given the way this country is going to the rats (dogs are too good) and the relative chances of getting in trouble for the two offenses, i'm considering breaking the plates on my car in two, chucking the unwanted bits on a random bit of road somewhere and keeping just half of each on to keep myself reasonably safe from cameras.
if the filth ask anything... well, i parked my car up so that i walked right towards the door from the side officer, im not in the business of wasting my time by checking my plates are still there like they have been for the last eight years without fail. some kids must have been at them. if you're going to write me a ticket for that, then you can do me another pre-emptively for when i next have a bulb burn out and i'll mail it back to you as soon as it happens....
you must have been fair shifting and doing some dumb ass stuff for another driver to call the police on your arse unless he's a complete gutter slug who needs some salt - or is one brainwashed so badly by the Speed Kills posters (even in the light of no actual evidence provided to back them up) that he felt compelled to act.
(ps anyone wearing burberry is planning to murder you and steal your video - the next poster - its not true but it has a nice enough ring to it. people wearing burberry have been implicated in at least 3% of all double murder-video robbing cases).
I've only once called the cops on another driver...... and yes they were speeding..... difference is, this was 11.30pm after taking mates home from pub, and it was some t-nuC in a bloody QUARRY TRUCK doing about 60mph down into my town (U-turned, *carefully* ran a red and really had to give the car a lot of welly to catch up after spotting him flash past), through the centre, and out the other side, coming damn close to running at least 2 other drivers off the road in a couple very badly executed overtaking maneouvers (one on a 2-lane 1-way ring road, another on a rural 2-way NSL of similar width exiting town).
Finally made my mind up and got signal when out on the A38, finally i wasnt having to beast the old 1-litre so much as he seemed to top out in the low 70s (limiter? what limiter?).
Guess what. Pigs did nothing. F***ing hell. He was out of the range of the constabulary I got connected to (west mids, maybe 30 seconds before i crossed into north warks instead) and they couldnt transfer me or the job, plus they thought the chance of any kind of conviction was slim as i had no evidence and now he wasnt really pulling that great a pace over the NSL (they somehow forgetting the truck limit on a cabbageway being 50....).
Incidentally the guy went right past the local police station in his travels (only at about 40mph after a long incline - in a 30 though) so they could have quickly caught up to and got a statement from at least one terrorised driver - guy in a kangoo who was very nearly eating hedge, dont think he would have gone anywhere fast after that. I wouldn't have.
Couldnt even get number for north warks, and battery was damn near out, so what could i do? U-turned at the next island (only a half mile, lucky), pasted the car all the way home (taking it a little easier than the trucker on the urban streets however), dragged the BT phone book out and get right onto them... Quarry truck... these markings and this company name (like a dick i didnt take his plate)... doing about 75 north on the a38, obviously in a blinding hurry that's making him unfit to drive, or possibly he's p*ssed (stolen the truck / took it from depot without consent?) given that it is, after all, a quarter to midnight... already near ran two guys off the road, he's all set up to kill someone before the night's through.... pull him up wontcha..... .... errr.... no, actually, we wont. Ooookay. Thank you. Bye. Twunts.
And of course, my town is cool in that it has no cameras, at least not on the side he was, and any on the NSL / A38 wouldnt have got him as he didnt work up sufficient pace to set them off once on the faster roads.
Should expect it though really, after the insane length of time it took them to get a unit out to me after a drunken ch4vette set on me in tescos 24 hour garage, about 4.30am sunday morning.. like there would be much else to do at that time of morning... called the police whilst she was still around, described how i was following her from the scene.... dispatcher told me to stay with the car instead...... couldnt find my address... and then finally a unit was sent. Took ten minutes for a journey i could do in 5 at noon. No blue lights. Assailant was long freaking gone.
grr
PS if cons really do remove all cameras Except (edit: freudian slip
) around blackspots, will they also make sure said blackspots are signed well in advance, not just with a camera sign, but with DANGER - SLOW and a brief description of the hazard, such as what we used to (or were supposed to .. at least, it's in the highway code... you know, the triangle with a "!" in) have before the emphasis shifted from warnings to punishments? Otherwise that's just as bad.
The perfectly sited speed camera, after all, should only catch a very small number of drivers, if we assume that most people (over 90%) on the roads are perfectly adept at assuming a safe speed on a good road, on a bad road when dangers are easy to spot, and on a bad road with hidden dangers when given decent advance warning?? A camera which captures every other person surely shows something wrong with the road system, than with the drivers?
A few more similar warning signs may help with accident reduction even WITHOUT cameras.... what was that recent study that showed the speed-detecting light up signs were far, far more effective than a GATSO for reducing speed AND improving road safety (not just dropping speed, but actually improving things as drivers arent threatened by them and so pay just enough attention to heed the warning, and focus back on the "dangerous" bit of road, rather than staring at the "hazard" (ie camera) and then their speedo)
PPS whats their stance on everything else? Immigration, ID cards, civil liberties, taxation, education, transport policy in general, environment, freedom of speech, renewable energy, internet censorship, health service, military etc etc etc etc..? Is there any party with better all-round morals making similar suggestions?