Motorbikers Or Mobile Phone Users

[joggerjayne]

Who are the bigger menace?

Coming out of Brighton, there's a (long!) stretch of roadworks with a 40mph limit, and Average Speed Cameras.

Average Speed Cameras have traditionally been front facing. The added benefit is that they would Hoover up anyone driving using a mobile phone.

But on this stretch, they are back facing. This is so that they catch motorbikes. The down side is that they no longer catch mobile phone users.

Good decision?

Who are the bigger menace on the road? People riding motorbikes? Or people driving while using a mobile phone?

[woofgang]

mobile phone while driving/biking/cycling users. It is perfectly possible to drive a motorbike carefully and safely, even at speed.

[joggerjayne]

This 40mph has a sign board which tells you how many people were caught speeding through that section the week before.

Last week it was two hundred and something.

[McMouse]

I thought speed cameras were activated by excess speed, so someone driving within the limit and using a mobile phone would not be snapped.

[Misky]

Definitely mobile phone users - they drive me mad. You can just about guarantee that if the car in front of you suddenly slows down by 20 mph and veers off to the middle or side of the road, they've just taken a call. Or that the car doing 20 mph on a 60 mph road is texting. Grrrrrrr

[joggerjayne]

But if the cameras are catching over 200 people a week, there's a good chance that some of those people would also have been on the phone, grumbling about the roadworks.

[Ric.ror]

Cyclists

[joggerjayne]

Mmm ...

I kind of cycle a lot, so I can't really agree with that one, Ric.

[mccfluff]

mobile phone users, i nearly got run over (yet again) by a blokle on his phone, speeding up when the lights turned orange and going through the crossing while they were on red

[Octavius]

I am usually very adherent to speed limits as a result of a few reminders in the past and wishing to grow older a little more gracefully, but even at very slow speeds, riding my motorbike and drinking a cup of coffee at the same time is a right palaver.

[Buenchico]

I very much doubt that anyone actually looks at most of the images (even if such images actually exist). Average speed cameras work by reading the number plate of a vehicle and passing it on to the next camera down the road, so that an average speed can be calculated. If a vehicle is speeding the system will generate a report giving the location, the vehicle registration number and its average speed. It's that report (rather than any photographs) which will be used to send a Notice of Intended Prosecution to the registered keeper of the vehicle.

While it's possible (and indeed likely) that the cameras also take actual pictures of the vehicle and its driver, there would be no reason for anyone to look at those pictures unless there was a dispute over the evidence of a speeding offence.

[jno]

that should get it straight up the nose with no problem, Octavius?

[youngmafbog]

There is no excuse for using a hand held mobile.

If you want to use the phone when driving then invest in a bury system like I have.

Not sure if I could drink coffee on my bandit, sun visor would get in the way!

[jomifl]

Bikers are far more aware than car drivers so car drivers on the phone must be far more dangerous.

[daftgrandad]

As I have previously mentioned,definitely mobile users.
Minimum sentence for anyone caught,£500 fine and 6 months ban.
This would hopefully deter e.g van drivers,when they would most probably
lose their jobs.

[emmie]

mobile phone users, they are a nightmare either driving or walking down the street, inattention could get you killed or some other poor soul

[Old_Geezer]

They're both a big menace. I'm unsure why one would want to rate one against the other. So do they not catch speeding cars also ? I vote for fewer cameras, more patrol cars.