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Average speed cameras on the A127 start work at end of January
8:00am Friday 2nd January 2009 in News By Adam Gaudry
The new average speed cameras east of the Rayleigh Weir on the A127
MOTORISTS on the A127 will soon be driving through Essex’s first permanent average speed camera zone.
At the end of January, new average speed cameras will be turned on in a bid to reduce accidents and the subsequent traffic jams.
The cameras have been placed along a 6.2-mile stretch of the road, on both the east and westbound carriageways, between the Nevendon interchange, at Basildon, and Southend.
The current 70mph limit will remain between Nevendon and the Dick Turpin pub.
At the Dick Turpin pub, the road will become a 50mph zone and will remain so for 3.8 miles past Rayleigh Weir and up to the 40mph speed limit at the Southend borough boundary.
FULL REPORT IN FRIDAY'S ECHO
Comments(34)
Techno
says...
8:12am Fri 2 Jan 09
SARFENDMAN
says...
9:14am Fri 2 Jan 09
The anti-brigade wont be happy but the evidence will be in statistics a year on.
Partyboy2
says...
9:19am Fri 2 Jan 09
Techno wrote:Average speed camera's work by timing you between the camera's so you cannot speed up in between or you will be caught.
Good news though I dont see any need for delay. Hopefully the average speed can be calculated over the different sets of cameras as well, so the village idiots are not tempted to speed up in between the sets.
bumper
says...
9:54am Fri 2 Jan 09
should put them on all roads i say .
speeding kills ZzzzzzoooooM snap! flash got you.
evilc
says...
9:59am Fri 2 Jan 09
Where is the so called 'road improvements' the widening of the carriageway which will also make the road safer after all this 'A127 cart track' is the only double road leading into a town of in excess of 150,000 people!!
The next step WILL be per mile billing and recording our every movement.
Good??
I do not think so, the majority yet again must pay for the mindless minority!!
And most of that mindless minority do not even bother to vote either!!!
Techno
says...
10:00am Fri 2 Jan 09
Techno
says...
10:10am Fri 2 Jan 09
NOTORIOUS
says...
10:59am Fri 2 Jan 09
spose we could always ''remove'' our front number plates
the.transporter
says...
11:12am Fri 2 Jan 09
Techno
says...
11:17am Fri 2 Jan 09
The only thing that will stop stupid drivers is to take their licence away.
the.transporter
says...
11:30am Fri 2 Jan 09
and if drivers are that stupid take the licence away is not going to stop them is it...?
Techno
says...
12:22pm Fri 2 Jan 09
The law isnt the problem. It's getting the police and judiciary to enforce them that is the problem.
the.transporter
says...
12:34pm Fri 2 Jan 09
andywg
says...
12:48pm Fri 2 Jan 09
I can't help but feel that regression to mean will be ignored and the cameras/lower limit will be declared a success.
However, since I have witnessed twice now on the A127 cars overtaking between the two lanes and cutting between traffic like a race I would prefer police patrolled and observed the road more often rather than leaving the policing of the roads to single issue cameras.
On the speed kills statement, a 2006 study found that exceeding the speed limit was said to be a factor in 12% of fatal road accidents and 5% of all road accidents. I wonder exactly what methods the government is taking to deal with the cause of the other 88% of fatal accidents? Also note that it is only a factor in 12% of accidents, that doesn't even mean it was the actual cause.
the.transporter
says...
12:49pm Fri 2 Jan 09
Doubt it,
PJR
says...
1:36pm Fri 2 Jan 09
And yes, cameras solve just one problem of dangerous driving. They don't take away tailgating, cutting up, lane hogging, dangerous vehicles, un-insured drivers, unlicenced drivers...
We need more traffic police on the roads.
Techno
says...
3:04pm Fri 2 Jan 09
thelonewhinger
says...
4:51pm Fri 2 Jan 09
Nebs
says...
5:46pm Fri 2 Jan 09
And as they measure average speed, does that mean that if we are stuck in a jam at 10mph, then it will be OK to do 90mph to the next camera and still not get a ticket?
junk
says...
5:56pm Fri 2 Jan 09
The main question is whether Essex Police will bother chasing down an uninsured car on the A127 as that will mean them having to put out more patrols in the area. Lets hope so.
Of course the criminals will simply avoid the A127 and go via the A13
Ivanna Goodhump
says...
5:58pm Fri 2 Jan 09
If there has to be any speed reduction then the technology exists to have a variable speed limit system that only operates during peak traffic flows.
Quite why there is any need to reduce speed limits outside of the rush hours is beyond me and just shows the small minded pettyness and lack of thought that pervades Essex County Council.
As for the cretins who think that these cameras will help remove untaxed/uninsured cars - what complete nonsense. The camera's just recored the vehicle passing - it's up to the traffic Police to apprehend the vehicle and there are hardly any traffic Police these days. Also, if a car is uninsured it's often not registered to an address either so cannot be traced.
Dream on you supporters.
thelonewhinger
says...
6:02pm Fri 2 Jan 09
Yes and the plates lead back to those of us who correctly register our details with DVLA.
Serious flaw is that the sort of offender the police say they wish to catch think little of such petty details (cloned cars, fake plates, bogus foreign registration etc.). The "magic" cameras are only as good as the info on the database. They will not physically stop the offence or catch the offender.
Speaking as one of the victims of these cameras who had 3 months of aggro and expense proving that my vehicle was being driven lawfully in the first place I have some experience of just how limited their effectiveness is.
Techno
says...
6:26pm Fri 2 Jan 09
http://tinyurl.com/6
ujf9y
State of the Art technology helps fight crime
PROFESSIONAL criminals at the centre of a worldwide credit card scam were caught in Stevenage thanks to hi-tech equipment recently introduced in Hertfordshire.
“This is just one of the huge success stories from the sophisticated Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and I have no doubt that we will have many more examples like this in Hertfordshire very soon,” said Detective Inspector Greg Cooper who is leading the use of ANPR in the Eastern Area.
Driving crime off the county’s roads, detecting criminals and specifically targeting crime hotspots are the main advantages of the ANPR, which works by scanning literally every vehicle registration that passes in front of it and checking them against information stored in several databases, including the Police National Computer.
This identifies vehicles of interest to the police, such as stolen cars or those involved in crimes. When a suspicious vehicle is recognised it can be the focus of targeted interception and enquiries.
“The equipment showed that a vehicle was being used by credit card fraudsters and was stopped by officers,” said Greg. “The car contained two men who had ten credit cards in their possession, some of which were unsigned. Further enquiries revealed that deceptions had already been committed locally but it soon became clear that we were dealing with professional criminals who were at the centre of worldwide credit card fraud approaching half a million pounds. They were linked to a sophisticated network for obtaining credit card numbers and manufacturing cards,” said Greg. Two men are currently awaiting trial at Crown Court.
“Just think, would that car have been stopped if it were not for ANPR?” said Greg.
“Officers working as dedicated ANPR intercept teams can arrest ten times as many offenders as other officers, according to recent national statistics.”
To date several ANPR operations have been run in all Areas under Operation Grip (Eastern) and Operations Raceway and Reabsorb (Central), with most activity in the Eastern area over the past few months.
Greg said: “These successful operations clearly show the potential this technology has to drive down crime and detect travelling criminals, making our streets safer. If we deny criminals the use of the road then we will be better able to enforce the law, prevent crime and detect offenders.”
The sophisticated cameras can be fitted to marked and unmarked cars and the Constabulary also has a dedicated ANPR vehicle, known as a spectrum van. “The technology brings many crime fighting benefits and has a knock on effect in increasing levels of intelligence, a positive effect on road safety and brings reassurance to the community with high visibility police operations,” said Greg.
The Force has recently been successful in an application to expand ANPR and join the national Project Laser. This project, which forces had to bid to join, intends to expand the use of ANPR in a wide variety of policing environments, including linking to CCTV control rooms. The new project is being piloted in the Eastern Area, and specifically Stevenage. As part of the second phase of the scheme, a dedicated ANPR unit of seven officers has been set up.
Greg said: “ANPR is now a significant weapon in our proactive armoury in Hertfordshire and is set to revolutionise policing.”
Paul Abraham Manager for Project Laser added: “The Constabulary intends to exploit the use of ANPR technology to reduce crime and disorder by detecting offenders. To support the technology, we will increase staff and resources dedicated to ANPR interception teams and use the technology through all delivery systems.”
David T
says...
8:03pm Fri 2 Jan 09
Techno
says...
8:28pm Fri 2 Jan 09
evilc
says...
9:14am Sat 3 Jan 09
the.transporter wrote:You must be joking this Government who promised in a blaze of publicity less Police Paperwork, have actually increased paperwork.
I wonder if they will ever release the results on how many are caught speeding and how far over the limit they are..
Doubt it,
Now police Officer's must record how long they spend in the Loo and how much paperwork they USE in the Loo!!
You name it there is a statistic for it!!
Bosniavet
says...
3:44pm Sat 3 Jan 09
What is needed is police patrols on the roads like there used to be, I can remember when there was always a police vehicle at the start of Southend on the A127. We also need more policing in general, look at the number of people breaking the law by riding on the pavements (The other day, I was told by a youth that by law he had to ride his bicycle on the pavementy as he had no lights, & that he had been told of this legal requirement by his employers, a major car parts dealer based on the site of a former cinema in Westcliff, pretty scary if true!)& jumping read lights when they feel like it.
These cameras & the lowered speed limit will do nothing for road safety, but will merely make driving on the A127 even more of a miserable experience. scrap the cameras & put the police back on the roads (& the beat)
Francis Grubb
says...
7:54pm Sat 3 Jan 09
Bosniavet wrote:Spot on, esp. last paragraph.
The only thing these cameras & the lowering of the speed limit will do is create revenue. The ANPR systems do not seem to be used for catching uninsured, untaxed or stolen vehicles, as evidenced by the large number of such velicles that drive round London on a daily basis where ANPR is used to enforce the congestion charge.
What is needed is police patrols on the roads like there used to be, I can remember when there was always a police vehicle at the start of Southend on the A127. We also need more policing in general, look at the number of people breaking the law by riding on the pavements (The other day, I was told by a youth that by law he had to ride his bicycle on the pavementy as he had no lights, & that he had been told of this legal requirement by his employers, a major car parts dealer based on the site of a former cinema in Westcliff, pretty scary if true!)& jumping read lights when they feel like it.
These cameras & the lowered speed limit will do nothing for road safety, but will merely make driving on the A127 even more of a miserable experience. scrap the cameras & put the police back on the roads (& the beat)
Frank
Winston Smith
says...
3:29pm Sun 4 Jan 09
Just in case someone commits a crime.
After all 'if you've done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear'.
Winston Smith
says...
5:37pm Sun 4 Jan 09
I trust Techno you would have no problem with any of these measures, because as you say, if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear.
Techno
says...
11:17am Mon 5 Jan 09
Techno
says...
1:27pm Mon 5 Jan 09
Theres no pleasing some loonies.
Winston Smith
says...
1:48pm Mon 5 Jan 09
Techno obviously wants to be nannied by the State all his life. He wants the government to consider him not intelligent enough to think for himself.
Techno
says...
3:16pm Mon 5 Jan 09
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