31mph? again
The law is very clear with what speeds can be prosecuted for: anything over the speed limit, even 1mph. The 10%+2 is a regulation for automated enforcement (because machines do not apply discretion). Police can pull for speeds less than the 10%+2 if they feel there are aggravating circumstances (assuming they can prove the offence).
Cameras do not need warning signs - they never did!
85% of camera enforcement needed to comply with various regulations to enable netting off (15% of sites/time were exempt); so some cameras weren't affected by that policy, and others simply may not have qualified for cost recovery.
This scheme ended in April 07. Regulations such as signage are now defunct - all cameras can be hidden and made inconspicuous, without consequence.
There are plenty of hidden speed traps:
http://www.speedcam.co.uk/game.htm
(Don’t forget you’re at an advantage because you know there’s a cam in each photo)
Yes, cameras gather evidence of just 1 technical infringement (folks who do +10mph on a clear motorway or dual carriageway deserve to lose 25% of their entitlement for 3 years?)which determined criminals easily evade anyway. Yes, traffic patrols detect and immediately halt all manner of anti-social, careless, dangerous, impaired driving – and they prevent circumvention of justice.
There is only so much budget to go around, and our reliance on cameras has seen traffic patrols substantially reduce – cameras have replaced tools that were far more effective.
Speed cameras are not effective. It has been long proven and accepted that cameras effectiveness is substantially overstated thanks to ‘Regression to the Mean’. The 40-70% KSI reduction claims you hear from the camera partnerships are greatly misleading; at best the figure for camera effectiveness is 10% (table H7, Four Year Evaluation Report), but even that’s not accounting for other factors such as ‘Bias on Selection’ (other safety measures installed camera site, which make the camera appear more effective than it actually is), and traffic displacement. Camera partnership folks don’t tell you that, they like you to hear that mystical 40-70% figure.
Some of the people who run RSS used to be camera partnership managers – go figure!