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PostPosted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 19:19 
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Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2004 23:09
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Location: Stockport, Cheshire
Daily Mail

Quote:
A vigilante speed campaigner has been sacked by police for catching 'too many motorists' after he trapped more than 40,000 drivers.

David McCandless, 69, and his team of volunteers at Speed Watch caught around 1,600 speeding drivers every month in the Cambridgeshire towns of St Ives and Ramsey.

The group use hand-held speed cameras by the side of the road and then pass on the information police, who can then issue a warning letter to offenders.

But he claims his relationship with the force began to deteriorate when he was told he could only report less than 500 motorists a month.

Police told him staff could only process 2,000 cases across the whole country, so he would have to let some drivers off.

But the decision led to increasing tensions between the two parties before the former RAF engineer was dismissed by the force.

He obviously struggles to grasp the concept that the resources for such schemes are finite.

And, as we've discussed before, I wonder how many of these busybodies eventually give up once they realise how futile the whole exercise is.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 08:41 
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I have repeatedly told our local CSW co-ordinator of the pointlessness of these schemes but it seems that this is something for people with little to do to occupy their time.

The last thing they did locally was to report to the Parish Council that they had seen a reducing trend in the numbers which they caught over last year. I felt obliged to point out that the real criterion to report was any reduction in accidents. These, of course, were zero at the start of the year and zero at the end.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 19:27 
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Yeah, to both comments. There always has been a serious concern that local people could become obsessed with the detail than their overall point.
Which lets face it was to try to win people over that the whole concept was meant to be 'good'! :shock:
Happily people are lazy and gradually wonder if what they are doing is really right, and especially when they catch their neighbours and friends who are usually the highest (or were) offenders in these local situations anyway!

I think it's really sad because some have been hurt and it's all so very wrong from the morals of it right through to the blatant lack of any scientific data to support it!
It always used to be that the local Council employed a proper Engineer who provided some advice and along with further proper advice from the Police / Hendon and other proper research, we had an excellent system that genuinely sought to facilitate good road safety policies because they were good and proven to be so. Any changes were small until properly and scientifically proven.

To even consider the public's input and opinion when most have no concept of what they speak is just an astounding and despicably ignorant as well of course highly dangerous with all sorts of repercussions! I see that LV insurance is now saying that they have seen an increase in lack of confident driving which we predicted many years ago now! Sometimes it's really sad to be right! :(

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