Never fallen foul of a speed camera in UK, despite trying quite hard.
Germans have managed to snap me on numerous occasions, asking for donations to the coffers as they do. Theyre very sneaky at times over there though. The bright red, well known VW Polo estate with the Huge bloody camera shoved in the back is darned hard to spot at 100mph in a 50kmh limit. I dont know who was more surprised, me at getting flashed, or the Politzei operative at managing to actually get me on film. I was tanking it a bit..
Cost me 60DM in a fine
Speed cameras "old hat"
Moderators: Aladinsaneuk, MartDude, D-Rider, Moderators
I would be interested in that D-rider, personally I feel more comfortable riding briskly but I am aware of my faults which are entering bends a little to fast on occasions and being a little impatient with other road users but who's perfect. 
I can't claim to be as observant or lucky as you in the last 33 years having had a couple of speed traps but no cameras. Got done going down hill in a 30mph limit I was doing doing 39mph on a GPZ1100 and again at 88mph on a motorway during the 80's.
Suppose that's not bad when I consider my annual millage was well over 50k in those days.
I can't claim to be as observant or lucky as you in the last 33 years having had a couple of speed traps but no cameras. Got done going down hill in a 30mph limit I was doing doing 39mph on a GPZ1100 and again at 88mph on a motorway during the 80's.
Suppose that's not bad when I consider my annual millage was well over 50k in those days.
You've a pretty impressive driving record there Thumper - particularly given the mileage you must have covered in that time.Thumper wrote:I would be interested in that D-rider, personally I feel more comfortable riding briskly but I am aware of my faults which are entering bends a little to fast on occasions and being a little impatient with other road users but who's perfect.
I can't claim to be as observant or lucky as you in the last 33 years having had a couple of speed traps but no cameras. Got done going down hill in a 30mph limit I was doing doing 39mph on a GPZ1100 and again at 88mph on a motorway during the 80's.
Suppose that's not bad when I consider my annual millage was well over 50k in those days.
mmm ... the "faster speed" argument is more of a logical exercise rather than something of practical use to us at the relatively modest speeds that we can travel.
Consider 2 points on a road. You are at one, your objective is to reach the other safely. The question is what is the safest speed to travel.
Conventional wisdom is the slower you go, the safer you are - largely based on the "logic" that if you don't move you are safe.
This is deeply flawed - firstly because if you don't move you don't meet your objective of reaching your destination and secondly because the slower you go the longer you take to get there - therefore there is more chance that something else will come along and hit you - just because the longer you are out there, the more time there is at which you are at risk.
So, slower is not safer and stopped doesn't ever meet the objective of reaching the destination.
So, is there a speed that is absolutely safe AND meets the objective of getting from point A to point B. Well, in theory, there is. If you were able to travel infinitely fast and, before you started, the road was clear, you would reach the destination at the moment you left the start point and nothing could get in your way. You would be perfectly safe. (let's ignore the problems of accelerating, decelerating or traveling infinitely fast).
Now if we slow down a shade, there is a tiny chance that our clear road will no longer be clear and the risk increases marginally but is still very low. Reduce a bit more and the probability of contact increases further.
etc etc.
So there you go ... the faster you go the less your chance of something going wrong.
Of course, as with the "slower is better" argument of conventional wisdom, my "faster is safer" argument is an unrealistic simplification ... but should we ever have the technology to check the road is clear, travel amazingly fast (including corners) without losing control, then faster may be safer. However, handing over control to the (theoretical) technology to enable this would probably be as unsatisfying as crawling along at the speeds the "safety brigade" would have us adopt.
By the way, if anything were to go wrong I do not have a convincing argument that faster produces less severe consequenses. I think that Aladinsaneuk and his medical colleagues stand more chance of putting us back together if we keep the speeds of our impacts to a minimum!
Oh shit !!
Haha - Yes - I was a courier for 1 week .... first job after leaving school.Thumper wrote:That's a nice theory D-rider you ever been a bike courier.I may try that on the next officer that stops me
Didn't work for A-levels, didn't get A-levels, didn't go to Uni for another 5 years!
Had to apply for jobs quickly - got a courier job with a new firm just starting up in Reading (think they may still be going). During my first week with them I was offered a job in a bank. People often refered to me as a complete banker (I think that's what they said) so I chucked in the courier job and was sentenced to 5yrs banking (dull or what) ... before escaping to study as an engineer.
Amazing ... my theory lies in ruins .... now why didn't I think of that !Einstein wrote:Safest speed has got to be whats safest for the road and conditions, whether its 10mph or 80mph.
Quite right Gio but not everyone knows their limits.
There certainly was a time when I was always stretching the throttle certainly had my share of mishaps.
Experience has made me a little more cautious these days.
As a member of the IAM I get the occasional rider course with http://www.rapidtraining.co.uk/e/home.htm always informative and highly entertaining these guys can ride a bit and know their way around some very nice roads.
There certainly was a time when I was always stretching the throttle certainly had my share of mishaps.
Experience has made me a little more cautious these days.
As a member of the IAM I get the occasional rider course with http://www.rapidtraining.co.uk/e/home.htm always informative and highly entertaining these guys can ride a bit and know their way around some very nice roads.
Now you come to mention it http://www.its.leeds.ac.uk/projects/isa/index.htmD-Rider wrote:However, handing over control to the (theoretical) technology
This has also been trailed on a bike.
It gives you warning signals, the seat vibrates
and lights flash if you are going over the speed limit and if you don't slow down it can cut your ignition (part way round a bend! We know how that turns out).
No doubt they will combine the road pricing with this technology.
No more fun for you and me (unless vibrating seats floats your boat?)They still get four years to f**k up our lives before we can oust the blighters!!Aladinsaneuk wrote:hate to point this out folks
BUT
they are our servants - vote the fuckers out! - not just in general elections, but local elections - and if they are public servants, make your elected officials question them - do your research and keep your questions tight - and specify simple answers - yes or no, do not give room for woffle
and for what it is worth, I am standing for local/council elections this may - 'cos i want to make a difference and screw people guided by party doctrine