round our way (worcestershire) we've got new speeding tax collectors. from a distance you just see a motorcyle parked facing backwards, rider with usual fluoro jacket stood behind with his back to you seemingly fumbling around in his top box. fumbling around he is, as you get closer you see a neat little camera sticking out the side facing backwards and he is presumably eyeing things up on a computer screen… i bet he's made a few quid!

anyway, i've now seen them (him?) twice and not at the usual mobile camera spots, you have been warned.

a lot of the cars around here have neat little cameras on the roof
and the wombles have them too.
they are probably related to a ANPR system, more than a camera?
he just sits in the layby and lets the camera check all the plates?

Speeding tax? Lol. It's a fine for breaking the law, nothing more nothing less.

If you can't do the time don't do the crime. Don't want to pay the "tax"? Don't speed. Simple really.

The more unmarked speed traps the better.

I'd guess at ANPR, rather than speeding, as well.
That would explain the computer to check records and bike for pursuit.

Try speeding past him in a taxed car, then driving slowly past in an untaxed car to see if he chases you. That will settle it.

i agree with Dave

getting caught for speeding sucks (speaking from experience) but hearing people whinge about it is just annoying

not as annoying as people whinging about people whinging when the first people weren't whinging in the first place!

as for breaking the law… there should be two levels of punishment, normal punishment for normal people who are guilty of the occasional faux pas and punishment by death for self righteous, never-do-no-wrong, zero tolerance, know it alls 🙂

Second level punishment reserved for people who refer to said punishment as a "tax" to try and shift blame ;oP

I've not lost a friend or relative to car death but I would like to avoid it. I think all cars should be fitted with auto max speed devices a-la F1 pit lane. I am a serial ex speeder I stick to risking my own neck on my MTB now. Its easy to tell that I've recently had children. 🙂

Stu McGroo – 😆

Is it groundhog day?

Speed cameras should be replaced with snipers.

Its really simply – don't speed or don't whinge if you get caught.

PikeBN14 – Stu McGroo –

Is it groundhog day?

oh bugger…. what have i said now? 🙂

TandemJeremy – Its really simply – don't speed or don't whinge if you get caught.

tj and others… yes it is really simple (simply), no one is whinging, now one has been speeding and no one has gotten caught, i didn't even voice an opinion, you must be mixing it up with someone else's speeding/whinging thread, i was simply imparting information 🙂

EDIT: and anyway, like MilitantGrahamn said it's probably an ANPR camera.

It's a fine for breaking the law, nothing more nothing less.

No its not, its a notice of intended prosecution, normally with the option of an administrative fixed penalty, with acceptance of the penalty removing liability from prosecution.

Fines can only be issued by a properly convened court of law after a finding of guilt, its a basic tenet of English Law since time immemorial!

🙄

Don't rise to the bait Stu no one can be that self righteous- not even TJ

Youre riding your bike down the road and get hit by an un insured driver, he knows he has done wrong, so he leaves you for dead at the road side.

Youre trying to cross the same stretch of road, a motorist nearly hits you by driving at excessive speed,luckily he misses you but hits the old person who is also crossing thinking its safe because you are.

Discuss.

Discuss

If it's OK with you i'd rather watch the football.

Project. Two nightmare things in your scenarios – but enough about the missing apostrophes….

and your point is caller?

speeding penalties are only like taxes because they involve decisions about how you choose to live your life and then you pay

they are different from taxes in that no one ever died directly as a result of your (selfish) choice

I wonder if thieves get annoyed at having to pay shoplifting tax after being unfairly caught by hidden cameras

I'd be surprised if you all haven't gone over the speed limit at some point, even the moderator

"I'd be surprised if you all haven't gone over the speed limit at some point, even the moderator "

Hmm, quite possibly but there's a big difference between doing a few mph occasionally by accident,and consistently doing it deliberately and knowingly surely?

I have speeded plenty of times – at speeds to make your hair curl. I have even been caught a couple of times. Did I bleat about it? No. Did I call it a tax? No. I paid my fine and took my points.

I also know the difference between an anpr camera and a speed camera

Speeding fines are if anything a tax on stupidity. If you aren't capable of reading numbers on a sign, or if you choose to speed, of seeing a brightly painted camera, or noticing a police van parked up, you probably also are so unobservant a driver that you're doing a bunch of other stupid things in your rush to get from a to b 5 minutes faster.

Whether or not speeding itself is dangerous is pretty irrelevant really, people who get caught speeding are way more likely to be dangerous drivers, due to their lack of observation skills. They all seem to think they're great drivers, but I bet if you look at the statistics, they have way more accidents – if that wasn't the case, insurance companies wouldn't bother to up their premiums. It would be great if we could remove from the road all the types of people who get caught speeding – make the world a lot safer without all those poor drivers.

Joe

Speeding fines are if anything a tax on stupidity. If you aren't capable of reading numbers on a sign, or if you choose to speed, of seeing a brightly painted camera, or noticing a police van parked up, you probably also are so unobservant a driver that you're doing a bunch of other stupid things in your rush to get from a to b 5 minutes faster.

All very well, but you can be paying enough attention that you instantly slow down as soon as a mobile van comes into sight over the horizon. They'll still have nabbed you as they'll be pointing at the horizon line so it's too late by the time you see them. I should know – and there's nothing at all wrong with my observation.

They all seem to think they're great drivers, but I bet if you look at the statistics, they have way more accidents – if that wasn't the case, insurance companies wouldn't bother to up their premiums.

Well apparently my insurance company doesn't think a single speeding conviction indicates a more dangerous driver.

Note this isn't a whinge, just a factual correction.

Speed undoubtedly causes a proportion of accidents and simple physics dictates that the higher the speed the bigger the bang. My only gripe is the lazy thinking which seizes upon speed as the easiest thing to measure and hence focuses on that to the exclusion of all other examples of bad driving. Due to the reduction in traffic cops I'm absolutely fine driving through the average speed cameras pissed, with a fag on, driving with my knees whilst reading Heat magazine and talking to my mate on the phone at 49mph, rather than driving with none of the above at 55mph which will prompt a NIP