Smaug.org.uk
Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership's hidden speed trap cash collector
Here is what I witnessed in Newport, Isle of Wight, today (23 Feb 2005).
A police officer is operating a hidden speed trap, behind a bush outside St Mary's Hospital. This placement is blatantly in breach of the UK's Camera Partnership guidelines which state that for the operation to receive funding from fines collected, the cameras must always be highly visible.
Here is the view as you approach from behind:
(Notice you can just about make out his yellow jacket through the bush if you look very closely. Maybe this is the 'high visibility' element they claim is always there?)
Here's the view from over the road as you come round to the other side of the bush:
And here he is letting some local residents have a play with the carefully calibrated equipment:
And here's a short video clip of him targeting every single vehicle, with no prior opinion of speed (shame I couldn't store more video). Camera operators are not allowed to just zap every vehicle and write down the speed, they must corroborate the reading from the camera with an opinion that the vehicle is travelling at an excess speed, as laser and radar speed measuring devices are not 100% reliable. All fixed speed cameras must have a secondary method of checking the speed built in too.This officer is relying entirely on the reading from his laser, which could result in innocent people being prosecuted.
This camera location makes a mockery of Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership's stated policy from its web site. Check out the 'myths' section: they specifically state as a fact that no cameras are behind bushes!
Please spread the word of this shoddy deception, which reveals the whole UK Safety Camera program as a money making scam, dependant on lies and propaganda.
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