Have a look at this video. There are two drivers that jam on their brakes when they see a camera van thus causing them to crash. If the camera van hadn't been there then I don't think these accidents would have happened.

That's not really road safety then is it? True the cars were speeding at the time, but if they'd carried on speeding, would they have crashed? I don't think so.

BBC NEWS | UK | Crackdown on dangerous driving

I agree, it does nothing for road safety IMHO, just lines the pockets of the treasury. The van in the clip is parked in a very unsafe position too.

I was on the M9 heading home on Friday afternoon, sitting happily around 0.8-0.9Leptons, safe distance behind an old Scorpio, came over the brow of a hill and this boy swerved into the inside lane and jammed on the brakes. I tell you I about had an accident in my trousers. Looked at the bridge over the motorway and lo and behold a scamera van. Don't know if I've been done yet, but if I had been much closer to the Scorpio I would have jammed on the brakes because of his manouver, which can cause the old motorway concertina effect.

If I have been clocked, well fair enough, but what is a scamera van on a motorway at 1530 on a Friday for? Would it not have been better placed near a school?

It's a great own goal by the "safety" people , isn't it.

There are also rumours that the bike clip is a fake with a police officer riding it for a photo op

I noticed in the vid that they are now starting to throw in the casualty figures from Europe. I suppose the UK figures alone aren't good enough?

They show two big accidents wholly caused by the presence of a speed camera van and don't make any mention that it might be a problem. They didn't even say that those cars were speeding.

If nothing else it can't help road safety to have a million cars on the road doing 70 (or worse 30 in a town) staring through their steering wheels at the speedo.

What is more dangerous going 80 in a 70/35 in a 30 or not looking at the road?

cant see the video but i can imagine what happened. its stupid, if they were truly out there for saftey reasons they would only go where accidents happen or have them on motorways in clear sight. that way if you were done then you clearly werent watching the road. but sticking them round corners, or over brows of hills just causes more incidents.

ive had a few incidents where people have suddenly seen camera vans, or what they thought were camera vans and hit the brakes, causing the motorway to domino.

It's a great own goal by the "safety" people , isn't it.

There are also rumours that the bike clip is a fake with a police officer riding it for a photo op

Could be propaganda to disperse the whole "they're unsafe" argument

I watched this yesterday and thought exactly the same. Really shot themselves in the foot with that one

I'm not particularly worried as I rarely speed on the motorways

But it is brown trouser moment when you see people brake hard and scrub off a fair amount meaning you have to slow down as the gap you left between the car infront is now vanishing rapidly.

Have a look at this video. There are two drivers that jam on their brakes when they see a camera van thus causing them to crash. If the camera van hadn't been there then I don't think these accidents would have happened.

That's not really road safety then is it? True the cars were speeding at the time, but if they'd carried on speeding, would they have crashed? I don't think so.

BBC NEWS | UK | Crackdown on dangerous driving

but surely, if the people hadn't been speeding in the first place they wouldn't have had cause to jam their brakes on and wouldn't have crashed either :confused:

but surely, if the people hadn't been speeding in the first place they wouldn't have had cause to jam their brakes on and wouldn't have crashed either :confused:

Have you never seen people braking for speed cameras even when they are travelling at or below the limit? It's become an entirely instinctive reaction for many people.

It happens all the time , and I'll admit having done it myself on occasions though not to the extent shown. There are certainly times when I've been on roads I've not driven before , and I've spotted a camera or van and had a sudden moment of doubt about the speed limit.

I can be 95% sure it's a 70 but don't want to risk going past the camera at that speed if it's a 50 so I will slow down as I look for signs.

Have you never seen people braking for speed cameras even when they are travelling at or below the limit? It's become an entirely instinctive reaction for many people.

It happens all the time , and I'll admit having done it myself on occasions though not to the extent shown. There are certainly times when I've been on roads I've not driven before , and I've spotted a camera or van and had a sudden moment of doubt about the speed limit.

I can be 95% sure it's a 70 but don't want to risk going past the camera at that speed if it's a 50 so I will slow down as I look for signs.

:iagree: - in fact I've had someone who was doing 50 in an NSL do this just in front of me, at about 200 feet from the "tallyvan" (actually a BT van, visible at 600m). Not only was his braking unnecessary and potentially dangerous, but how much does the fact I identified the vehicle before he apparently even noticed it say about his spacial and traffic awareness?

Have you never seen people braking for speed cameras even when they are travelling at or below the limit? It's become an entirely instinctive reaction for many people.

It happens all the time , and I'll admit having done it myself on occasions though not to the extent shown. There are certainly times when I've been on roads I've not driven before , and I've spotted a camera or van and had a sudden moment of doubt about the speed limit.

I certainly know I'll instinctively go for the brake pedal if there is an unexpected flash of a florescent jacket at the side of the road not just a camera van.

I certainly know I'll instinctively go for the brake pedal if there is an unexpected flash of a florescent jacket at the side of the road not just a camera van.

So it was you was it?

It is instinctive to feel a little scared and maybe brake.

I curb the action and just ease off

Usually I can spot the signs of what the limit might be.

Link is 404 now.

well I overtook a police volvo T5 on the A66 today withmy roof sign on! i wasn't speeding though lol.....

we came across one on the wiltshire section of the M4 last summer, could see it about a mile awayon the bridge, so staying at the legal limit we carried on passing lorries in the middle lane, a van comes bombing it on the outside to which i pointed it out to my passengers. As he passed he noticed the van, jammed on his brakes and swerved to lane 1. I do hope he got a ticket for dangerous driving after that performance.

Have you never seen people braking for speed cameras even when they are travelling at or below the limit? It's become an entirely instinctive reaction for many people.

It happens all the time , and I'll admit having done it myself on occasions though not to the extent shown. There are certainly times when I've been on roads I've not driven before , and I've spotted a camera or van and had a sudden moment of doubt about the speed limit.

I can be 95% sure it's a 70 but don't want to risk going past the camera at that speed if it's a 50 so I will slow down as I look for signs.

many times, a 50mph camera near me usually brings the traffic down to 25 mph from some idiot thinking its a 30mph out in the sticks. Anyone who cannot remember the speed limit of the last speed sign they passed is often driving without due care and attention. Anyway get a gps speed camera locater

we came across one on the wiltshire section of the M4 last summer, could see it about a mile awayon the bridge, so staying at the legal limit we carried on passing lorries in the middle lane, a van comes bombing it on the outside to which i pointed it out to my passengers. As he passed he noticed the van, jammed on his brakes and swerved to lane 1. I do hope he got a ticket for dangerous driving after that performance.

thats the trouble though, no camera vans do anything about dangerous driving, we need more traffic police on the roads, they could then use their own judgement weather a "certain" speed of a motorist is really worth a ticket, and they can monitor, and "educate" the populous.....

bloody camera vans are a waste of police resourses, and if staffed by civil servants , illegal!

It's not the vans/cameras that cause the problems, it's the people's reactions to them

It's not the vans/cameras that cause the problems, it's the people's reactions to them

Combined with the fact they were speeding, if they weren't speeding it is unlikely the incidents would have occured.

as said though you often get people braking when they see a speed camera regardless of their speed as they don't want to get caught speeding, even when they are doing 30mph in a 50mph they brake as its a natural reaction for them.

Never ceases to amuse me when people try overtake you, then you both go past a speed camera and you end up undertaking them as they brake and you continue at a constant legal speed

I'm constantly being overtaken when my Pogo Alert is telling me there is a speed camera. It's the ones where you get 2 lines in the road a few feet apart but no sign of a camera. Not sure what they are and if the people who overtake me get a ticket but I obviously cross that point at the correct speed. I do hope they get tickets though otherwise i'm wasting my time.