Hi, off on the annual hols to Dorset in a few weeks time, traveling on the M62 from West Yorks onto the M60 then the M6 and so to the M5, where are the speed cameras on these roads?
I found Marks bit on MORE SPECS on the M6 junction 6 & 7 but couldn't find the original thread that started that one off. Going very early to miss traffic and get up a good pace so knowing where all the points of interest are will be good news.
Thanks in advance,
Bill
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Not that I want to be seen to be aiding and abeting (?) a speeding motorist but I know of only 1 on that stretch and it is on the M5 as you approach the Avonmouth bridge downhill from the Cribbs Causeway juntion (RAC Control Centre).
However, I assume you will be coming off the M5 at the Glastonbury junction and then onto Shepton Mallet to pick up the A303 to Yeovil then Dorchester? Loads of cameras here - too numerous to mention I'm afraid but then these roads (long, flat & straight across the Somerset Levels are *very* dangerous and the cameras justifiable)
Quiet, wide motorways are another matter.......
I await the speed/no-speed arguements with(out) baited breath.
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Guy - you're wrong I'm afraid! The camera on the downhill section of the M5 towards the Avon Bridge has gone - I'm sure. Gone to the Gatso Graveyard due to overwork. I whizzed down past there yesterday at great speed and made a concious look for the offending camera and saw nothing there. We are talking about the camera that goes off ALL the time near to the blue tubular metal railway bridge that was lifted into place recently??
Bill, be careful where Guy mentions - these roads are fast & very dangerous and there are PLENTY of cameras, both of the fixed & mobile varieties - Avon & Somerset Constabulary are actively generating their revenue from unsuspecting holidaymakers!!
Rgds
David
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I am off to Wells in 2 weeks time to visit my father. Are there lots of nasties along that route? (coming from manchester).
Many Thanks
Jonathan
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It all depends on where you "come-off"
The Bristol catchment area is so full of cameras it is beyond belief.
Where Dave L and I live we are on the border twixt Avon/Somerset and Devon/Cornwall and I can only name 2 cameras within 10 miles.
The route you would take from Bristol to Wells is dangerous in holiday season due to "grockels" driving too fast with Caravans and is laden with Cameras. If there is a speed limit then you can guarantee there will be a camera. From Taunton to Glastonbury across the Levels there must be at least 6 cameras.
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Guy
I will have to check the maps. I don't know the best route, probably M6, M5 and then guesswork.
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Hi Jon see my reply to Bill.
After the M5 it depends which way you go. If you go via the ring road at Bath M6/M5/M4 there are 2 cameras each side on the ring road as it goes up or down the big hill depending on your direction of travel.
As ever
Mark
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When I went "whizzing" through there the other day I saw it and I hadn't been on a 3-day beer, birds and bacon sandwich bender in Blackpool the night before.
OK?
As Dave says, Bill, go easy on the Levels, those roads are deceptively long, flat and straight but those ditches are oh so deep and smelly.
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I always flash oncoming cars to warn of an iminent speedtrap/police presence. A frenzied flashing of the headlamps with the thumbs down seems to get the message across. I have been spared the wrath of plod due to other people warning me.
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The only Gatso I have seen on the Bristol strech of the M5 recently was just after the very big bridge going south just before Gordano services and it was working.
Mark
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Hi Bill
I travel these roads regularly the information below is up to date within the last day for the M62 and M60, the M6 info is 3 days old and the M5 to about the last 5 days.
M62 Haven't seen any Between M1 and M62 but there is usually a Jam sandwich with a couple of burger scoffing plod in it somewhere on the M1 link (the new bit between the A1M and Leeds. There used to be a camera just past Hartshead services westbound but I didnt notice it recently.
Its then usually clear to Manchester and M60 apart from mobile plod in unmarked or marked mobile feeding stations.
M62 only has poles for SPECS between J10 and J8 those they might be fitted up by the time you go but if you are going onto M6 you should turn off before these. M6 is Cheshire is v.difficult because, as plod has totally eliminated all other types of crime in Cheshire they hang around the M6 junctions like flies round a turd.
On the M6 going south after leaving M62 you will start to see blue signs announcing Plod Speed Check area. Up to about J21 on M6 and down to J18 this usually means plod and a camera hiding on a bridge, most days of the week there is one somewhere on or just off M6 on the other Mways. The van will be in the bushes and lately they have stopped wearing yellow bibs they also try to position themselves behind one of the new type of information signals. Southbound to J19 M6 look out and throw them a doughnut if you spot one. You then hit the first of the M6 SPECs. These are between J19 and J18 each side and there are 4 of them on each side. Careful, 50 through here and dont speed up to you pass the 4th one even though by then you will be through the works. There are lots of Gatso Markings around here but no Gatsos as these related to early works. (The Gatsos are now up at J22/J23 and plod reckons they have caught 3000 plus "offenders" here).
Going south on M6 there are only marked or unmarked cars, of late these are a 5 series BMW and a Volvo usually near Stoke J15.
The next M6 Specs are between J7 and J6 but you will join the M5 at J8 I expect and I have not seen anything on the M5 until Bristol as Guy mentioned. However the usual vigilence for solitary figures lurking on bridges or unmarked cars strewn with dunking donut boxes are the main thing to look for plus in the summer the airborne plod in a helicopter. There are lots of Gatso markings between J1 and J4 on M5 but these largely relate to old roadworks, I haven't seen anything flash here for a while.
If you have kids you could always play "I Spy Plod" with a suitable food related reward for each one seen.
Safe journey
Mark
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What does a SPEC look like? I've never seen one.
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If you type speedtraps into your search engine one of the first sites listed should be the speedtrap bible on Yahoo Geocities. This is an excellent site as has photographs of SPECs as well as every speed device that Plod are legally allowed to use assuming they can understand which way to hold it.
Also lots of tips on dealing with Plod, what they can and cannot do.
As ever
Mark
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Re
"as plod has totally eliminated all other types of crime in Cheshire "
what humour... I suppose the fact there are many car parks in even posh wilmslow and surrounds where you can just about guarantee having a half decent car stereo nicked doesnt count...
or the fights outside the pubs where the policy seems to be to let them get on with it...
ha ha
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Not Humour but Irony any decent dictonary will help you understand the distinction.
Having been the victim of a car break in within Cheshire, I can confirm that as far as plod are concerned it does'nt count as a crime except for statisical purposes, rapid response took two days to occur and was given "well I expect they are long gone by now, low chances over ever finding it etc, here's your crime number for insurance purposes"
You comment about pub fights illustrates the point quite nicely as they are "allowed to get on with" surely this escalates the level and scale of the offence occuring, not my definition of law enforcement or crime prevention.
The point I think I was trying to make (amongst others) was that as far as I can see more effort goes into indentifying and prosecuting speeding motorists than goes into dealing with the types of crime you mention.
I suppose this will now start a debate on what is a "real crime", or "my crime was more serious than yours"
as ever
Mark
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Are you suggesting that the police now let pub fights proceed whereas previously they did not? Methinks theres been no change in tactics since year dot on that one.
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Yea but when the laws were originally written there was some level of discretion expected from coppers
In the same way that just by standing in your local high street you can get done for obstruction (by the letter of the law its a crime, the queen may want to walk on that bit of highway and you are obstructing her!) marginal speeding offences were never really originally meant to be pursued...
Obstruction is nowadays used as a catch all arrestable offence by coppers who feel pretty certain you?ve done something but need to nick you to get to the bottom of what?s going on (sorry but ANYBODY can get arrested like this...) and if they prosecute you WILL be found guilty because you can hardly tell the court you weren?t standing on the pavement...
But the public expect police forces to be managed in the best way possible, and most people I know would rather their son was saved from a savage beating outside a pub than resources get spent pursuing otherwise model citizens for very minor speeding in safe conditions...
And to all the old dears who have never driven anywhere, just think what it would be like if people were prosecuted in the same numbers for obstruction? (It?s against the law and the law is the law, no matter if it?s an ass)
Rubbish it?s not the law that?s an Ass it?s the senior management of out police forces (and the political correctness of the mandarins pulling the strings)?
The roads are very dangerous, but simplifying the approach down to ?speed kills? is just plain idiot level propaganda, so many more complex issues need resolving?
Please start pursuing people who drive too close to the car in front?
Please start improving the appalling standards of police driving skills
Please start acting with common sense, get some high mileage drivers in a room for a few days and ask their opinion?
Speed cameras and their deployment have nothing to do with public safety?
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As I understand it there is no offence of obstruction ie. just standing on the pavement.
Definition of obstruction is on the lines of being in a position such that a person/vehicle cannot pass normally over a particular stretch of pavement or road.
Therefore for example an overhanging piece of scaffolding could be causing an obstruction.
The specific offence is causing an *unnecessary* obstruction. Which is in your own hands I suggest.
Now you could be talking about obstructing the officer in the course of their duty which is a different kettle of fish. Providing you answer questions truthfully in a reasonable manner and don't escalate any aggressive attitudes then I don't see what you can be arrested for. Bear in mind I am talking about actually arrested as opposed to "I would like you to accompany me down to the police station" to put it into polite English.
If you are not arrested then you do not have to go anywhere, and if you *are* arrested (unless you are detained by a Factory Inspector, but thats another thing altogether) then a total new ball game starts, which gives you very powerful rights also. Then if you argue and get the you are resisting arrest approach, don't resist, offer to go quietly but insist that first you must be actually arrested and demand to know why. Providing you really have done nothing wrong you'll be left alone IMHO.
Having said all that like any organisation, particularly in the younger end, there are a few complete a***holes out there.
Appalling behaviour is everywhere.
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nope you are occupying space on the queens highway, therefore you are causing an obstruction... ask ester ranson
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Having looked it up in the Beano Book of the Law (1962) I can clarify.
There are several offences of obstruction.
Unnecessary Obstruction is when some pillock blocks the road with his car preventing access etc. Plod can move your car away or he can give you a fixed penalty ticket. This offence is not commited by blocking a road/pavment with your person it relates to vehicles.
Obstructing the Highway is quite an old offence can be caused by a vehicle, person or other objects (e.g. those shopkeepers who see the pavement outside their shop as a natural extension to their sales floor. You can be nicked for this if you don't move. Ask any prof. protester.
Obstructing an Officer in the execution of his duty, can be a physical obstruction
to resist arrest of another or when a druggie swallows his "blow" or when you flash oncoming cars to warn them about a speed trap etc.
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I think you will find Esther Rantzen did not move after being asked politely to do so *several times* and she continued to argue the toss, hence *unnecessary* obstruction. She could have removed herself as asked, therefore no offence would have been committed.
Its a fine point of law, that I guess we are not going to agree on, I suggest we leave it there.
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