http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Speed guns at dawn en Thu, 21 May 2026 18:21:29 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=4#post-65634 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:31:17 +0000 splitshift 65634@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>damn ,I really wasnt wanting to get into this thread. Many years ago, studying for my mechatronics course at college, myself and a few others were working on an ISA type thingy. It is incredibly easy to fit to all vehicles, many are electronically governed anyway,and back in the very early nineties no one had sat nav , or gps. BUT most cars had RDS radios, where by they automatically tuned to the local traffic news. network was in existance then, its even better now,inductive looping in the road already exists, special limits,. Higher, OR lower could be implemented, ( accident ahead etc !)but we were given absolutely no help, from either car manufacturers, or the goverment who just replied that speed limits were not for engineering students to meddle with !( ok not in as many words !)<br /> Road safety is important, we all know this but hey money from speeders is even more important !If any goverment is serious about reducing speed on our roads all they need is big cahoonas ! The technology already exists, just not the willpower !One of our students who did a presentations on spring steel dynamics, now works( or did !) for Lotus cars, so we were being listened to !<br /> scott </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=4#post-65629 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:56:23 +0000 slowcoach 65629@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) is a system in which vehicles are fitted with a digital map which contains details of the various speed limits. A global positioning system compares the vehicle’s position with the speed limit applicable on the road. An on-board computer then takes the appropriate action depending on the category of system that is being used."<br /> <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/274654/0082190.pdf">Scottish Government's Road Safety Framework</a></p> <p>The Scottish Government is committed to "Promote the voluntary use of Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA).<br /> • Consider a pilot in Scotland to test out the effectiveness of voluntary ISA in road safety." between 2011 and 2014.<br /> (I wrote this before seeing the 2 above posts - This isn't saying our wonderful government do have the political will , even to promote voluntary ISA) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=4#post-65628 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:54:32 +0000 Uberuce 65628@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>True. I hadn't thought to consider that when a conspiracy gets big enough, it gets called democracy...</p> <p>Someone invent Helios for real and give us a JC Denton, g'wan. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=4#post-65627 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:49:34 +0000 Smudge 65627@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I don't think it's a conspiracy, I think the politicians simply lack the courage, and don't see any voted in it (well certainly not many gained and possibly lots lost :-(</p> <p>70mph speed limiters are fitted to many fleet vehicles now, satnavs "know" the majority of speed limits, most modern cars are electronically controlled and it would not be difficult to use an output from gps to restrict the maximum available speed for a given location.</p> <p>The tech is here, there is just no will to impose it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=4#post-65618 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:12:54 +0000 Uberuce 65618@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>My conspiracy spidersense is tingling...</p> <p>It tells me that right now some very expensive lobbyists and some very old school ties are being employed by the GPS industry to make sure that no government gets the insanely sane idea of tying their products to the accelerator pedal. They know that it'd be the end of their industry. #damningindictment. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=4#post-65613 Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:52:16 +0000 ExcitableBoy 65613@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>""I'd like to see it done more covertly, catch all those people doing 55mph in a 30mph."</p> <p>I'd like to see it done overtly. Have people not driving at 55mph in a 30mph..."</p> <p>I don't think I explained myself very well as usual and you may well be right. However, in being overt with hi-viz jackets, the speeding driver sees you from afar and slows down to &lt;30mph, passes you and speeds back up again. I'm sure we've all seen this happen. To have any affect you'd have to be on most roads 24/7. By being covert you could catch those that are speeding more effectively and get a truer picture of how much speeding is actually occuring.</p> <p>Ideally all cars would have a gadget that restricted their top speed to that of the limit of the road. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65472 Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:10:38 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 65472@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<em>I'd like to see it done more covertly, catch all those people doing 55mph in a 30mph.</em>"</p> <p>I'd like to see it done overtly. Have people not driving at 55mph in a 30mph... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65406 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:45:36 +0000 chdot 65406@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<br /> Fife Police (@FifePolice)</p> <p>4/10/12 11:46 AM</p> <p>Volunteers in #Dunfermline are giving up their time to help make roads in West Fife safer with Community Speed Watch.</p> <p><a href="http://bit.ly/HwkaMk" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/HwkaMk</a></p> <p>" </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65394 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:42:57 +0000 chdot 65394@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Ooh there must be an election coming...</p> <p>But Gordon is right - things like this really shouldn't be 'party' political - especially if it/similar has worked elsewhere with cross-party support. </p> <p>I can't quite see all 'concerned citizens' being issued with speed guns, but it would be nice to have a reliable mechanism to report things and have the confidence that the police would take them seriously. </p> <p>Issues that often get raised on this forum include too close passing - it would be useful (for the police) to know if there were serial offenders - and bad junctions/roundabouts, useful to have some stats before there's an 'accident'. </p> <p>It's <em>very</em> good that the EN is prepared to back this. It's a long held belief that the paper usually gets 'outraged' when motorists are disadvantaged. </p> <p>Things <em>can</em> change - Times campaign, new EN editor, <a href="http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5833">PoP</a>? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65392 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:22:53 +0000 ExcitableBoy 65392@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm not sure I fully understand the goal behind this community speed gun initiative.<br /> Is it to act as a deterent to drivers speeding or to get better data on where, when and whom?<br /> Whenever you see the police doing this it is remarkable how obvious it is that everybody is driving more slowly, having seen their hi-viz jackets from a distance. I'd like to see it done more covertly, catch all those people doing 55mph in a 30mph. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65391 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:42:11 +0000 GordonMackenzie 65391@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The Evening News editorial supports the proposal. </p> <p>"This scheme gives people the tools to act. If it is carefully managed and organised the outcomes can be positive for all."</p> <p><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/opinion/this-scheme-gives-people-tools-to-act-1-2234843" rel="nofollow">http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/opinion/this-scheme-gives-people-tools-to-act-1-2234843</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65390 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:27:50 +0000 GordonMackenzie 65390@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The comments in the press from most of the other politicians were unsurprising - we are after all in an election period. Contrast this with the support of those very same parties for similar schemes elsewhere in the country. For example, </p> <p>Southampton Conservatives 2012 manifesto, 'We continue to support the Community SpeedWatch initiative to help reduce speeding traffic in the city.' or </p> <p>Portsmouth Labour Party, "Portsmouth Labour Promotes Community Speedwatch". </p> <p>If you are looking for examples closer to home look at what's happening in Fife, where the SNP are the largest political group and run the Council, with the Lib Dems, "the Community Speed Watch partnership provides another valuable approach towards educating and detecting offending drivers' declares the Fife Council website.</p> <p>The truth is this idea has been working well across the UK for years; helping to reduce speed, educate drivers, target repeat offenders and make the roads safer. Surely that's something on which all parties should unite as has happened in Devon where all parties Lib Dems, Conservatives, Greens and Labour have backed it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65382 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:20:14 +0000 chdot 65382@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"Jim Eadie, SNP MSP for Edinburgh Southern, criticised the community speed watch proposal, included in the Liberal Democrat manifesto for next month’s council elections, as “half-baked”."</p> <p><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/transport/safety-fears-over-speed-patrol-volunteer-scheme-1-2234570" rel="nofollow">http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/transport/safety-fears-over-speed-patrol-volunteer-scheme-1-2234570</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65330 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:31:09 +0000 Roibeard 65330@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Dragging us back on topic.. yep, unlike me, I know! In my defence, I've been out cycling and missed the thread!</p> <p>Anyway, the police in Edinburgh already take this tack according to their FAQs - civilians monitor this sort of thing, report back to the police, they send out a letter, then if it's a repeat offender, send round officers to speak in person (but no fines, prosecutions).</p> <p>The only difference is that currently that use civilians employed by the police (community support, or whatever the name is in Edinburgh).</p> <p>All that's being proposed is extending this to volunteers.</p> <p>All to the good, given the anarchy out there, and the lack of police resources (or prioritisation of "more important" things).</p> <p>Oddly enough, there are no comments at the moment on the article, and no ability to comment!</p> <p>Robert </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65329 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:24:14 +0000 Uberuce 65329@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I was musing on the idea of using some of my technically-now-begun fortnight of half days to take snaps of people who've driven into ASL's on the red. Not to send them to the polis, but just for...well, to put the wind up them for some socially conscious trolling, really. Not big or hard or clever, but possibly funny.</p> <p>As said in the article, the mere sight of Person in Hi-Viz donkey jacket holding a radar gun will slow motorists down. Might be an idea to get some scarecrows in order? Must be plenty of knackered fluoro jackets and borked hairdryers kicking around.</p> <p>Freewhwheeling, perhaps it would help us understand you if you listed the uses of motorised transport that you agree with, if any? And is your name Nick? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65325 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:24:46 +0000 minus six 65325@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>We'll make them walk to the re-education camps, that's a given. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65324 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:16:50 +0000 stiltskin 65324@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Come the Revolution don't think their age will save them from the wrath of the cycling proletariat. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65323 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:14:28 +0000 minus six 65323@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm all for it, this community speed gun initiative. </p> <p>Miscreant road users *should* be made to feel that their actions are unacceptably anti-social or downright dangerous, and finally ordinary people do have some power in the face of the typical impunity of the road abusers actions.</p> <p>I appreciate the analogy with state informants but it doesn't bear any serious comparison, when you consider how dodgy our roads currently are. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65322 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:09:23 +0000 Instography 65322@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>PoP, yep I'll turn up im my BMW 4x4 with a bike rack, unload the bike ,ride the demo, then load the bike back onto the rack ! as if !!! :0((((</em></p> <p>Well, it's a Vauxhall Zafira actually, but apart from that minor detail, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Me, partner and two weans, three bikes and a trailer. Perhaps I should make those kids ride the 15 miles to Edinburgh to save us from colluding with the car-centric society for the day. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65321 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:05:21 +0000 Smudge 65321@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@winpig, depends if you consider "sound" to be the movement of air, or the electrical impulses caused when thatair movement causes your eardrum to move surely? :-) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65320 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:02:32 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 65320@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It really is a nice deterrent idea. Some of the EEN commenters haven't really got the point when they say the civvies won't be able to issue fines so what's the point. It WILL slow people down. That, straight away, is a benefit (especially when the police have said they won't enforce 20mph zones). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65319 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 17:01:12 +0000 Smudge 65319@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Really it's just a formalisation of people reporting to the Police any criminal activity they see. The Police then take whatever action they feel appropriate based on the reliability or otherwise of the report combined with their own observation/investigation.</p> <p>@freewheelin, no one is mocking you, or certainly no harder than we mock ourselves(!) You've popped up with a pretty extreme viewpoint, taken pops at a fair few people on here (who mostly cycle on a daily basis) and now appear to assume that we all move our bikes around on 4x4's!? I honestly started to wonder if you are another of incandescent's glove puppets trying to generate some anti-car hatred!<br /> It is simply crazy to take the view that *all* car users are somehow evil and anyone who ever uses a car is not a "proper" cyclist. Life is simply not that black and white! However, all that said, come in, enjoy, please do attend PoP if you can, and maybe, just maybe you'll find we're not as bad as you appear to imagine. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65318 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:57:09 +0000 SRD 65318@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>'hazardous parking at schools' I'm there! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65316 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:35:55 +0000 GordonMackenzie 65316@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Delighted to see so much enthusiasm for the idea! Sadly, for some of you, there would be an assessment of volunteers suitability which kind of rules out the vigilante approach - as explained to the journalist.</p> <p>Seriously, this sort of initiative is working elsewhere but in Edinburgh it wouldn't just be aimed at speeding. We envisage it being used to tackle other road safety problems such as identifying drivers who don't respect the Advanced Stop Boxes, hazardous parking at schools and RLJing by drivers (and cyclists). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65315 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:35:51 +0000 wingpig 65315@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Do people no longer do that thing where they lurk on a forum for a while before posting to get the feel of it? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65314 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:34:52 +0000 Stepdoh 65314@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Anth, don't make me go all preachy on you. I've done it once today and still feel a little *dirty*.</p> <p>Oh, sorry I meant *dorty* </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65313 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:32:42 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 65313@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Argh! Missed Nelly's hug! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65312 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:30:05 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 65312@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<em>... just don't sit there in a huff and bitch about what everyone else isn't doing, join in</em>"</p> <p>Join in with the bitchin'?</p> <p>"<em>I would have though someone who was a cyclist in the UK and Newcastle fan was by definition an optimist...</em>"</p> <p>Beaten out of me by successive false dawns (on both counts). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65311 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:28:03 +0000 minus six 65311@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>LOL </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6102&page=3#post-65310 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:23:17 +0000 Stepdoh 65310@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>You put your out group in, your in group out,<br /> In out, in out, shake it all about<br /> You ride down Friedrichstraße and you turn around,<br /> That's what it's all about, hei</p> <p>It's good to ride in copenhagen,<br /> It's good to ride in amsterda-am,<br /> It's not so good in auld reeky<br /> Potholes, mad cabs, ra ra ra. </p>