Speed Cameras

[urbanfox]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-34987584

Looks like we're getting some speed cameras back.

Although I'm sure they've announced it twice before and not done it.

[michael769]

This one from 2007, http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/ ... good_deed/

He said at a hearing before Bury magistrate on Monday that moving off through the red light after the police van had been the safest thing to do to avoid blocking the path of any further emergency vehicles.

I don't see how running a red light after the emergency vehicle has passed would help it? Sounds like someone taking the frankly.

Quite a few posts on Pepipoo regarding giving way to emergency vehicles at red traffic lights and tickets not being cancelled.

Not that I have seen. Can you post an example?

[darkcape]

Ooh, another camera for the A45, what a surprise.

[Chris Bertram]

Most of those look like existing locations getting new kit. Still, it remains to be seen if it ever happens.

[urbanfox]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-34987584

Looks like we're getting some speed cameras back.

Although I'm sure they've announced it twice before and not done it.

Joy of joys. Average speed cameras to be switched on next month

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... 0#ICID=nsm

[Chris Bertram]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-34987584

Looks like we're getting some speed cameras back.

Although I'm sure they've announced it twice before and not done it.

Joy of joys. Average speed cameras to be switched on next month

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... 0#ICID=nsm

No signs of the poles going up just yet, but a few comments:

A38 Bristol Road between Priory Road and Speedwell Road – 30mph
- This is S4, and while at peak times 30mph would be a dream, outside peak hours 40 is easily safe. There is a static camera just before Speedwell Road northbound that I think was a good earner.

A456 Hagley Road between Portland Road and Lordswood Road – 30mph
- S4 again. I doubt that this will earn much, there are a number of ped crossings and one regular set of lights that will slow average speeds down.

A4540 New John Street between Lucas Circus and Hospital Street – 30mph
- D2 and should have been increased to 40 ages ago. Every chance of this set earning its keep.

A34 Newtown Row Northbound between New John Street West and Newbury Road – 30mph
- D2+Bus Lane (both ways). A no-brainer for a 40 limit, and may have been at one time. There was a very active static camera there, this set may pick up a few.

A45 Coventry Road between Berkley Road and Rowland Road/Steyning Road – 40mph
- Mostly D2, increasing to D4 in patches. There are lights and ped crossings, may not be too effective.

B425 Lode Lane (between Henley Crescent and Moat Lane) – 30mph
- S2, quite a short stretch that I don't recall as being problematic. Not sure.

B4114 Bradford Road / Chester road (in the vicinity of the junction) – 30mph
- Former A47, may still be S4 but haven't been up there for a while.

A3400 Stratford Road, Hockley Heath – 30mph
- I presume this means the village centre only. The road is quite wide and the properties generally set back, so this one may earn its keep.

[urbanfox]

^ I was going to make very similar comments about the first 4. Didn't want to come across all 'Boo! I can't ignore he speed limit when it's quiet anymore' though. The two in Newtown were 40 until not that long ago - certainly only in the last 10 years they've been made 30.

I can certainly see the merits of average speed cameras on the A45 through Small Heath and Yardley - speeds and general driving standards of some motorists along that stretch are appalling at best.

With the exception of the A45, I'm not sure any of the other sites have any major safety issues, which is of course the only reason the kit is going in...

[Chris Bertram]

^ I was going to make very similar comments about the first 4. Didn't want to come across all 'Boo! I can't ignore he speed limit when it's quiet anymore' though. The two in Newtown were 40 until not that long ago - certainly only in the last 10 years they've been made 30.

I can certainly see the merits of average speed cameras on the A45 through Small Heath and Yardley - speeds and general driving standards of some motorists along that stretch are appalling at best.

With the exception of the A45, I'm not sure any of the other sites have any major safety issues, which is of course the only reason the kit is going in...

New John Street has never been 40, it was one of the last single-carriageway sections of the MRR. But it was never raised to 40 on dualling, I think the justification being a nearby primary school.

[Alderpoint]

I can certainly see the merits of average speed cameras on the A45 through Small Heath and Yardley - speeds and general driving standards of some motorists along that stretch are appalling at best.

If the traffic flow was a bit more even along this stretch, maybe by phasing the lights better, there would less incentive to try to get to the next set of lights before they change. Whether the cameras make money here depends on where precisely they are fitted: put a set either side of the Yardley underpass and they'll rake it in, but anywhere else it's not going to make any difference most of the day.

[Truvelo]

New John Street has never been 40, it was one of the last single-carriageway sections of the MRR. But it was never raised to 40 on dualling, I think the justification being a nearby primary school.

Maybe, but the most likely reason is due to it being dualled too late. Had it been done ten years earlier it would have been 40. By the time it was dualled attitudes to road traffic had changed due to speed kills propaganda and the like

[urbanfox]

New John Street has never been 40, it was one of the last single-carriageway sections of the MRR. But it was never raised to 40 on dualling, I think the justification being a nearby primary school.

Blimey! I'd always assumed it was 40 and was cut at the same time as the A34 around the corner (I'm 99.9% certain that was still 40 when I started driving just under 10 years ago).

[MotorwayGuy]

These sprung up at the A2 at Bexley a couple of weeks ago, and more have been appearing since - look like some sort of average speed check system to me, but not the usual SPECS type.

[brummie_rob]

The Hockley Heath cameras are interesting since there has never been a speed camera along here. I also presume it'll only cover the Solihull MBC section and not cross the canal bridge into Warwickshire. It has only a few frontages but there are some nasty junctions.

[Chris5156]

These sprung up at the A2 at Bexley a couple of weeks ago, and more have been appearing since - look like some sort of average speed check system to me, but not the usual SPECS type.

I don't know the manufacturer, but this is TfL's new preferred type of average speed camera. They aren't infra-red and require light in the visible spectrum to read number plates, so once activated they have a rather distracting floodlight facing the rear of traffic that appears, at night, to be about twice as bright as the sun

Average speed cameras appear to now be TfL policy on all its access controlled dual carriageways - many parts of the A40 and North Circular already have them, and they're being installed on the Blackwall Tunnel Southern Approach. I would expect to see them on the A3 Kingston Bypass and A4 very soon.

[kit]

It looks like if you had a rock and good aim you could knock those tiny cameras off

[MotorwayGuy]

This is the set at the end, currently there are only two cameras for three lanes, but considering that the system isn't complete yet that will probably change.

[Truvelo]

Look what I saw today in the stupid 30mph limit on a grade separated dual carriageway

[MotorwayGuy]

You mean traffic was actually flowing above 10mph there?

[Owain]

Look what I saw today in the stupid 30mph limit on a grade separated dual carriageway

They look like a pair of workmen; especially if you have your eyes on the road.

Couldn't they at least have the decency to stand on a bridge?

[Truvelo]

Do workmen wear hats like that? They look more like police helmets.