Why does it take so long to clear Motorway incidents?

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Kankerot said:
I am sure this grates most people the now regular motorway incidents and then delays. Is it a shortage of motorway police stretched too far or simply a malaise of a system where there is no incentive to clear the issue as fast as possible.

I have seen the police in the US manage accidents and they seem to be so more pragmatic. One example is a broken down coach in the middle lane. The officers parked their car behind the coach set up flairs about 50 yards further back and let traffic filter around the coach.

In the UK we would have closed the whole motorway and then waited 2 hours until the recovery truck could arrive.
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We value lives more the the yanks, just look at their road fatalities, their cavalier attitude to road safety even gets their police killed.
 
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No one takes the Guardian seriously either, but the DM article was the second one I found (and you know how Wannabe loves it when you give him things to trash) and just put a different slant on the BBCs storey.
 
I do think £35 is rather high, yes. It is largely automated. It probably is successful at reducing speeding, far more than a fixed penalty, which most people consider bad luck. It would be nice if the course focused on driver improvement over speed awareness. I've sat in on one or two and they are definitely designed to get people thinking. But sadly there is too much PR for the camera partnership in the content.

There is no question in my mind that it's a source of revenue. The courts are full to max so I don't think they are under cutting them, but the victim support fund is a loser as that money is lost via the corse option.

At then of the day anyone can design an outfit to be not for profit, just look at all PPP finance scams of the 90s. I bet if you look at their books there will be excessive consulting fees and other things.

But the glaring issue is the huge conflict of interest the police have by having their snout in the trough.
 
motorbiking said:
But the glaring issue is the huge conflict of interest the police have by having their snout in the trough.
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Be honest, MB, would you rather the revenue from the fixed penalty went into the government's bank account, or the revenue from the drivers awareness courses helped to reduce the budget reductions imposed on the police?
 
motorbiking said:
It probably is successful at reducing speeding, far more than a fixed penalty
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If that's true, and it costs the offending motorist less than a fine, what is the mail and Doggitt whingeing about?

The guilty drivers have benefitted through paying less

the rest of us have benefitted through a reduction of traffic offences making our roads safer

the amount of money passed to the police is intended to match their average cost.

Moan, moan, moan.

Is it because traffic offences are the sort of things that all DM readers and Doggitt might be guilty of, so they think there should be no penalty?
 
The original article I read, said that it was ACPO that set up the speed awareness centres; and they were hiring the staff, and raking in the profits. Whether things got a little bit cleaner after that, I don't know, but if ACPO themselves could set up such a system, set up the schools, rake in the profits, and manage to take away some of the revenue that went to the government, then that shows they had a lot of power and influence.
 
Doggit said:
Well I suppose it's the only way he knows how to reply; not everyone is capabale of debating. But I suppose if I was a left wing Guardian reader, I'd agree with everything he posted, and then there'd be no need to discuss anything. I suppose then we'd just need an "agree with" button instead of thanks or like.

But the truth about Wannabe, is that he's a bully, pure and simple, nothing more, and nothing less.
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wannabe way har bee. what he knows about the subject could be written on a postage stamp with a 6 inch brush :) sits around on his **** end all day

whilst his missis go's out to work, blimey a mongolian goat herders goat has got more upstairs then way har bee.

he probably lives in a Bungalow suits him tbh like him not a lot upstairs :LOL: :LOL:

(porkie pier & a fantasist as well)

edit ,tbh I dunno why he does not like me ??????????

:LOL:
 
wannabeDIY said:
Be honest, MB, would you rather the revenue from the fixed penalty went into the government's bank account, or the revenue from the drivers awareness courses helped to reduce the budget reductions imposed on the police?
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There is clearly a structure in place to encourage police forces to enforce speeding in areas where there is lots of speeding, in order to increase their income. The fact that it gets spent on admin to avoid profiteering from speed enforcement, suggests its not being effectively spent. This model is only marginally better than the pyramid funding of speed cameras we saw in the early 0ties. Fine money could only be spent on cameras, cameras raised more fine money, resulting in more cameras, money, cameras, money. etc Meanwhile casualty stats really didn't change much at all.

JohnD said:
If that's true, and it costs the offending motorist less than a fine, what is the mail and Doggitt whingeing about?

The guilty drivers have benefitted through paying less

the rest of us have benefitted through a reduction of traffic offences making our roads safer
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Don't be fooled in to making a link between reduction of speeding and improved road safety. Its really inappropriate speed which is the issue and speed enforcement wont target that all the time there is a focus on income generation. I'm sure everyone can think of dozens of roads that have had speed limits slashed from 70 -> 50 and sometimes 40 or 30, then a few months later seen a sneaky van tucked behind a bridge or hedge.
 
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motorbiking said:
sneaky van
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Do you mean it's not fair that the law should be upheld, it's more sporting that people should have a good chance of getting away with it?

In the same way that some people don't approve of sneaky security cameras spotting shoplifters and burglars, and contactless cards give the person who steals your wallet the chance to buy a few things with it.

Just a game, right?
 
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I don't see a connection at all. You have to examine the policies fairly closely to spot the changes. Speed limits used to be set according to the 85th%ile (a policy set in 1991 I recall). If the 85th%ile was below the speed limit it was a candidate for reduction. If it was above the speed limit and casualties were low - it questions the speed limit (occasionally they were raised). In other words if only a small minority (15%) were driving above the limit it suggested (based on the theory of crowd intelligence) that most people chose a safe speed, below the limit.

In the 0ties the policy was changed to avg (50th%ile), partly to hit environmental and more recently social engineering targets (encourage walking and cycling) - here 50% were driving above the limit. Using the same theories 35% are speeding safely. The limit would then be reduced, irrelevant of casualty stats. If the 50%ile dropped again inline with the new limit, it was a candidate for further reduction. Hence dual carriage ways going from 70 - 60 - 50 and sometimes 40 in a matter of 5 or 6 years.

Fundamentally nothing had changed about the road when it had a 60 or 70mph limit. Do 58mph and your legal, drop the limit to 50 and your not.

Theft on the other hand is not a crime conducted by anything close to 15% of the population, let alone 35%. There have been a few studies on casualties from normal speeding drivers. Normal meaning otherwise law abiding people, not drunk, drugged, uninsured or on the run. Btw I drive fairly slowly and don't consider myself to be a particularly good driver, despite holding plenty of certificates (mostly now expired) to the contrary.
 
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