New Speeding fines?

redarrow said:
Bwana, how often do you need to do long distance travel for work?
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I've never said I dont speed - however I dont bemoan the fines when I get caught.

The fact is catching speeders is easy money for the traffic police - if there were less speeders they'd have to resort to actually doing some work and start cleaning the four wheeled garbage off the roads.

BTW - you try living in the US - a country with massive, perfect roads, and have to be saddled with a speed limit of 55/65/75 mph (90/105/120 kph) :eek: (Speed limits vary by state but you get my point ;))
 
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bwana said:
I've never said I dont speed - however I dont bemoan the fines when I get caught.
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Well, actually I've never tried to oppose a fine before or "bemoan" it as such.. (apart from a bit of normal grumbling)... that said, I haven't gotten very many anyway... I know where most of the permanant cameras and likely "hotspots" on my routes are. :D

bwana said:
I
The fact is catching speeders is easy money for the traffic police - if there were less speeders they'd have to resort to actually doing some work and start cleaning the four wheeled garbage off the roads.

BTW - you try living in the US - a country with massive, perfect roads, and have to be saddled with a speed limit of 55/65/75 mph (90/105/120 kph) :eek: (Speed limits vary by state but you get my point ;))
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In the US? :eek: ... I always imagined they had German style "Autobahns" there..
 
Personally, those figures seem completely unreasonable. I am inclined to believe it to be a hoax.

On the subject of speeding fines: The reason why traffic cops trap should be to make the roads safer, not to gain revenue. In my experience, cops mostly trap in safe areas, but do not trap in dangerous areas. The reason that so many cars are exceeding the speed limit in that area, is that it is safe to do so. In other words, cops are just revenue grabbing, with little concern for safety.

Also, for those that say they have no sympathy for those who speed, have you considered that it may be safer to break the speed limit. Logic as follows:
Let's say the speed limit is 60km/h but it is safe to do 100km/h.
You the conscientious driver, stick to the speed limit.
Other cars back up behind you and start getting impatient.
Eventually someone overtakes you, where it is not safe to overtake, putting your life at risk.
While in this case, you are in the right and the other drivers in the wrong, that doesn't save your life. Perhaps in this instance, it is better to go at 80km/h and take the fine.
 
redarrow said:
In the US? :eek: ... I always imagined they had German style "Autobahns" there..
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Yeah - they ushered it in during Carter's years iirc and it was mind numbing.

Tassidar said:
Also, for those that say they have no sympathy for those who speed, have you considered that it may be safer to break the speed limit. Logic as follows:
Let's say the speed limit is 60km/h but it is safe to do 100km/h.
You the conscientious driver, stick to the speed limit.
Other cars back up behind you and start getting impatient.
Eventually someone overtakes you, where it is not safe to overtake, putting your life at risk.
While in this case, you are in the right and the other drivers in the wrong, that doesn't save your life. Perhaps in this instance, it is better to go at 80km/h and take the fine.
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You can make up a what if scenario in order to try and justify almost anything in life - but the rules are the rules. You're responsible for your driving - not the guy behind you.

Justify it however you like - just suck it up and pay the fine when the time comes. :)
 
bwana said:
Also very true - I have little sympathy for people complaining about avoidable fines.
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Speeding is easily done. Just a small touch on my accelerator and I'm going another 20 kph. I try and use cruise control to stop it happening. The traps are also in sneeky places where people are more likely to be careless and the conditions are good etc. i.e. not for road safety as such.

I don't have sympathy for the Porshe going 250 - that's just crazy, but there are times I've been caught in circumstances that don't fit the fine. I'm quite critical of my own driving most of the time - no accidents - so it hurts twice as much.
 
bwana said:
Yeah - they ushered it in during Carter's years iirc and it was mind numbing.

You can make up a what if scenario in order to try and justify almost anything in life - but the rules are the rules. You're responsible for your driving - not the guy behind you.

Justify it however you like - just suck it up and pay the fine when the time comes. :)
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Bwana, I am not suggesting not paying the fines, nor am I trying to come up with what-if scenarios. This is a real.

My girlfriend drives to work along Baiden Powell drive in CT every day. If you don't know it, let me tell you about it. It is single lane all the way, and while it does have a fringe, it is not safe pulling onto it, because of people and debri. Because there is really very little opportunity to overtake, people become very aggressive, when drivers keep to the speed limit, and do overtake in dangerous situations. As usual, taxis are the worst.

And please understand this: I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN SAFETY, IF THIS MEANS DRIVING OVER THE SPEED LIMIT, I WILL. I wish that this wasn't the case, but pragmatically it is. I suggest that you get off your high horse, and look at the world from a rational, realistic perspective.
 
Going fast is NOT the cause of most accidents as the Guavament will have us believe. Innapropriate speed is. A 30 year old bakkie that still has its original shocks and brake pads going 60 kmph around a certain corner (just cos the limit happens to be 60) is far more dangerous than a modern, well designed car doing 90 around the same corner.

Fact is speedcops trap in inappropriate places. The primary objective of trapping is to prevent people from speeding. This doesnt automatically warrant handing out a fine!!! A polite, diplomatic warning and the driver is more likely to continue his journey with a bit more thought while the driver who has just been fined is likely to be p1ssed off and drive more aggressively after being stopped.

Unroadworthy vehicles, overloading, fake licenses, bad roads, no lights etc: These are the things that contribute the most to the casualties and accidents on our roads. Hi speed must be right at the bottom of the list.
 
Tassidar said:
And please understand this: I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN SAFETY, IF THIS MEANS DRIVING OVER THE SPEED LIMIT, I WILL. I wish that this wasn't the case, but pragmatically it is. I suggest that you get off your high horse, and look at the world from a rational, realistic perspective.
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I suggest, pragmatically that is, that you check back to where I freely admit to speeding. Like Skeptik points out its really easy to do - I'm not going to make excuses for it. Its my lead foot on the pedal.

As I also mentioned - the less time the law spends on speeders the more time they'll be forced to dealing with all the junkers and maniac taxis on the road causing carnage on a daily basis - might even take care of some of the debris on the side of the road you mentioned.

Unfortunately speeding equals revenue. Until the point system is introduced though there is going to be little in the way of deterrent. People get their fines and thats that. Great system. :rolleyes: How many more years is it going to be until they roll it out? Of course it will mean a drop in their revenue so perhaps it will be delayed indefinitely.
 
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Actually Bwana, speeding equals easy revenue, it is also safer revenue especially if the officer in question is man alone.
The problem is the Traffic types know that most people have to use cars because public transport doesnt exist, they know that people get impatient and frustrated , and they know some of the speed limits could be raised , but they want the revenue, so they do nothing about it.
Most people agree that we need decent public transport, but the cost involved for cities throughout the country far outweigh the revenue generated through parking and speeding fines, and the how long before they would see a profit, so make it tougher for the motorist and bleed them dry of their money.
Personally i find traffic officers to be the lowest form of law enforcement around , they remind me of school prefects, "do up your tie , tuck in your shirt etc etc" they made absolutely no difference to the big picture of my education other than being a nuisance , and traffic officers are the same, they make no difference to the big picture of lawlessness in this country, other than being a nuisance to the road user.
 
// on a slightly different note - anyone have any information on this little snippet emailed thru

On the M3 the speedcops are using camera's 10 km's apart to trap cars by using numberplate recognition software and timing the time that it takes for the vehicle to cover the distance at the allowed speed limit, evidently works extemely well.
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that's M3 in cape town.......
 
So just slow down as soon as you see the first camera until you see the second one. :D Heard of this too, but nothing conclusive.
 
A section of road I sometimes travel on has a stupid setup.
It's 80 or 100km/h in one direction and 120km/h in the other direction.
It used to be 120km/h both ways but they changed the signs for one direction and started manning it with radar/laser traps.

Does this sound like a revenue generating scheme or what?! :mad:
 
dominic, the vehicle number plate recognition technology does not work too well. In fact, there is so much margin for error that unless there is sufficient photographic evidence I doubt this will stand up in court. So, unless someone physically looks at the photo being taken, the number plate recognition means pretty much nada.
 
ta - usually drive the m3 at around 05h00 and the lack of traffic generally seems to lead to a lack of speed control :)
 
dominic said:
// on a slightly different note - anyone have any information on this little snippet emailed thru

that's M3 in cape town.......
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In theory they can do it, and they most probably try to do it as well. There are some issues with the recognition side of it.

But yeah, the whole concecpt comes from the Vascar Plus system that the sooped up Tshwane Mercs have in them ...
 
They should also up the fines for going through a red light to R2000. I'm sick and tired of watching people still go through red lights even after it's turned green for the other side.
 
LaRoosTa said:
They should also up the fines for going through a red light to R2000. I'm sick and tired of watching people still go through red lights even after it's turned green for the other side.
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Oh I'm so with you on this one.
I often stop at red lights and get over taken from behind by two or more cars in the side lane. :mad:
What annoys me the most is when I'm waiting to turn at an intersection and the traffic from the opposite side keeps coming through on red.

Why is it that 30 year old grannies don't think it's possible to make a turn faster than 20km/h in intersections? They normally leave me in the middle of the intersection when the light turns green for the other traffic.
 
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