Some months ago I was done for speeding by a mobile camera van.
Fair enough I was over the 'speed limit' (which in my sad old Kim's Game way I try very hard to stick to). Did the speed awareness course and suffered some hours of sophistry and learned a couple of useful things and went on my way. Thing is, I know for a fact that the piece of road I was done on has actually got safer over the years.
I know this because I surveyed it for safety and alignment and 'traffic management' and traffic flows and turning movements (the van was near a left / right staggered junction on a rural dual carriageway) and all the rest of it in the mid eighties when the road was the main A12 into Ipswich and parts North. At that time it was OK-ish at 70. Now it's 50. I was caught at 57. And because it has been bypassed all the hazards, especially the turning movements and traffic volumes are fractions of what they were. So its bollocks that the speed camera was for 'safety measures. (It was hidden as well of course).
Since then I have intensified my Kim's Game. Why not? It relieves the boredom.
Today I was dodging gently along back to the office traveling from Darsham via Yoxford and Sibton back to my office in Ipswich via the pretty way. I was trundling through one of the villages at about 30 and the character of the road changed to more rural and I was just thinking to myself 'hang on what's the bloody speed limit here?' (having not been recently aware of any repeater signs) when there, hidden in the verge in an obscure way was another camera van. I have no idea if I was over the limit or not, I think my speedo was about 35, but we shall see.
The point is though that I am pretty sure that the 30 mph repeater signs were all obscured by foliage. OK. So I can go back and spend another day surveying and photographing it all, but what's the bloody point? I certainly cannot afford that time and if I do and prove the case I still won't get my costs and then I will be well out of pocket.
I have a view that they 'authorities' do the things that they can do most easily. It's easy nowadays to process speeding tickets. It's easy to process parking tickets. The authorities can then say 'we've caught X tens of thousands of speeding people' as if that proves anything.
Meanwhile, in Rotherham...
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