The Scamra Talivans

[sir.prize]

Yes, it's wrong to speed, but

Is this unscrupulous practice or not . . . . .


http://www.speedcam.co.uk/van.htm

[New Judge]

No more unscrupulous than it would be for the police to hide in your front garden to catch a burglar on his way out with your belongings.

In fact, a little less so because at least the �Talivans� are highly visible and make motorists perfectly aware of their presence and what they are doing.

[kempie]

I have no problem with enforcement of the law per se but I do take exception when the manner of enforcement is also in contravention of the law, such as the examples of parking on the footpath or adjacent to double yellow lines, visible in the link.

[sir.prize]

My point precisely, Kempie.

[shutts763]

I have no problem with people being prosecuted for excess speed but the website I do have problems with. The vans parked on motorway bridges are not parked on pavements they are bridge parapets if you look the path ends either side of the bridge. Nobody should describe somebody as scum either! Yes some are parked illegally or not in safe places which is wrong! But if you dont see these vehicles the ones which are correctly marked that is then I would say there is a good case of prosecution of driving without due care and attention as well. Also some of the pictures do not show the fixed warning signs which are often displayed prior to a lot of the safety camera sites.

[sir.prize]

New Judge. Thank you for your response. That is an interesting point re burglars. These days it is extremely difficult to get a police officer to respond to an incident within three days following a burglary, and no chance they would attend beforehand.

They are far too busy.

Doing what?

Ask a motorist.

[New Judge]

I couldn�t agree more, sir.prize. However, your question was whether the practice was unscrupulous, not whether it is the best use of police resources.

I also completely agree with kempie. In particular the second photograph shows the van to be parked in what appears to be an acceleration lane from a slip road � highly dangerous. Most dangerous of all in my opinion is the van perched in the central reservation of a dual carriageway.

Unfortunately the website does itself no favours. Its general tone is offensive but in particular it sets out to give the impression that excess speed is perfectly acceptable provided you are not within range of a detection device:

�...to catch motorists who speed up after passing a Gatso�.

�...but is parked just before a fixed camera. This is one of the meanest tricks of the scamera partnerships...�

And so back to my burglary analogy � it is similar to suggesting that undetected burglary is acceptable.

It is true that the Safety Camera Partnerships seemingly devote huge resources to catching their offenders compared to that spent catching burglars. However, people who have seen loved ones killed or seriously injured because of excess speed may disagree.

[sir.prize]

New Judge - All valid points, thank you.

My original posting was perhaps somewhat 'tongue in cheek' - but decidely interesting. I agree with you, the tone of the website is questionable.

However, they haven't caught me - yet!

A pleasure to have a discussion without the interjections of abuse one frequently experiences on this site.

Thank you again.