"I'm urging the council to think again. They need to think about the safety of the children of Swindon on our roads."
Mr Bluh said Conservative councillors moved a motion on the issue two months ago and a decision will be made by September."
So that'll be the end of that, then.
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The simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.
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Mogster
stranger
Reged: 18/06/2008
Posts: 20
Loc: St Albans
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Tell ya wot, get someone to follow this dippy cow, Swindon South MP Anne Snelgrove, wit a camera and if she so much as goes 1mph over the limit post it on Youtube and report her to the plod.... ffs we all speed at some time.
some of us more than others!
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Justa one Cornetto geeve it to me sexy Aprilia from Italy
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FastBikerBoy
old hand
Reged: 08/11/2006
Posts: 1124
Loc: Norfolk surrounded by Yanks
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The way these politicians talk you'd think that before speed cameras the streets were a race track with bodies piled high either side.
Oh hang on a minute no they weren't 'cos we had traffic cops who actually had common sense and discretion. Not only that but they also nicked the uninsured/untaxed/drunk/bald tyred lunatics that were on the streets. Nowadays you can drive as fast as you like, as dangerously as you like, when you like, as pissed as you like, in a vehicle that's falling to pieces as long as you're within the speed limit for the 30 yards it takes to get past the speed camera.
If they were really interested in making the roads safer they'd simply triple the number of traffic cops and cars, but they're not. The only thing they want to do is make money, and I'll never be convinced otherwise while they pursue the current policy.
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Cheers
FBB
Remember kids don't try this at home
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Bucko667
journeyman
Reged: 28/10/2007
Posts: 94
Loc: HULL
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I never thought i'd want more traffic cops on the road but i have to agree with you there. Camera's just don't have discretion.
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If anyone asks, you aint seen me
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shinybusa
veteran
Reged: 08/01/2008
Posts: 1417
Loc: The wet place....
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Got to agree as well, I've been stopped by a Traffic cop for, "taking a bend a little enthusiastically" as he put it! Sensible bloke , gave the bike the once over , checked all my Tax , insurance etc, asked how long I had been riding....about 4 months at that point..
Words of advice were..."you ain't a riding god, if you want to last another 4 months on a bike, stop riding like a tit"
As has previously been posted...you can be pissed, off your face on Crack with no insurance in a shitty old car ...but that's ok by the politicians........as long as you don't break the speed limit....
More Traffic cops please....sensible one's...Immy, have you ever considered coming out of retirement? 
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EOD...EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL....
Is a science of vague assumptions, based on debatable figures, derived from inconclusive experiments performed by people of doubtful mental capability, with instruments of problematic accuracy....
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idiotsavant
addict
Reged: 01/11/2006
Posts: 513
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Quote:
Got to agree as well, I've been stopped by a Traffic cop for, "taking a bend a little enthusiastically" as he put it!
More Traffic cops please....sensible ones...
How much chance of that happening? None. Speed cameras don't cost as much as cops, you don't need to train them and they just sit there, generating revenue and reducing speeds at 'blackspots'.
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Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.
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shinybusa
veteran
Reged: 08/01/2008
Posts: 1417
Loc: The wet place....
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How very true IS.  Speed cameras don't catch muggers or wankers carrying knives either, but they do make shed loads of money for Central Government, so they must be OK.
And that's what matters to the Lying theiving scum that sit on their fat arses in Westminster... 
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EOD...EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL....
Is a science of vague assumptions, based on debatable figures, derived from inconclusive experiments performed by people of doubtful mental capability, with instruments of problematic accuracy....
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makka
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 13/05/2007
Posts: 2490
Loc: Jungle, Near Byron Bay, Austra...
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Come the revolution........
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makka
drinking heavily
it's the only solution
Well, maybe meditation helps too.
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shinybusa
veteran
Reged: 08/01/2008
Posts: 1417
Loc: The wet place....
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The only revolution in the UK at the moment is that of the Eastern European immigrant...
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EOD...EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL....
Is a science of vague assumptions, based on debatable figures, derived from inconclusive experiments performed by people of doubtful mental capability, with instruments of problematic accuracy....
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immy
old hand
Reged: 09/11/2006
Posts: 895
Loc: Planet Zok
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Quote:
Got to agree as well, I've been stopped by a Traffic cop for, "taking a bend a little enthusiastically" as he put it! Sensible bloke , gave the bike the once over , checked all my Tax , insurance etc, asked how long I had been riding....about 4 months at that point..
Words of advice were..."you ain't a riding god, if you want to last another 4 months on a bike, stop riding like a tit"
As has previously been posted...you can be pissed, off your face on Crack with no insurance in a shitty old car ...but that's ok by the politicians........as long as you don't break the speed limit....
More Traffic cops please....sensible one's...Immy, have you ever considered coming out of retirement?
No cos Im too old and my PPIs(personal performance indicators) would mean I wouldnt be working to hard even if I was working my tits off-besides nobody would have a licence after I spoke to them cos if I HAD to stop them it would mean they were serious fu..kwits and shouldnt be on the road(bikers and drivers alike) 
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Its not fate itself that is so frightening
Its the expectation of fate that frightens
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