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Cars and bikes seized during road safety op
7:32pm Friday 9th May 2008
Surrey Police seized 20 motorbikes and two cars as park of a crackdown on law-breaking motorists.
During the operation officers spotted one motorcyclist riding at 102mph in a 50mph zone on the A24 southbound from Leatherhead towards Box Hill.
Despite our warnings however a significant number of bikers failed to have valid insurance or a proper driving licence and as a result their vehicles were seized.
Chief Inspector Stuart Sang
That rider was reported and is due to be summonsed to court.
The operation was carried out over the bank holiday weekend by Surrey Police and the Surrey Safety Camera Partnership which patrolled sites around the county.
In total 112 endorsable fixed penalty notices were issued for offences including speeding, failing to have insurance, failing to have a driving licence, or using a mobile phone.
Of those 91 were issued to car drivers and 21 to bikers.
Chief Inspector Stuart Sang, head of Surrey's Roads Policing Unit, said: "The majority of riders out over the bank holiday were supportive of police activity and travelled safely through the county. In fact it should be noted that more than two thirds of those caught breaking the speed limit were car drivers.
"Despite our warnings however a significant number of bikers failed to have valid insurance or a proper driving licence and as a result their vehicles were seized."
According to Surrey Police despite accounting for just one per cent of road users, around a quarter of those who die each year on Surrey's roads are motorcyclists.
To try and educate bikers about the dangers, officers handed out safety advice at popular motorcycle meeting points including Box Hill and Newlands Corner.
Your Say YourLocal Guardian
Bernie, The Former United Kingdom. says...
11:36pm Fri 9 May 08
With policys like these it's little wonder the government took such a good drubbing the other week.
Disgusting, give us back our traffic police Ms Smith, you given in trying to police the yobs by proxy, have the deceny to admit it was a failure on the roads as well.
Jock, London says...
1:01am Sat 10 May 08
Nightbus, or proper hackney cab for me. Put your life in your hands with any other, just don't complain when something goes wrong, cos you've been warned in a poster campaign.
Shez, Croydon says...
1:14am Sat 10 May 08
This blows that pile of cattle manure out of the water a bit, doesn't it.
Hazel, chessington says...
8:01pm Sat 10 May 08
Bernie, Home of the tax fiddle. says...
10:10pm Sat 10 May 08
Would you prefer for me to call the absence of traffic police officers since speed cameras were set free on the roads 'terrifying' to keep you happy?
The government obviously haven't provided targets or funding to deal with the everyday offences you speak of, thats why nobody is dealing with them and nobody can argue with the self righteous propaganda of the speed camera people because no matter what you can see with your own eyes, they won't accept it as proof that their strategy simply doesn't work.
Also, no politician is going to risk his or her career to stand against this tax making regime all the time this government are in office.
Nothing more than a sub standard solution to a serious problem that happens to save a lot of money on real police as well as pay for itself in fines while doing nothing to catch the hardcore illegal drivers as these crackdowns clearly show.
Gordon Brown, you got your butt kicked a couple of weeks ago, this is one of the reasons why.
Pete, Surbiton says...
10:17am Sun 11 May 08
http://www.betterdri
vingplease.com
That way, we can find out if it's lots of different vehicles, or if it's the same few vehicles over and over again.
Out of the 12,000+ incidents that have been reported so far, only two of them have been in Chessington.
Colin, says...
3:55pm Sun 11 May 08
ase.com, they're far too open to abuse where someone who's fed up with the height of his neighbours hedge could with just a group email to all his buddies and work mates, potentially get someone in a lot of trouble when in reality, that person has done nothing.
It is sad to see this almost vigilante style retribution being allowed to poliferate in the UK, mainly due to the lack of adequate policing since the surveilence nation went a bit mental.
Jock, London says...
11:01am Mon 12 May 08
Colin wrote:Colin, the site is called "BetterDrivingPlease
Personally, I don't approave of sites like www.betterdrivingple ase.com, they're far too open to abuse where someone who's fed up with the height of his neighbours hedge could with just a group email to all his buddies and work mates, potentially get someone in a lot of trouble when in reality, that person has done nothing. It is sad to see this almost vigilante style retribution being allowed to poliferate in the UK, mainly due to the lack of adequate policing since the surveilence nation went a bit mental.
", not "WhyAreYourHedgesSoH
igh".
I'm glad I know about the site now, I've been constantly angered by all sorts of careless drivers in Balham. Now I'm off to photograph my first batch of offenders =)
ric, kingston says...
11:35am Mon 12 May 08
the speed limits are out of date. they were made when you could buy a 3 litre jag that had no brakes.
this day and age cars are safer. they accelerate faster. stop quicker and are safer in a crash.
and if thats wrong. why do they sell bikes and cars that do 180mph?
if they care so much about safety they could just limit everyones car.
they dont care about safety. thats a smoke screen.
dont even get me started on your pathetic little grass people up website. honestly get a life.
G.Virr., Sunbury Common says...
3:06pm Mon 12 May 08
The most important factor in road safety remains the quality of the "nut behind the wheel".
Barnaby Rudge, Cheam says...
3:38pm Mon 12 May 08
Colin, says...
5:00pm Mon 12 May 08
If you couldn't see my point using the hedge to represent any number of things that could annoy someone enough to complain on one of these websites, then I really do despair about the rest of the population and feel sad that I'm actually a member of the same species.
This is a step back into the dark ages and next thing we'll know, we'll have regular witch hunts for anyone who doesn't conform to the view of the very narrow minded.
Jock, without the right equipment you can't possibly know if someone is speeding or not, you can only surmise and thats where you fall down, even with an LTI20:20 like the police use you're more likely to get it wrong than right.
Bad policy, promoting bad feelings in towns and villages across the country where there was none before speed cameras and self righteous do gooders.
However, I agree with Barnaby Rudge and hope most people aren't quite so keen to jump on the bandwagon as Jock is.
Thats the point jock, no amount of cameras can replace a viable traffic police force, as can be shown clearly in the above article.
Colin, says...
5:26pm Mon 12 May 08
In other words, if it's not safe to do 60, then it's 30.
70% ofconvictions in the country would disappear over night if they made it simpler, but then, thats the last thing they want to do, otherwise cameras would suddenly start costing an awful lot of money if there were no fines to support them.
Bernie, Is it dinner time says...
6:19pm Mon 12 May 08
CPO's simply follow government guidelines and if they haven't got targets or funding for road casualty reduction from Westminster, then it simply doesn't get done, there are no targets or funding because the goverment see the number of fines, rub their mitts together in times of financial incompetence like now and kid themselves it must therefore be working.
Speed cameras, supported by easily lead simpletons and bean counters, yes, the same people, who negate on police wages and who're closing post offices, accident and emergency centres across the country, you know them as the labour government.
Don't blame the police, there was a time they were a force that was the envy of the world.
At least the Australians are starting to get a little uncomfortable taking all that money in revenue from it's citizens whilst having no significant effect on casualty reduction, as recent question in their parliament show.
ric, kingston says...
3:27pm Tue 13 May 08
For the last time, at 30mph you had an 80% of killing a pedestrian in the 1950's, the same still applies today
but we're not talking about the speed in which you hit someone. a car these days travelling at 50mph will stop quicker and safer than a 1950's car doing 30mph.
i agree with the 30mph limits in most places but 70mph on a motorway is way to slow. its should be at least 90mph
you want to make the tests harder and re takes when you hit a certain age. get the people who cant drive off the road.
i'd be happy to have harder tests carried out year after year. because i know i wouldnt be someone who would fail it.
i mean whats the point of having any speed limits if the people driving cant actually control their car. they are the people causing the accidents. not the people doing 100mph down the motorway, who happen to be confident drivers.
Bernie, says...
9:44pm Tue 13 May 08
The problem with raising the speed limit to 90 is the desparity between the speed of vehicles travelling at 90 and those around them travelling as low as 50 such as caravans and lorrys.
The argument between the 'pro speed' and 'anti speed' camps, has hindered and blinded everyone to one essential, unavoidable problem on Britains roads today, the question of policing.
Speed cameras are no substitute for qualified police officers, because as soon as the 'apprehension' of a driver potentially behaving in an illegal fashion was removed, the safety of our roads began to deteriorate, right now on our roads there is an epedemic of illegal driving which, as can be seen in the story above, is leaving those of us using the road legally in serious danger, this isn't going to change until both the pro speed and the pro camera people get over their pathetic little argument and wake up to the bigger picture.
Prosecuting an OAP at 35 is not making the roads safer when that same camera isn't catching the bloke on the bike at 102.
It is an absurd policy and needs to be reviewed at top level by men wise enough not to be tempted by the revenue.
ric, kingston says...
9:34am Wed 14 May 08
im sorry but thats the biggest loads of b*llocks i have ever read on this website.
so now your saying that all accidents are down to speeding. rubbish. none come from anyone else? rubbish.
most accidents are down to hesitation. thats something that comes from drivers who are not confident.
confident drivers speed because driving for them is easy. un confident drivers spend to much time concetrating of things like changing gear. instead of looking at the road and in there mirrors.
you dont get any experienced police drivers who pass there advanced driving courses for being timid and hesitant. no the best police force drivers are confident ones.
doing 102 mph on a superbike isnt as bad as it sounds. its just over 50% of its top speed. a speed that was passed by UK governements as 'safe' to sell to the public.
you give someone power. they will use it.
Bernie, says...
3:31pm Wed 14 May 08
The only thing that matters to me is that easily avoided speed cameras are inadequate to the task they're being deployed for. We need more police on the road to stop people like ric who thinks it's not as bad as it seems to drive at 102mph, when all the speed camera people can do is regularly catch people less than a couple of miles an hour over an arbitrary limit.
95% of all people caught speeding by camera are less than 10mph over that limit, while it is only the few remaining police on the roads during crackdowns like these who catch the actual dangerous drivers who flout the law and ignore other peoples safety.
Speed cameras are a license for people like ric to drive like an idiot and convince himself its alright. It's a bit like getting heavy on someone who drops an apple core, while leaving the murderers and rapists to get on with it because they're not as easy to catch.
Pete, Surbiton says...
6:45am Thu 15 May 08
Colin wrote:That's the reason why BetterDrivingPlease.
Personally, I don't approave of sites like www.betterdrivingple
ase.com, they're far too open to abuse where someone who's fed up with the height of his neighbours hedge could with just a group email to all his buddies and work mates, potentially get someone in a lot of trouble when in reality, that person has done nothing.
It is sad to see this almost vigilante style retribution being allowed to poliferate in the UK, mainly due to the lack of adequate policing since the surveilence nation went a bit mental.
com allows drivers to defend themselves, by making comments on any reports made against their own registration numbers.
BetterDrivingPlease.
com absolutely isn't indended to be a replacement for policing; it's intended to complement it. An entry in the database by itself is absolutely not enough evidence to charge or convict someone with a traffic offence. So what's the problem?
If the occasional fruitcake comes along and uses the site to moan about a neighbour dispute, it really doesn't matter. As long as your driving is clean, you've got nothing to worry about.
But despite that, it's still useful for the individual members of the public to know whether or not they're the only person who is unhappy about the driving safety of a particular vehicle registration, or other people have noticed the same problem. And it's also useful for the police and the authorities to know where they should be concentrating their resources.
Sam, says...
7:09am Sat 17 May 08
Mickey, England says...
10:19pm Sat 17 May 08
Authorities there have admitted catching drivers using them is virtually impossible unless there is a police unit right behind the car and the officer see's it change, because they're very difficult to spot as fake even if held in the hand.
Made from a material similar to those computer screens that can be rolled up like a sheet of paper and powered by a rechargable battery
as slim as a mobile phones, they can be recharged from the cigarette lighter using a wireless device like used in electric toothbrushes or razors.
Operated by a remote control the size of a keyring or immobiliser, they can be changed at will to any predesignated number.
A similar idea to the earlier, bulkier 'Priva Plate' already avaiable in this country, although far more difficult to spot, they apparently sell for $170 although it wasn't mentioned if anyone was supplying them.
Your sayYourLocal Guardian
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Bernie, The Road to Hell says...
11:26pm Fri 9 May 08
It's sad to see road safety has declined so baddly over the last ten or so years and the law held in such obvious contempt leaving the rest of us law abiding citizen in such obvious danger when all thats left on the street is a handful of aging speed cameras and these officers are draughted off to another country for a similar couple of day crackdown elsewhere.
Alistair Darling has a lot to answer for when he signed us up to the speed camera program.