Autoblog

Britain's installation of more speed cameras and the swap to digital means they'll catch even more speeders. That's good for the treasury. According to British insurer Swinton, it isn't good for the points system that insurance companies use to set premiums -- there are too many people getting more and more points to make it a useful criteria. So Swinton says it will no longer automatically raise premiums if drivers get points due to speed cameras, saying "points alone can no longer be used as a yardstick for driver evaluation." Currently in Britain, getting 12 points means losing your license. With 6,000 cameras nabbing two million speeders annually, and mobile phone infractions earning three points, Swinton says "a few years ago insurers might have assumed that a motorist with six or more points on their license was a reckless driver, but that is no longer necessarily the case." With the suggestion that drivers with 6 points could be viewed as "standard," six could become the new zero. We can't wait for that kind of sense to make it this way. Allstate? You listening?

[Source: Daily Mail]

The Gatso speed camera has been the bane of British drivers for the past couple of decades, but they at least had the hope that when they saw the flash the camera might be out of film. For those of you in the crowd who might not be old enough to drink legally," film" is this silver coated plastic strip that they used to put in cameras. It had to be processed in various chemicals to make images appear. Amazingly enough, the British speed cameras still use this antique technology, but not for much longer.

The Dutch company that builds the cameras for the British government has developed a digital imaging module to upgrade the cameras so that they will never run out of film again. The new units have 11-megapixel sensors and can monitor four lanes of traffic at once. They can also store thousands of images compared to the 200 for the film units. So now the traffic enforcers can ticket more people with less effort. We send our condolences to British drivers.

[Source: AutoExpress]

No one outruns the law in Britain. At least, not ten percent of the speeding police in Avon and Somerset. The BBC, in a fit of governmental accountability, discovered that speeding officers set off Gatso cameras in those two counties 640 times last year. The great majority of those officers were on emergency calls, which means they're off the hook. But more than 50 officers weren't on emergency calls, and they'll be fined for their offense just the same as Joe Q. Public. Just goes to show, the limits of English propriety know no bounds. We'd like to see what would happen if our local force tried to ticket its own officers...

[Source: Autocar]

UK car enthusiasts' struggle with the kudzu-like spread of speed cameras has been well documented, but to those outside of England, the scale and scope of the issue is hard to get one's head around without experiencing it firsthand. That said, perhaps news that an auto insurer has just authored a plan specifically designed with speed cameras might give readers some sense of the scale of the issue.

Isle of Man Assurance has just begun offering LicenseGuard to its clients for a premium. The basic gist of the package is that it covers transportation costs for one year if you have your license revoked due to speeding offenses.

According to the UK's financial times, there are 8,000 cameras in use for plate recognition, and a further 6,000 dedicated speed cameras. With nearly one million motorists a single conviction away from losing their license, it's no wonder that certain offenders are seeking out accomplices that will admit to committing speeding offenses that they didn't actually commit, paying them in cash or by favor.

[Sources: The Financial Times; Art by Andy Davey]

 

Scotland's motorists had better keep their eyes peeled for a certain 'brightly marked' Honda 650 Deauville motorcycle. Those passing through Edinburgh at extralegal speeds had better beware, because local authorities have just outfitted a speed camera to the aforementioned motorbike, and it works in much the same way as the pole-mounted Gatsos and unmarked vans that litter Europe's roadsides.

The idea behind the motorcycle is that it can be quickly deployed to areas in which roadside conditions make it impractical and/or unsafe to use a van for revenue collection speed monitoring.

[Source: BBC News]

Authorities in Charlotte, North Carolina have switched off their red light and speed camera units. The move stems from a May 16 decision by the NC state appeals court directing some 90 percent of proceeds to state schools, not to the city or the company that operates the cameras.

Peek Traffic Inc., the firm responsible for operating and monitoring the cameras had been receiving a whopping $35 out of every $50 for every ticket for blowing a red light, or $39 for those snapped speeding. The new ruling means that the city would have to shell out $30-$34 per ticket, something they obviously aren't keen to do. By this ruling, Charlotte now owes the school system $4.6 million dollars.

City council members are set to convene June 5 to figure out a way to get out of its contract with Peek Traffic, as well as figure out how to pay the $4.6 million dollars, provided officials don't take up the ruling with North Carolina's Supreme Court.

[Sources: TheNewspaper.com; Art by Andy Davey]

 

A British police officer is licking his wounds after balling up his Ford Galaxy patrol car. That fact alone wouldn't be terribly noteworthy, except for the spectacular manner in which he crashed. As the story goes, PC Scott Warburton was doing 91 mph in a 30 mph zone in Lancaster when he spotted a speed camera, panicked and grabbed his Galaxy's brakes in full measure, subsequently losing control and crashing. As he was not responding to official business at the time, Warburton was subsiquently convicted of "driving without due care or attention."

[Source: Lancashire Evening Post; psni.police.uk]

In a modern twist on the old 'motorcycle cop silhouette behind billboard/tree/bush' gag, residents of Haughton, Staffordshire, U.K., have put up fake signs indicating speed cameras. 20 such signs have been placed on the A518, which runs through the center of Haugton.

The Staffordshire County Council has declared the signs illegal. Supporters believe the signs are working and are refusing to take them down, which could lead to a legal showdown.

(Thanks to tipster Greg)

[Source: BBC News]

The somewhat muddy legal status of GPS-based speed camera detectors used by British drivers has been cleared up-- they are perfectly licit. The black boxes employed by enthusiasts have been a nifty technological end-around rumored UK legislation that threatens to ban radar detectors. The units, like the popular Road Angel system download GPS-based maps with the locations of speed cameras (’Gatsos’), warning drivers in advance before they approach them on the road. Many systems also alert drivers to accident-prone areas and schools.

The word comes as transport minister Dr. Stephen Ladyman and Tory party MP Owen Paterson have recently gone on record stating their support (and admitted use) of the systems.

[Source: Motortorque at Askaprice.com]