Yesterday about 13:00, as I decended the hill ( from London) into Oxford I was met by a barage of flashing lights from the vehicles approaching me.
It is so so easy to overspeed so I ensured I was within the 30 limit.
There was indeed a police Transit type van at the bottom of the hill with its familiar twin windows in the rear.
Am I right to assume that ANPR vans do not double up as speed recorders?
I did not see any backup vehicles or any of the lads around so what would the van be there for ?
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Was it an ANPR van or a speed camera van?
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>> Was it an ANPR van or a speed camera van?
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I had assumed it was an ANPR van by its appearance but with no apparent back up around I am now thinking it might well have been a speed camera van.
Having seen it once I will ensure the anchors are out on future trips as I will be back to Oxford for quite a lot of visits in the next couple of years.
I suspect just as many cyclists are over the 30 :-(
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Those drivers flashing their lights to warn you of whatever it was were taking a risk.
A driver who did that was prosecuted for obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty.
The driver was convicted by magistrates, but predictably enough, the case was kicked around a few other courts on appeal.
I'm not certain of the outcome, but I believe it came down in favour of the police.
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Well, I always flashed my lights to warn car drivers as well as any other road user, as well as giving them the 'thumbs down' sign.
It's a risk I'm happy to take.
Pat
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>> Well, I always flashed my lights to warn car drivers as well as any other
>> road user, as well as giving them the 'thumbs down' sign.
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>> It's a risk I'm happy to take.
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>> Pat
And me,
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If you went to court waving a copy of the Highway Code and were adamant that you were following the advice on using a headlamp flash to warn another motorist of your presence surely they would have a hard job getting a conviction?
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You'd get a job at your favourite paper iffy.
How about:
"30 million drivers do this and have never been prosecuted, one was".
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..."30 million drivers do this and have never been prosecuted, one was"...
All that proves is the clear-up rate for low level crime is tiny.
You could say much the same about criminal damage, shop theft, speeding and lots of other minor offences.
Just ask yourself this question: 'Do I want to be the second person to be prosecuted?'
Bear in mind obstruct PC is a proper criminal offence.
The penalty might be weedy, but it does give you a criminal record.
Which is something a young man wanting to make his way honestly in this world could do without.
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Is a speed camera van there to catch and prosecute drivers, or to ensure drivers slow down?
Which would society prefer?
I think the second, and thereby by flashing, I am assisting the police in this function.
Am I also preventing crime?
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A few months ago several oncoming drivers flashed me in these circumstances.
I was leaving a built-up area and one of the flashes could have caused an accident.
The flashing driver was approaching a T-junction to his left.
Predictably, the guy waiting to emerge from the junction thought the flash aimed at me was aimed at him.
I thought the same, although the oncoming driver looked to be going too fast to give way.
There was no collision that time, only confusion, but it illustrates how a flash can be misinterpreted.
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The country (or this bit of it) is so well covered by ANPR cameras I am surprised there is any need for widespread ANPR van use. Many of the traffic lights on main roads have them fitted and there are also some fitted on dedicated poles, (not Eastern European ones). I treat all vans of that type as speed traps.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 16 Jun 11 at 18:00
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>> The penalty might be weedy, but it does give you a criminal record.
>> Which is something a young man wanting to make his way honestly in this world could do without.
Tosh really iffy. No sane person would really want a career that could be jeopardised by a trivial little offence like that.
I am happy to join Pat and Zero in their unexpected love-fest on this one. But then having a criminal record for laughable little offences holds no fears for me. I've been technically 'known to police' for 50 years now. A right toerag.
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...Tosh really iffy...
More and more jobs are Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checked.
Most insurances ask if anyone to be covered has a criminal record.
Many voluntary positions are CRB checked.
If you are arrested for anything else - including drink driving which you seem to regard as trivial - your guilty skeleton will fall out of the cupboard.
Go through life in the ordinary way, and you will be asked several times if you have a criminal record.
Whatever the ultimate consequences, the answer no one wants to hear is: "Yes, but it was only..."
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I have a spent criminal conviction, didn't stop me passing MOD security clearance,
CRB checks are used to check the nature of any offences, not the presence or not of any (unless of course you dont disclose them, then it becomes a problem when you get found out)
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>> Tosh really iffy. No sane person would really want a career that could be jeopardised
>> by a trivial little offence like that.
A bit sweeping.
It's fatuous of course, but millions of people can no longer do their jobs unless they have a CRB check - Mrs Dugong for one, and my son as a voluntary St John first aider as another. I'm not sure how or if a minor offence like that could affect a career, but having seen some of the idiocy that now abounds I wouldn't want to have it on my, or at least on my children's, record.
I've been asked a couple of times, that I can recall, to declare any criminal convictions. One was to become an "approved person" under FSA rules (which, thankfully, I no longer am), the other connected with pension trusteeship. Whether obstructing a policeman in catching speeders would have caused any problems with those I have no idea, but I'm not going out of my way to test it.
I'd take a chance on warning somebody about a speed trap though. Unless they were really caning it, in which case they'd have to take their chance.
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1) There was a little bit more to that case than met the eye. The driver who was prosecuted for flashing to warn others, IIRC, stopped and got into an argument with the officer operating the camera van. He didn't do himself any favours, that was for sure, and got his just desserts.
2) After passing a speed camera van, I will flash oncoming vocational drivers (in vans, lorries, taxis, learner cars etc) if the camera van is located in one of those catch-all spots where the natural driving speed on that road might be a few mph over the limit. Part of the purpose of those vans is to deter regular users of a route from taking a chance and breaking the limit deliberately - I reckon it's not fair to penalise drivers who aren't familiar with the road by nicking them for being a few mph over. I only flash working drivers because people who rely on their licence for work have more to lose, and besides I are one.
3) ANPR vans and speed camera vans have the cameras mounted in different places. If they're not signwritten with their purpose, the differences are: A camera van usually has two large black windows in the "normal" rear window positions; whereas an ANPR van will generally have hinged flaps at the top of the doors so the cameras can look down at an angle, giving better contrast to the pictures.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Thu 16 Jun 11 at 18:50
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Being a bit of a motoring racist I only flash bikes...:-)
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I was singled out by an old-fashioned, hand held device the other day. There was nothing else on the road. The BIB said "11 MPH" as I cycled past.
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Flashed cos ANPR van is ahead. - Zero
