KEITH
I am sure that Markie would soon change his mind about speed cameras if one of his kids got knocked down by a speeding driver.

Sandra
I have just been tailgated down a very narrow country lane. What is wrong with these people?

Damion
Speed cameras should be camouflaged so they can't be seen. What is the point of having warning signs. We need to catch more drivers who are speeding.

Peter(Cannock)
What a stupid nut case Max Speeder is. He says that he is interested in joining the barmy Motorists against Detection rabble who blow up cameras with explosives. I hope he does because he soon will be locked up with the rest of them one day.

Tony
Speed cameras are saving lives so lets have more of them.

Jean --- Stafford
I think that we need many more speed cameras in Staffordshire particularly around Cannock Chase where so many deer have been killed by thoughtless drivers who speed.

ste
could someone just tell me is it still a 40mph speed limit on the m6 south before the toll road and have they moved the specs cameras for the 40mph

Captain Gatso
Speed cameras are essential to road safety and I would like to see many more of them in order to save even more lives.

Gazza
Markie says that he never speeds and intends to keep his licence clean. He then says that he is against speed cameras. The only people who are against the cameras are drivers who want to speed. Strange!

j.j.
It is you Stu who is making stupid comments in favour of tailgating when everyone knows that this practice is dangerous driving.

Ken
If motorcyclists were not speeding so fast motorists might have chance to see them before they pull out.

John Power
Markie--ref spec cameras. I bet every driver who has so rightly been caught by these cameras would disagree with you about their in-effectiveness. How on earth can they be in-effective when so many law breaking speeding drivers are being caught by them?

Jean
What utter rubbish Markie comes out with when he says that the Brake Safety Campaign Charity which promotes road safety is as extreme as the boy racer Safespeed site. The Brake Safety members have done more for road safety than any other similar organisation. How dare Markie insult them! He should appologise immediately.

daz
seems to me we are only seeing one side of the coin here. got caught doing 10 mile an hour above speed limit on a34 going from 40 to 60. positioned the van near the 60 knowing full well that people will be building up their speed. not clearly visible as should be.just got in from driving behind a cop car going 40 in a 30 no blues and 2's. so i get a fine and they don't. and by the way a ain't no speed merchant either. i seem to remember the same scam being pulled on the a500 when people were building speed when approaching the 50 zone. just a money scam.

Helen
I agree with the people who say that all motorbikes should be banned. They are noisy and dangerous and the people who want to ride them are stupid.

WAYNE
I cannot believe that any normal intelligent person would condone the actions of the terroist group called who call themselves Motorists against Detection. But there again nut case Max Speeder does not fit into that criteria.

Jackie
Get a life Markie! You are not convincing anyone with your distorted views.

John Power
Max Speeder. We already know from your past comments that you are just an utter idiot. It certainly comes as no surprise to us when you state that you wish to join a terroist organisation that is prepared to risk lives by their cowardly actions. You have now admitted to us that you are just another scum bag who is prepared to resort to any kind of action in order to satisfy youe pathetic speedophile tendencies. Please do not bore us with your ridiculously childish comments again . Grow up and try to be a normal human being instead of the sub normal moron that you are at present.

John Power.
Wrong again Markie! Spec type cameras are presently being used on road works on the M6 (40MPH). There is an excellent article about them in the Express and Star 23/June/06. Please do your research properly before making contributions to this web site. Incidentally the article also states that the cameras have been very successful in catching drivers breaking the law by speeding.

Markie
Very good comments Gazza and just the level of intelligence i expected from you ! Can you also confirm that you have never broken a speed limit ? John Power can't !!!!

Markie
The conservative party have obtained data under the Freedom of Information Act that shows H.M.Treasury is making £22M pounds per year profit from speed cameras. A total of £114M is extorted from drivers, £92M of which is spent running the camera bureaucracies, with the government siphoning off the remaining £22M for purposes not even remotely related to road safety. And you claim it is not about making money !!!!!

Markie
Geoffrey Biddulph, the senior Home Office civil servant in charge of policing Britain's roads, has admitted that police radar guns are unreliable. Thousands of innocent drivers may have fallen victim to inaccurate speed readings that may have resulted in them being fined and even deprived of their licence and job. It could be you next !

Markie
Mr Power repeatedly shouts that "speed kills". This claim is used to justify more speed cameras. In recent years, the number of speed cameras in England & Wales has increased massively, to at least 4500, with some reports stating as many as 6300. As a result, the number of fixed penalty notices issued, and prosecutions carried out, has increased dramatically to well over a million per year. 'Safety' Camera Partnerships repeatedly claim that their speed cameras are successful in slowing vehicles down. If speed cameras are genuinely effective in saving lives, we would expect to see a strong correlation between speeding convictions and deaths. From the Government's own statistics: The massive increase in speeding prosecutions has not led to a massive reduction in fatalities. In several years where the number of prosecutions has gone up, the number of fatalities has also gone up. The figures prove beyond doubt that speed cameras do not save lives. Speed cameras merely generate a huge number of fixed penalty notices and prosections that produced an income for the government of over £107,000,000 in 2003.

Zak
The Big Flaw with John Powers wonderful Specs cameras. They work in pairs, Neither camera measures your speed directly, so if you turn off the road between the cameras, or turn onto it, or stop between them, they can't catch you exceeding the speed threshold. This means that if you inadvertently go thru the first one over the limit, all you need to do is slow to below the limit, so that your average speed between the two cameras is below the speed threshold. Of course, working this out in your head is somewhat difficult, so drivers sometimes over-compensate and can be seen crawling towards the second camera. On high speed roads this can create dangerous situations. Other drivers can be seen driving for miles staring at their speedometer — a stupid and potentially fatal distraction effect. Great aint they ? in other areas they have been replaced with Gatso's, perhap they werent making enough money.

Markie
So you think that camera,s are reducing road injuries do you.... Taken from the BBC 23/6 ... A study by Oxford University and the South East Regional Public Health Group in Guildford found when hospital statistics were used instead of police figures serious injuries caused by road crashes had not changed since 1996. But the government uses police figures to measure its progress towards reducing road deaths and injuries by 40% by 2010. These show a drop of nearly a third, leaving the government on course to hit its target. Lead researcher Dr Mike Gill said: "The discrepancies are likely to be down to under-reporting of accidents to police. "But it raises questions about the police figures and I think it is important the government looks at the hospital figures." Still think camera's are having the level of effect the government make out ???

Stu
Good Driver says "If motorcycles are so dangerous why not ban them completely." very good mate, and while you are at it why not ban all cars that are capable of more than 70mph ? Be realistic !!!! If most car drivers learned to drive properly and increased their obsevation skills most motorcycle accidents would not happen in the first place !!!!

Markie
WRONG PC... "More people are killed annually by speeding drivers than by any other crime." please divulge your sources for this piece of mis-information !!!.

Markie
Mr Power says "The A.A.has, no doubt in anticipation of making lots of sales to the criminal motorist fraternity, shown the locations of speed cameras in its 2006 road atlas" Why shouldnt they display the locations ? Apparently camera's are only located at accident blackspots so surely anything that tells you where these blackspots are is a good thing isnt it ???

Markie
Mr Power, make up your mind... first you tell us that "pecs" camera's are new and the (after i told you) you say they ar already in use between Derby and nottingham and are very effective !!! Please publish you sources on how effective they are if you can ? Actually they are not that effective because a speeding car only has to turn down a side road before reaching the next camera to avoid being detected. Also in the 20mph zones that you failed to mention, most cars will be stopping for shopping or dropping peole off so would not be speed ing anyway or would be unlikely to get caught for the same reason as above unless you had one on every street corner which is unlikely due to cost..... Once again, get your facts straight !

Glenda
The speed limits in this country are set far too high. There should be a maximum 20mph speed limit in all built up areas. Drivers are just speed crazy.

Francis
Thousands of peoples lives have been ruined because of speeding drivers causing deaths and serious injuries. Please don't expect us to feel sorry for speeding drivers who have been caught by the speed cameras. It is their own fault if they break the law and get caught. More thought should be given to the victims and their relatives.

SAM
No one in there right mind would disagree with the use of speed cameras when everyone knows that they are the most successful road safety device that we have ever had.

j.j.
Tailgaters are becoming more of a problem now so the police should have a purge on them.

Maxie
The cameras save many lives by slowing down speeding drivers so I would like to see many more of them about especially in Staffordshire.

sandhu
Drivers who speed deserve to be punished. They are risking lives.

Jean
I hope that when the terroists who say that they are going to use explosives to blow up speed cameras get caught they get very long prison sentences.

Desmond
Speeding is dangerous and irresponsible driving. The speed cameras are needed to stop foolish drivers who speed from breaking the law. Drivers who do not speed have nothing to worry about.

Will
John Power should be given the job of transport minister. With his no nonesense approach towards drivers who break the law by speeding I am sure the annual road accident rate would be reduced drastically.

Anti Speed
Speeding is like a drug to some drivers. They can't live without it and obviously need treatment to stop them doing it.The best treatment I can think of is to take away their driving licences!

Markie
Mr Power, ministy for mis-information once again ! Motorists against Detection actually stated they would NOT be targeting the cameras outside schools and in 30mph zones as they agreed with them !! Whilst i also do not condone their activity, you need once again to get your facts right Mr Power !!!! and it's Gatso, not "GatZo" by the way, named after the inventor Maurice Gatsonides (bless him).

Drive Safely
Companies whose employees are caught speeding in fleet vehicles should sack them! They are not responsible enough to drive vehicles safely and could bring the company into disrepute if they have an accident through speeding. They are a liability. Ordinairily, if a staff member were to break the law, such as driving over the drink limit or driving recklessly, then disiplinary proceedings would ensue. Speeding is now widely recognised as being illegal, dangerous and reckless and just as bad as drink driving. Employers should take this into consideration.

John Power
The only people who look at the locations of safety cameras are those who like breaking the law and risking lives by speeding but want to know where to put their foot on the brake to avoid getting caught. The A.A.has, no doubt in anticipation of making lots of sales to the criminal motorist fraternity, shown the locations of speed cameras in its 2006 road atlas. They are helping motorists who want to break the law escape detection.This is no different from publishing an atlas showing all the locations of police stations to car thieves!

Eddie
There is nothing trivial about the offence of speeding. It ruins lives by creating danger and intimidation. It has been estimated that police time dealing with road crashes in England and Wales costs around £43 million.

Julie
Drivers who whine and moan about the cameras annoy me. They should obey the law by not speeding or be prepared to pay the cost without complaining about it.

Chan
Speed cameras are bright yellow,clearly visible and well signed so anyone caught speeding is speeding deliberately or is guilty of lack of concentration and awareness(undue care and attention).

Vick Fletcher
The paltry fines handed out to drivers who have been caught speeding are laughable. The fixed penalty for speeding should be increased to £600 not £60. Hit these people in their pockets and if they keep breaking the law by speeding take their driving licences and vehicles off them. People's lives are at risk!

Graham
Motorcyclist's are a nuisance to other road users and most of them ride and speed dangerously, overtaking at speed around bends etc. If they do not value their own lives then surely they can't expect sympathy when they have accidents.

Tina
Why do drivers worry so much about safety cameras. All they have to do is drive properly.

Pat
I think Markie will say just about anything to try and convince us that the life saving cameras are not doing their job. How can the cameras not be doing their job when 2 million criminals are getting caught and fined each year? The cameras are very efficient and I would like to see far more of them on our roads.

Jason
Have you ever noticed that the nuts who speed and tailgate always try to say that everyone else drives as badly as them. They think that everyone else is a bog standard driver just because they are themselves.

Les
Speed limits life. If you are speeding at the time of a collision there is a far greater chance that maybe you or your passengers,will get killed. Good drivers do not speed because they know that speeding could mean death.

Gordon
I just cannot believe that any normal person would blow up a speed camera. These people must be complete lunatics.

Harry
The Government has announced that it has now decided to increase the number of speed cameras because there are not enough at present to stop the increase in road accidents. The cameras in use at present are doing a wonderful job on main roads but lots of drivers speed on rural roads and this is where more accidents are now occurring. Ideally there should be speed cameras on every road. The new type Zone cameras mentioned by road safety campaigner John Power will hopefully do a lot more to catch drivers who recklessly break the law and risk lives by speeding in whatever location that they are driving in.

Grace Talbot
I agree with Jackie who says that more speed cameras are needed in the Weston area. This area has more than its fair share of bad drivers who speed.

John Power
Speedophile organisations like the Association of British Drivers and "Safespeed" the boy racer club masquerading as a road safety campaign wrongly and irresponsibly say that that speeding doesn't cause accidents and then put up the most ridiculous arguments imaginable to try and back up their views. "Safespeed" even go so far as to say that speed cameras make our roads more dangerous which is a strange comment when peoples lives are actually being saved by slowing down speeding speedophile drivers. Other barmy groups such as the terroist scum bag Motorists agaist Detection are again threatening to blow up cameras even if they are located near schools or in busy shopping areas. All of these idiots believe that they should be allowed to do what they want,whenever they want,regardless of the consequences. Society is an obstacle to them. Pedestrians,cyclists,traffic calming,speed limits,the law: all are a nuisance to them because of their pathetic and dangerous lust for speed!

Good Driver
If motorcycles are so dangerous and so many riders are getting killed or injured why not ban them completely.

Mark
Drivers who speed and tailgate are risking not only their own lives but,more importantly,other peoples lives. Both speeding and tailgating are deliberate acts and a manslaughter charge should be given to any culprits who cause death by their actions. An attempted manslaughter charge should be given to any driver who injures another person. Speeding and tailgating are not petty crimes as some people seem to think. When lives are involved this makes them serious crimes on the same level as drink driving.

PC
If you are caught breaking the law by speeding and get endorsements on your driving licence you must inform your car insurance company immediately and your insurance premium will be raised as your bad driving has made you a higher risk.If you do not inform your insurance company your car insurance is most likely to be invalid and should you be involved in an accident you could face a very hefty bill for damages and could also be prosecuted for not having adequate car insurance.

Peter(Cannock)
Why do we have to wait for people to be killed or injured before speed cameras are put in position. It is crazy!

pc
More people are killed annually by speeding drivers than by any other crime.

Markie
Mr Power, i have read the article on these "New" camera's of yours and once again you have distorted the information... Whilst "specs" are already in use, These particular ones have only been trialled for use in 20mph zones and only positioned and the entrance and exit ! what use is that if cars enter the zones and park up to collect kids from school or go shopping ? also no fines have been issued as it is only a trial. The trial also extends into March next year so will be a way off yet, and they also need home office approval to be used. Please publish the full facts next time !

Max Speeder
John Power, thanks for the link to Motorists Against Detection. I must join ! GREAT NEWS. "Up and down the country, camera's are being ripped down, blown up and even shot apart as part of a campaign orchestrated by a gang of web-surfing outlaws. They threaten to become the most popular gang of criminals since Robin Hood and his Merry Men stalked the countryside. More than 700 cameras across the nation have already been taken out and insiders warn that operations are about to be stepped up. Communicating through internet chat rooms, the activists move under cover of darkness, targeting devices they claim have taken a particularly heavy toll on drivers' licences and wallets. From the south coast to the Highlands no camera is safe. Known as Gatsometers, or Gatsos, they are being destroyed at a rate that has alarmed police forces. Keep it up !!!!

Max Speeder
Good for you Good Driver, i'm sure you must be very happy (or very sad).

Markie
Unfortunately, brake road safety campaign are as extreme as Safe Speed but in the opposite direction ! Their comments on the government report that Mr Power quoted fails to mention the camera locations that have seen an increase in accidents, a massive 100% in some locations looking at the figures from the Staffs partnership. It also fails to mention other road improvements around camera locations that have a positive effect.

Markie
Mr Power, it would take someone of at least the same level of intelligence before i was insulted, you are well below that mark at the moment.

Max Speeder
Captain Gatso sounds like my kind of dude ! Go on my son !!!!

Markie
John Power's "New" specs camera's (LOL) are about as effective as the current types of camera... They measure time over distance using numberplate recognition and have been in use for some time. They are only any use if the speeding vehicle stays on the same road ! All the vehicle has to do is turn off the road before the next camera and hey presto, no fine ! Unless you position them on every junction they will be no more effective than any other type of camera, and this will not happen due to cost.

Markie
Jackie "would like to see more safety cameras around the Weston area in Staffs" Are you saying the one's you have are not effective ? there is already one on each entrance to the village on the A51 (not far apart) and a further 2 on the way to great haywood ! You are of course correct, they are not effective, but do you believe more of them will make a difference ?.

Gazza
Markie has a clean driving licence. He accidently put it in his washing machine!

Gazza
Markie is suggesting that he never speeds. Can you believe him?

stan
I agree with the people on here who say that motorcyclists should be banned from the roads. They are a menace to other drivers when they race around breaking the speed limits.

Wendy.
Speeding drivers are no better than drunken drivers. Both types of driver are dangerous and should be treated the same by the law.

Helen
Some drivers consider themselves to be law abiding citizens and then choose deliberately to go out to break the law by speeding and risking other peoples lives. This is a criminal offence.

Paul
Nobody likes to be caught by a speeding but there are far more people alive now than there would be if there had been no cameras.

John Power
Speed is the number one killer in our society and speed cameras have been proved to work.(Brake Road Safety Charity)

Wendy
Speeding and tailgating are forms of anti-social behaviour.

J. Delaney.
Excessive and inappropiate speed is a major contributing factor to road crashes and casualties. Speed cameras have proven to be an extremely successful element of an integrated speed management strategy and studies by road safety analysts have consistantly shown and proven that deaths and serious injuries have been reduced by over a third at speed camera sites. In this context it is important to dispel some of the myths about cameras. Rather than "punishing motorists,"speed cameras are instead saving the lives of motorists and other road users.

John Power
Safety cameras have achieved outstanding success in slowing down speeding drivers. Anyone who doubts this should watch the traffic flow at the site of the cameras. Drivers who get caught are reluctant to speed again knowing full well that they will be fined again and could lose their driving licence. Drivers who get caught also face higher car insurance premiums. New technology means that irresponsible drivers will no longer be able to "surf" the cameras. New type cameras have also been developed that can take photographs in each direction. New "cats eye" type cameras are also being tested. These will be able to determine speed of vehicles and nearness of vehicles(tailgating) to each other at speed. The Government is investing millions of pounds in these road safety devices. Accidents are rising annually and although the present safety cameras have been responsible for catching millions of bad drivers who risk lives and flout the law by speeding many more cameras are needed to address the problem and reduce road accidents. Think safe. Don't speed. Speed kills!

John Power
More good news! "Specs" type safety cameras are being used between Derby and Nottingham and also on the M6 roadworks. These have been very successful in catching out bad drivers who break the law and risk lives by speeding.

Markie
At last, some common sense.... A report from the AA Motoring Trust.... The organisation says "simple" measures like better signposting, re-painting road markings and cutting grassy verges would help save many lives. The trust analysed crash data from all of the UK's major roads. The trust said some of the country's main roads are just as dangerous as they were five years ago. (Despite the use of Camera's) AA Motoring Trust director Bert Morris said: "People continue to be killed and badly injured because simple, affordable measures that dramatically reduce risk are not being put in place." He claimed simple measures like resurfacing roads would save around 50 deaths and prevent 300 serious injuries a year, saving more than £300 million. The trust carried out its research as part of the European Road Assessment Programme. Among the most improved roads, casualties have dropped by three-quarters thanks to measures encouraging drivers to adapt to the sudden change from open road to busier semi-urban layouts. Once again, no mention of camera's, just common sense measures, unfortunately the authorities do not want to spend money, they only want to make it.