Originb2

[Guest]

I've recently purchased an Originb2 for my Boxster; it seemed the only thing I could do was to fight electronic snooping and "Big Brother" law enforcement with electronic counter-measures! The biggest problem that we face is the long-range laser detectors mounted in "Scamera" vans. By the time you have figured out what is happening , you've been trapped!

My main reason for buying an Originb2 was to use its "Blackspot" warning facility, which I took to mean "those sites where the police or their "Agents" regularly use such speed detectors. However my initial use of the device seems to indicate a large discrepancy between where "I know" these speed vans operate (eg A14 in Cambridgeshire) and the lack of warning from the Originb2 at what are presumably "Blackspots"?

I have tried asking the manufacturers of the Originb2, but they seem to be being deliberately obtuse.

Can anyone on the Forum confirm their use of the term "Blackspot"; also when putting in user "Danger" points should I enter the position as close as possible to the actual detection site or at some point in advance?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Mark Davies]

David,

I have a 'Road Angel' which also has a 'blackspot' facility. However this refers to what have been determined as accident blackspots and not places where mobile speed traps may be located.

I dont know how 'Road Angel' determine what is an accident blackspot but I dont think they or any other manafacturer would have access to information about where mobile speed traps are setup. I would imagine the local police force would keep this info close to their chest.

This is unlike the location of Gatso's which I believe is formally communicated each time a new one is setup, either by the local council or police force. I guess that all the GPS Speed trap detectors store this info on their databases.

Rgds

Mark

 

[Andrew Killington]

David
if it's like the road angel you can add areas/sites which are prone to "safety partnership" vans/cameras to give you advance warning. you can also visit the safetypartnership website to find where they will be on any particular day but it only gives you the road (not much help for the A14 I'm afraid!)
Andrew

 

[JCB..]

The biggest problem that we face is the long-range laser detectors mounted in "Scamera" vans. By the time you have figured out what is happening , you've been trapped!

The big white signs with black letters saying "Mobile Speed Cameras" or "Mobile Enforcement Cameras" should give you a heads up..

If you can't spot something the size of a white Transit and think "Aah I'd better slow down" then maybe you should just slow down anyway.

Whilst I go and put on my asbestos suit this is of course just MHO!

JCB..[&:][&:]

 

[Guest]

Road Angle again - Sorry

 

[Guest]

If only it were that easy! First of all they're not all white; secondly they don't have advance warning signs; thirdly they aren't necessarily above your traffic lane; fourthly they can work at such a long distance that by the time you've spotted them , they've already spotted you. They have a habit of sighting them round bends and on the second of a pair of bridges. It takes us back to the early days of motoring! Nowadays, we cannot use the AA, so electronic counter-measures are becoming a necessity.

By the way I'm not in the habit of driving around at ridiculous speeds; it just takes the pleasure out of driving when you know that a slight acceleration can lose you your licence.

It must be great being a perfect driver as well as a "Moderator"!

 

[Guest]

It must be great being a perfect driver

It certainly is !

And isn't it nice of me to carry on talking to you 'less than perfect' drivers.

 

[Booman]

have to agree with jcb on this one guys, if the white signs and vans aint enuf, the 30/40/60 or whatever speeds signs, should already have had you easing off the loud pedal anyway.

it has been mooted on this forum before, the best detectors on the planet are your eyes and whats behind them, take note of what they tell you, react accordingly, and you wont go far wrong.

 

[944Turbo]

I have seen burgandy vans, vans with side doors open obscuring the markings, vans with rear doors open and therfore no markings, vans over the opposite lane hidden by a bridge, An unmarked people carrier with the boot open and the operator standing on the other side of the bridge with a laser gun, A van hidden behind a hedge with a mobile gatso on a tripod on the other side of a dual carriageway.
Speed traps late at night on A-roads _did this use to happen?

Camera partnerships play dirty - they rely on the fines to support their jobs. They will target roads where speed in excess of the limit is safe.
My area Dorset, the website claims what a great success, the flawed figures (which ignore regression to the mean etc. so should be good) show cameras are a complete failure in Dorset. For example 3 years prior to camera 0 KSI 6 months after camera 2KSI.
They are lying cheating scum.

If you travel regularly outside of your local known routes you have to be very carefull and alert without countermeasures.

Tony

 

[Mark Davies]

I didnt realise that this fourm was blessed with such god like and wise figures as John and Glenn.

They of course never ever ever ever go over 30 in a 30 mph limit.

Unfortunately without their Jedi like skills I managed to attain 37mph in a 30mph limit and of course received my due penalty from the 'force'.

I found this surprising as I thought I had been at one with the 'force' for the past 23 years without falling foul of the dark side at all.

However John and Glenn are on a obviously on a different level to us mere stupid people who get a ticket every 23 years.

Seriously guys get with whats happening out there.

To be quite honest I found your comments on the subject insulting in a major way. It is upsetting enough getting points for the first time in 23 years without some idiot saying you should have seen the signs. I have seen the bloody signs for 23 years, but we all make mistakes.

Grow up


Very, very, very pissed of Mark of Berskhire

 

[JCB..]

It must be great being a perfect driver as well as a "Moderator"!

I never claim to be perfect at anything!

JCB..[]

 

[JCB..]

Unfortunately without their Jedi like skills I managed to attain 37mph in a 30mph limit and of course received my due penalty from the 'force'.

Mark

Just keep digging that hole 37 MPH in a 30 MPH zone!

For the record I think that in general the cameras suck. However I don't have a problem with them outside of schools and in urban areas.

I would be telling porkies if I said that I have never exceeded a 30MPH limit but then I have been driving for over 30 years. However if there is one limit I do my upmost to adhere to it is the 30MPH one.

Am I mistaken in thinking that there is a legal requirement to display signs for any speed enforcement device?

and finally....

Whilst I go and put on my asbestos suit

This was a little hint that my post was just a little tongue in cheek which is a sort of grown up way of saying don't take things too seriously.[8D]

Chill

JCB..

 

[Brian Halling]

I use a Road Pilot and it has earned its cost many times over for me. When in unfamiliar territory it is easy to be unaware of a speed limit, especially temporary ones. However, the Road Pilot warns of a 30 mph limit for every variable limit camera, which can make progress round the M25 somewhat tedious.

But as a good friend once remarked to me "Forty years without a ticket - that's not good driving, that's good luck!".

 

[Mark Davies]

I would be telling porkies if I said that I have never exceeded a 30MPH.

Surely not! What with all those speed limit signs and your obviously vast powers of observation and concentration. How could such an error of judgement happen?

 

[thboxster]

Am I mistaken in thinking that there is a legal requirement to display signs for any speed enforcement device?

I was under this impression. But there have been occasions when people suggest the contrary. I've looked through details of the road traffic act but could not find anything. This was the 1998 act so it might explain why.

Of course if the information is published then we could legaly know our rights. That would give us an unfair advantage surely[]

 

[thboxster]

Oh well, I guess I didn't look hard enough last time.

"32. - (1) The sign shown in diagram 878 or 879 may be placed only in an area or along a route where enforcement cameras are from time to time in use.

(2) The sign shown in diagram 880 may be placed only -

(a) on or near a road on which there is provided a system of carriageway lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than 183 metres apart in England and Wales or 185 metres apart in Scotland and which is subject to a speed limit of 30 mph; and

(b) not more than one kilometre from a site at which an enforcement camera has been installed and is from time to time in use, and

not more than one such sign may be so placed on each approach to that site."

Link to sign images --> http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/02311395.gif

Of course it doesn't say that there actualy has to be a sign, only that a sign has to use these guidlines.

 

[Guest]

Having been caught by a mobile camera unit a while ago, I spent sometime trying to find what is the legal position with notification signs. I can't remember where I read it but I believe signs are only required where the camera is fixed (e.g. gatso) or where the police will site a mobile camera unit twice in a two month period.

So, if the revenue earners decide to set up on a stretch of road near you & the lampposts are less than 183 metres apart, you'd better be doing 30 because they'll probably be no warning signs!!

It's also worth bearing in mind that different Police forces have differing views on how visible their vans need to be. I travel a bit with my job, and the chaps from South Yorkshire are getting really quite sweet with how "unmarked" their vans are - a very pale thin line down the side of the van with no writing at all. They don't even have to open the side door of the van as they have nice smoked windows in, or they have slots cut above the rear doors for the lenses to stick out.

Fair enough if this were outside a school or a accident blackspot, but in the main I see these over motorway bridges & slip roads, and these buggers can zap you whilst you're still around a MILE away!!

....But then again, none of us would do 80 in the outside motorway lane, would we ? []

 

[Guest]

For all us "sinners", here's a site which is worth looking at if to get more informed about all things speeding [].

Justice for the motorist

 

[Guest]

Further to my earlier posts; I have just fitted the OriginB2 to my other car...BMW325i 01Reg. I was interested to discover that the analogue speedometer was accurate to within 1-2mph, certainly up to 80mph! I haven't yet had the opportunity to check it at higher speeds. It means that at 30mph the car's speedometer is accurate to within the width of the needle on the dial.....you can't ask for better than that. If BMW can treat us like adults then why can't Porsche?

 

[Guest]

183 metres apart in England and Wales or 185 metres apart in Scotland

I am really impressed with the fact that distances are different in different countries, and that they are in metric units. We have yet to have 'official' metric distance units in this country; I have no problem with using metric or imperial, but just how far, visually, is 183 metres ?

I have never used an electronic camera detecting device, and I do sometimes exceed the limit (to be honest, it is difficult not to sometimes, as I don't want to spend all my time looking at the speedo (which, in itself, is partially obscured by the wheel - another story)) but so far have never been flashed by any form of camera (no NIP, anyway). OK, I tell a lie, I was flashed by a traffic light camera, whilst waiting for the light to change from red - I was stopped at the time, as were all the other cars around me.

I guess that I have been partly lucky, partly observant, partly I don't tend to use roads with mobile speed cameras, partly because the world is flat.

The whole camera scheme is bad, anyway; perhaps we should all move to Co. Durham, where the chief constable has said that they are a bad idea, because they don't solve the main problem, ie. the rising KSI numbers.