[qa15ar]

Guys sign this e-petition if you agree

Repurpose Motorway Speed Camera Gantries To Avoid Fatal Accidents

Responsible department: Department for Transport


We believe that "speed camera gantries" which advise of temporary speed limit changes on motorways are causing accidents, which we believe will eventually include fatalities.

Drivers instinctively (and understandably) brake hard when they see the new speed limit advised if they believe that they are at risk of a speeding ticket.

This causes high potential for rear end collisions and multi vehicle pile-ups.

We would like the Government to debate:

1) Removing speed cameras from temporary speed limit gantries on motorways in the UK;

2) Repurposing the gantries to advise of incidents (e.g. "Crash in lane 1 ahead, move to outside lanes"), so that drivers take the appropriate action instead of braking hard to avoid a speeding ticket.

Whether the speed cameras are active on the gantries is irrelevant. The threat of a speeding ticket (whether real or imagined) is resulting in this understandable driving behaviour which is putting lives at risk.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/peti...3c453f803bf6a0

[xenon]

They'll never fall for that bollocks.

[mob17]

Done.

Hate these stupid pointless cameras!

[AWBimmer]

Done

[Kerr]

Wouldn't it be better to start a petition to make the driving test 100x harder to stop these people getting on the road?

It's not the cameras or speed limits causing the crashes.

[simmo1985]

lol, while we are at it, lets start one on traffic lights. Forever seeing people brake hard at those! Lets not forget zebra crossings too! damn nuisance!

Can't help but think this ridiculous petition was started by some irate motorist who got caught speeding by one.

These gantries for variable speed limits are in place for numerous reasons which i thought were common sense.

To help the flow of traffic and avoid "Phantom" jams by gradually slowing the limit on the approach to the jam. If they didn't unsuspecting drivers approach at 70mph+ with no warning. Which also tend to cause rear enders and pile ups! At least these slow the traffic gradually! There also used to slow traffic gradually when arriving at a genuine incident instead of arriving at 70mph+ into the back of a stationary vehicle because you weren't slowed earlier and had no warning.
Yes they are enforced by camera's which is the main gripe, but at the end of the day if they weren't would people even slow down? I doubt it! Therefore they must be enforced so people actually slow down. And gradually as they often reduce in increments! Plus most of the time you can see them a mile off so anyone who slams on brakes due to them no doubt would have been the person smashing into the back of a stationary jam if the gantries weren't there or enforced!!
Yes they make money off people who push their luck. So be it, its no-ones fault but their own.

Also if you go into the back of someone its pretty much always because your too close or allowed your closing speed to become too great for the distance between yourself and car infront if they slam their brakes,on even when at a good distance this can happen, and has happened to me.

[Waspo]

Originally Posted by simmo1985

lol, while we are at it, lets start one on traffic lights. Forever seeing people brake hard at those! Lets not forget zebra crossings too! damn nuisance!

Can't help but think this ridiculous petition was started by some irate motorist who got caught speeding by one.

These gantries for variable speed limits are in place for numerous reasons which i thought were common sense.

To help the flow of traffic and avoid "Phantom" jams by gradually slowing the limit on the approach to the jam. If they didn't unsuspecting drivers approach at 70mph+ with no warning. Which also tend to cause rear enders and pile ups! At least these slow the traffic gradually! There also used to slow traffic gradually when arriving at a genuine incident instead of arriving at 70mph+ into the back of a stationary vehicle because you weren't slowed earlier and had no warning.
Yes they are enforced by camera's which is the main gripe, but at the end of the day if they weren't would people even slow down? I doubt it! Therefore they must be enforced so people actually slow down. And gradually as they often reduce in increments! Plus most of the time you can see them a mile off so anyone who slams on brakes due to them no doubt would have been the person smashing into the back of a stationary jam if the gantries weren't there or enforced!!
Yes they make money off people who push their luck. So be it, its no-ones fault but their own.

Also if you go into the back of someone its pretty much always because your too close or allowed your closing speed to become too great for the distance between yourself and car infront if they slam their brakes on even when at a good distance this can happen, and has happened to me.

Sorry OP, but i am with Simmo on this one. Ludicrous petition!

[Billyray911]

Originally Posted by Kerr

Wouldn't it be better to start a petition to make the driving test 100x harder to stop these people getting on the road?

It's not the cameras or speed limits causing the crashes.

Unfortunately OP,I totally agree with this.There are too many people nowadays that look to blame someone else for their own shortcomings.
Managed motorways and gantry cameras appear to be the flavour of the month and do seem to have a place in alleviating some of our traffic flow issues.
Don't get me wrong,they aren't a perfect solution,but as long as "we" wind our necks in and slow down when we need to,peace and harmony will be prevail!

[kayfaz]

Originally Posted by simmo1985

lol, while we are at it, lets start one on traffic lights. Forever seeing people brake hard at those! Lets not forget zebra crossings too! damn nuisance!

Can't help but think this ridiculous petition was started by some irate motorist who got caught speeding by one.

These gantries for variable speed limits are in place for numerous reasons which i thought were common sense.

To help the flow of traffic and avoid "Phantom" jams by gradually slowing the limit on the approach to the jam. If they didn't unsuspecting drivers approach at 70mph+ with no warning. Which also tend to cause rear enders and pile ups! At least these slow the traffic gradually! There also used to slow traffic gradually when arriving at a genuine incident instead of arriving at 70mph+ into the back of a stationary vehicle because you weren't slowed earlier and had no warning.
Yes they are enforced by camera's which is the main gripe, but at the end of the day if they weren't would people even slow down? I doubt it! Therefore they must be enforced so people actually slow down. And gradually as they often reduce in increments! Plus most of the time you can see them a mile off so anyone who slams on brakes due to them no doubt would have been the person smashing into the back of a stationary jam if the gantries weren't there or enforced!!
Yes they make money off people who push their luck. So be it, its no-ones fault but their own.

Also if you go into the back of someone its pretty much always because your too close or allowed your closing speed to become too great for the distance between yourself and car infront if they slam their brakes,on even when at a good distance this can happen, and has happened to me.

As much as I hate speed cameras and restrictions, I totally agree with you there

[mob17]

What i dont get is you're cruising at 70 in the middle of the night and all of a sudden 40mph shows. Yes 40 on a bloody motorway in the middle of the night. No traffic, motorway is clear with no roadworks. Not so much afraid of being rear ended but more of annoyance at driving at 40mph with empty motorways!

[simmo1985]

Originally Posted by mob17

What i dont get is you're cruising at 70 in the middle of the night and all of a sudden 40mph shows. Yes 40 on a bloody motorway in the middle of the night. No traffic, motorway is clear with no roadworks. Not so much afraid of being rear ended but more of annoyance at driving at 40mph with empty motorways!

I agree, it can be a little annoying trundling along at those speeds with no obvious reason as to why. But it doesn't annoy me as much as the good old "phantom" traffic jam where on occasion I've come to a crawl for no good reason.

I'm no gatso fan but personally think these types of gantrys do more good than harm.

[AWSAWS]

Originally Posted by Kerr

Wouldn't it be better to start a petition to make the driving test 100x harder to stop these people getting on the road?

It's not the cameras or speed limits causing the crashes.

Agreed!

[AWSAWS]

The one's in the 30, 40 and 50 zones where people stare at their speedo needle for a good 100 yards without any focus on what's around them are just as bad!

Many drivers in a small space...

[mob17]

Originally Posted by simmo1985

I agree, it can be a little annoying trundling along at those speeds with no obvious reason as to why. But it doesn't annoy me as much as the good old "phantom" traffic jam where on occasion I've come to a crawl for no good reason.

I'm no gatso fan but personally think these types of gantrys do more good than harm.

Yeah i hate traffic jams!

I actually agree with the concept of these gantries but at the moment, in their early stage, they just do not work. It needs to be more responsive to live traffic. I.e if the motorways are empty then set at 70mph. If traffic jam up ahead then 50 or whatever. I just feel the gantries don't monitor the system well and set silly limits.

The German traffic management model is more accurate.

[mob17]

Originally Posted by AWSAWS

The one's in the 30, 40 and 50 zones where people stare at their speedo needle for a good 100 yards without any focus on what's around them are just as bad!

Many drivers in a small space...

Yeah there are silly drivers everywhere lol.

[mob17]

Also i feel we are being slowly manipulated into having auto speed cameras everywhere and eventually banning driving apart from these stupid google auto cars. But hopefully thats a long time.

[djgandy]

These gantries are stupid when operating variable speed for traffic reasons. Their intent is in the right place, but in practice they are poorly operated (read government operated).

They biggest issue I find on a daily basis is the lack sudden drop of speed between gantries. They can only work at a high level of traffic management, not micromanagement of each car yet you can have a 30 mph speed drop within 300m. That is not managing traffic, that is just flashing some numbers and having everyone slam brakes on. This is what OP is talking about.

They also do not open the speed limits up again soon enough. The reason for traffic on the M25 every day is complete bottleneck when 3 roads join one. But they keep these stupid things going, limiting speed even when you have navigated past that bottleneck and finally reached the wider part of the motorway which is completely empty.

Then there is my favourite use of them, the 50 20 50 lane split. Even though all lanes are doing basically the same speed, suddenly force another lane to go slower and make everyone do crazy moves into the next lane to avoid speeding tickets or the guy who has actually slowed to 20.

Overall these things are just a distraction when speed limiting. It's rare I am just sat perfectly the speed they indicate through their own doing. Mostly I am doing 5 in a 40 coming up to a junction, or 50 in a 50 when all the traffic has merged and there would no longer any traffic influx ahead of me.

They do have their uses though. They can shut lanes or a whole motorway. And the traffic info is sometimes useful.

[Waspo]

Originally Posted by djgandy

These gantries are stupid when operating variable speed for traffic reasons. Their intent is in the right place, but in practice they are poorly operated (read government operated).

They biggest issue I find on a daily basis is the lack sudden drop of speed between gantries. They can only work at a high level of traffic management, not micromanagement of each car yet you can have a 30 mph speed drop within 300m. That is not managing traffic, that is just flashing some numbers and having everyone slam brakes on. This is what OP is talking about.

They also do not open the speed limits up again soon enough. The reason for traffic on the M25 every day is complete bottleneck when 3 roads join one. But they keep these stupid things going, limiting speed even when you have navigated past that bottleneck and finally reached the wider part of the motorway which is completely empty.

Then there is my favourite use of them, the 50 20 50 lane split. Even though all lanes are doing basically the same speed, suddenly force another lane to go slower and make everyone do crazy moves into the next lane to avoid speeding tickets or the guy who has actually slowed to 20.

Overall these things are just a distraction when speed limiting. It's rare I am just sat perfectly the speed they indicate through their own doing. Mostly I am doing 5 in a 40 coming up to a junction, or 50 in a 50 when all the traffic has merged and there would no longer any traffic influx ahead of me.

They do have their uses though. They can shut lanes or a whole motorway. And the traffic info is sometimes useful.

So am i right in reading that you think the gantries are a good idea, just the operators are Tw&ts ?

Good point if so!

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by Waspo

So am i right in reading that you think the gantries are a good idea, just the operators are Tw&ts ?

Good point if so!

The principal behind them is sound, in most cases. But I really doubt they have the technology to operate them to achieve a real difference. This is the gov. we are talking about here. They are probably just hooked up to some old computer from 1995.

TBH 90% of the time they are in use it is for rush hour. There is very little you can do about rush hour traffic except have attaching bumpers that make cars form a huge long train, or heaven forbid, widen/make more roads.

[qa15ar]

Originally Posted by djgandy

These gantries are stupid when operating variable speed for traffic reasons. Their intent is in the right place, but in practice they are poorly operated (read government operated).

They biggest issue I find on a daily basis is the lack sudden drop of speed between gantries. They can only work at a high level of traffic management, not micromanagement of each car yet you can have a 30 mph speed drop within 300m. That is not managing traffic, that is just flashing some numbers and having everyone slam brakes on. This is what OP is talking about.

They also do not open the speed limits up again soon enough. The reason for traffic on the M25 every day is complete bottleneck when 3 roads join one. But they keep these stupid things going, limiting speed even when you have navigated past that bottleneck and finally reached the wider part of the motorway which is completely empty.

Then there is my favourite use of them, the 50 20 50 lane split. Even though all lanes are doing basically the same speed, suddenly force another lane to go slower and make everyone do crazy moves into the next lane to avoid speeding tickets or the guy who has actually slowed to 20.

Overall these things are just a distraction when speed limiting. It's rare I am just sat perfectly the speed they indicate through their own doing. Mostly I am doing 5 in a 40 coming up to a junction, or 50 in a 50 when all the traffic has merged and there would no longer any traffic influx ahead of me.

They do have their uses though. They can shut lanes or a whole motorway. And the traffic info is sometimes useful.

Hit the nail on the head.....

[Ao1]

I think they are a farce and nowhere near sophisticated enough to make a scrap of difference. 9 times out of 10 they slow traffic down unnecessarily.
I drive in Germany quite often. The roads are infinitely better. Smooth and not full of potholes or lorry ruts. Cars pull over on the motorway rather than hog lanes.
If the speed you drive at is such a big safety issue why are 4.3 road fatalities per 1 billion vehicle km driven in the UK vs 4.9 in Germany. In the USA the speed limit is typically 55 mph and there are 7.6 fatalities per 1 billion vehicles km.
It's all about driving safely for the road conditions not how fast you drive.