Night-vision drones helping catch dangerous drivers in London

Police in London have launched a ground-breaking new trial that uses drones to catch speeding drivers.

Officers claim the millitary grade drones that have night-vision capability, are able to catch dangerous drivers along some of the capital’s busiest routes.

According to Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police have been using drone technology in London skies from July – the first initiative of its kind in the UK.

The drone that cost a massive £80,000 is being used on major routes where speeding offences are more common, It has a top speed of 30mph and can follow cars for up to 50 minutes..

Police say the drone, which can work at both higher and lower altitudes, is being used to identify only those travelling at dangerously high speeds. The drone footage is then passed to officers on the ground, who will pull over the offending motorists and issue a penalty.

If the scheme proves successful, it could be rolled out along more of the capital’s roads, as well as across other regions of the country.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Detective Superintendent Andy Cox, head of the Met’s roads and traffic policing unit said the drones will deter dangerous driving through “intense enforcement.”
“This is one of many enforcement tactics being used,” he added. “We hope the message of ‘drive lawfully, stay safe and keep a clean licence’ is widely understood.”

He added: “Deterrence is sometimes best achieved through intense enforcement and that’s what this capability enables. The focus will be on dangerous drivers who are racing and those putting their lives and other people at risk.”


Source / Image: Express.co.uk

 

Raise speeding fines to £130 demands top police chief

Controversial proposals from a policing chief could see motorists who are caught speeding facing bigger fines and higher fees for driver awareness courses.

Alison Hernandez (lead on road safety for Police and Crime Commissioners), is lobbying Ministers to hike the cost of both Penalty Charge Notices and National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) sessions by as much as £30. 

 Fines:                       Current £100      Proposed £130

 NDORS course:       Current £90        Proposed £120

Ms Hernandez  told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I believe the law-abiding public feel it is wholly appropriate that those who are caught breaking our laws and making the roads more dangerous for all of us should be helping to pay for road safety activities. It is the “polluter pays” principle.

An additional £20 or £30 per offender could really make a difference to our communities, that money could go back into police forces to support work on road safety.

Last year around two million speeding offences were handed out. Out of those two million offences about half of drivers payed to take an NDORS course run by UK Road Offender Education (UKROEd) to avoid getting points on their licence.

While speeding fines revenue goes to the Treasury, fees for awareness courses – which are offered to those who marginally exceeded a speed limit – are split between the course organiser and the local police force.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘Speeding is unacceptable which is why there are tough penalties and enforcement in place for those who do so. Offences and penalties are kept under constant review to ensure the courts have sufficient powers.’

 To read more on this story please visit: https://www.dailymail.co.uk

Police have a new camera which can spot drivers using mobile phones or speeding nearly a mile away

Police have unveiled their new weapon – a camera that can produce clear images of people inside a car almost a mile away

The massive camera dubbed 'The Long Ranger' has been showcased at the launch of a pilot project called Operation Indemnis.

Police in Gloucester are using the camera to tackle various motoring offences including speeding, tailgating and using a mobile phone while driving. 

Previous Speed guns have been able to detect how fast cars travel but the new camera produces clear video footage and still photographs of the people inside them. 

Martin Surl, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire where the kit is being tested, said he hoped that it would catch people using their mobile phones.

What is the law on using a mobile phone while driving? 

•  It’s illegal to hold a phone or sat nav while driving or riding a motorcycle. Access must be hands free. 
• 6 penalty points and a £200 fine if you use a hand-held 
• You’ll also lose your licence if you passed your driving test in the last 2 years.

• The device must not block your view of the road and traffic ahead.
• You can get 3 penalty points 

• You must stay in full control of your vehicle at all times.
• You can get 3 penalty points

 Source: www.gov.uk

Officers will use the long-distance camera and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to check on what vehicles are on the roads and how they are being driven.

If the pilot is successful, it could be applied to any road in the county.

Source, to read more please visit  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Motorway speed limits 'could rise to 80mph' - but the public prefer going 10mph slower

Head of the Highways England Jim O'Sullivan has argued that the speed limit could rise in certain areas of the road network  to 80mph but it is 'public opinion' stopping the change.

Mr O'Sullivan also said that classic cars may be banned from fully-automated motorways in the next 30 years as they will not be able to communicate with the autonomous cars and lorries and will therefore present a risk, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The roads boss said that vehicles where the motorist is in complete control would probably have to be removed from the roads as early as the middle of the century.

Back in 2011 an official plan to increase the speed limit on motorways was launched by Philip Hammond, when he was transport secretary. At the time it was thrown on the back burner due to a lack of support from the Coalition Government and hasn't been revisited since.

The current top speed of 70mph was introduced in 1965, The Highways England chief executive said  'We have not done a formal safety analysis but there are parts of the network that subject to a safety analysis could probably operate at 80 miles an hour.'

Dont get exited though! the change is unlikely to happen to any time soon as the boss said that there is a 'low probability' that a consensus would be reached. He said that he believes the barrier is more to do with public opinion and views than it has to do with vehicle technology. 

The Chancellor of the Exchequer previously said in 2017 that the Governments plan was to have driverless vehicles on the roads by 2021.

Mr O'Sullivan said that during the initial roll-out period there will be a 'mixed economy', arguing that non-autonomous cars are a long way from being phased out.  

He also confirmed that the organisation's plan to increase the speeds from 50mph to 60mph on Sundays and that this trial  is due to begin before the end of the year, assuming the six month trial is a success it is likely to become the standard speed limit by the end of next year. 

To read more please go to https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6146599/Motorway-speed-limits-rise-80mph-says-roads-boss.html

Austrian man caught speeding 42 times in a row on same road

A man has been fined €3,000 (£2,700) for speeding on the same Austrian road 42 times in a row.

Mr Wallner was caught by the same camera every day he returned from work at three in the morning.

He told Austrian media he could not see signs for the 30km/h (18.5mph) limit on that stretch of road in the dark - and drove at the standard 50km/h (31mph).

Unfortunately it took more than a month for the first penalty to arrive - by this time Mr Wallner had clocked up dozens more still unaware that he was breaking the limit for that road.

When Mr Wallner received his first speeding notice in May it occoured to him that there would be more to come - and it may get very expensive.

Mr Wallner said he did not notice the speed camera - set up near a school on the route - because the area was always very dark in the middle of the night and the camera that caught him was an infra-red camera, which does not fire a visual flash.

Out of about 50 trips, he was recorded driving at a consistent 50km/h 42 times in a row.
In order to avoid the lengthy and expensive procedure to challenge them, he paid all 42 penalties.

He told Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung: "You cannot lodge an appeal against all the fines in one go, so I would have had to make 42 separate challenges."

"These are a good two months' wages for me, and there's no rebate for a bulk fine either."
However police did remove about €300 from his total.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45269474

McLaren seized by police after speeding in Welwyn Garden City

Officers caught a driver in a speeding McLaren on 13th August and the tweeted:

“79 in a 40. Not a good day. Especially when we find out the insurance didn’t renew.

“Vehicle seized. We offered to drive it to the recovery yard but control insist it has to go on a truck.”

A police spokesman confirmed the sports car was a McLaren 720S, and was stopped today (Monday, August 13) at 10.30am.

“It was recorded doing 79mph in a 40 zone,” he added. “Further checks revealed that the vehicle was not currently insured and as a result the vehicle was seized.

“The driver was issued with a Traffic Offence Report by officers, meaning he will be prosecuted for the above offences at a later date.”

It is understood that the motorist will have to prove he has got insurance and pay a recovery fee before being able to get the car back.

MP Fiona Onasanya accused of lying about speeding

Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has been charged with perverting the course of justice over allegedly lying about who was behind the wheel of a speeding vehicle.

The MP of Peterborough Fiona Onasanya appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 12 July charged with the offence. She faces two counts of perverting the course of justice. Her brother Festus Onasanya faces three counts of the same offence.

Mr Onasanya, of Cambridge, is jointly charged with his sister on the two counts she faces relating to incidents on 24 July 2017 and 23 August 2017. Both are due to appear at the Old Bailey on 13 August

The charges allege they intended to pervert the course of justice by driving a vehicle in excess of the speed limit, falsely informing the investigating authorities that a third party had been the driver and enabling them, as a consequence, to avoid such prosecution and punishment.

During the July incident, Ms Onasanya is alleged to have been driving - and during the August incident, her brother is alleged to have been driving.

The single count that Mr Onasanya faces relates to an incident on 17 June 2017.

The BBC contacted the office of Ms Onasanya and A Labour Party spokesman said: "It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing case."

Ms Onasanya, who was a solicitor before being elected to Parliament, is a Labour whip, meaning she is responsible for party discipline.

 Source BBC

Eight year olds caught speeding

You wouldnt expect it but Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures reveal that children as young as eight have been caught speeding by police in Britain in the last two years.

A Freedom of Information request covering 2017 to the present, unearthed that there were two instances where people aged eight were found in cars or on motorbikes.

At the other end of the spectrum more than 900 people in their 90s got penalty points for speeding (three of these incidents involving people aged 99).

If a driver is underage, the endorsements are held on file by the DVLA and the penalty points can be added to any driving licence they hold in the future.

The DVLA did not provide information about the circumstances of the driving offences, saying its role was to compile information provided by the courts.

But its figures show more than one million speeding offences were recorded over the period concerned.

Nearly 1,400 offences related to people aged under 17, including one aged 11 and three aged 13.
The majority of speeders were people in their 40s, which is thought to include the largest age group of motorists.

The highest number of speeders were aged 46, amounting to 30,075 offences

Source: BBC

Driver who sped at 101mph after wife went into labour could be fined £2,500

A father clocked speeding at 101mph on the M5 motorway after his pregnant wife went into labour on the passenger seat has been threatened with a fine of up to £2,500.

Louis Baker wrote to West Mercia Police appealing for leniency over the “life or death” situation after being caught by a speed camera on the M5 in Worcestershire on April 14. They told him he will have to appear in court at a later date.

Mr Baker rushed his wife Laura and their unborn child to hospital amid complications surrounding the pregnancy, meaning she needed to be given antibiotics for four hours before giving birth. They were also worried because their previous child was born four years ago after an 11-minute labour.

The baby was born at Worcestershire Royal Hospital two hours after the alleged offence, 

Mr Baker said: “I have been driving for 10 years and I have never had a speeding ticket or a motoring offence in my life.

“When I first got the fine I spoke to a lady at West Mercia Police and she was very supportive and said to write a letter of appeal.

“I appealed but they rejected it and said due to excessive speed the fine could not be waived

“I would say that if it was your wife and child at risk in the same situation, anyone would do exactly the same thing.

“I have spoken to a solicitor but until I get a court date there is not much I can do.”
Laura, a trainee pharmacy technician, told the Birmingham Mail scans had shown her baby had stopped growing from 36 weeks.

The 26-year-old said: “Louis drove at 70mph for most of the journey but towards the end, because of the intensity of the contractions, I really thought the baby was coming.

“Louis wasn’t concentrating on his speed at that point, he was trying to stay safe on the road and get me to hospital as quickly as possible.”

A police spokesman said: “Due to the speed involved this case is being referred directly to the Magistrates Court.

“The independent magistrates will take into account any mitigation presented when determining their decision on the matter.”

Man jailed after giving speed cameras the finger

North Yorkshire Police have today been promoting their recent conviction of Timothy Hill with a laser jammer to all the major news outlets. Reading between the lines we wonder if he was prosecuted for hiding his Range Rover and denying he was the driver as much as he was for having the jammer. The news story confirms the jammer ‘did its job’ and they could not get a speed reading on which to prosecute. It would also seem from this news story that the jammer unit was in some sort of continuous jamming mode.

However this guy was clearly an idiot for attracting attention to himself and having no regard to law or the police and we do not condone his actions. Jammers should be used to alert you to speed traps and give you a chance to check and adjust your speed if necessary, not to carry on driving with impunity with no regard to the laws of the road.

You can read the North Yorkshire Police statement here.

https://northyorkshire.police.uk/news/laser-jammer-prison/

Motorists WILL be fined for driving above 70mph on 'smart' M1 - 24-hours-a-day

Traffic cops have warned Sheffield motorists that they will be issued with fines for travelling above the 70mph limit on the new smart M1, 24-hours-a-day.

The fines can be issued even where there is no variable speed limit in place on the motorway as police warn they are intent on 'catching speeders'.

The M1 in Sheffield, between junctions 32 and 35A, was officially converted into a 'smart' motorway in March last year, following months several of engineering. The work created an extra lane on the motorway by utilising hard shoulder being for traffic.

Traffic flow on the smart motorway is controlled by overhead gantries which change speed from the national limit down to 30mph if there's traffic ahead.

Highways England says the changes will reduce delays on the 18-mile stretch of motorway, which is used by more than 110,000 vehicles each day.

Darren Roberts, manager of the Casualty Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST) for Derbyshire Police said prosecuting more people will held to stop speeders.

He said: "The cameras are not there to generate money “

The standard fine for being caught speeding is £100 and three points.

For more on this story please visit thestar

Mum makes fake road camera to tackle speeding cars

A mum has erected a fake speed camera because she was worried about the threat to her children's safety from speeding cars.

The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, told the BBC: "The speed limit here is 30mph but we have cars and lorries speeding through here all the time."

She added: "We looked at what people had done in other villages with the same problem and realised that if it's on private land it's not illegal."

France cuts speed limit on roads after alarming rise in deaths

The French government has said it will lower the speed limit on two-lane highways to 80km/h (50mph) from 90km/h, in an attempt to reverse an alarming rise in road deaths.

Highway deaths reached nearly 3,500 in 2016, with about 55% of those deaths (1,911 victims) occurred on the 400,000km of so-called secondary roads across France, two-lane routes with no separating guardrail.

The government says the lower speed limit could save 350 to 400 lives a year.

“Unsafe roads are not inevitable,” prime minister Edouard Philippe said after a meeting of the government’s road safety council.

“Lowering speeds reduces the number of accidents, as well as the severity of these accidents,” he said.

The government also plans to crack down on the use of cellphones while driving. Police can now suspend a licence if the driver is found to have broken other laws while using a phone that could “endanger his own security or that of someone else”.

To read more details on this story please visit:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/10/france-cuts-speed-limit-rise-deaths

Road safety campaigners call for anti-speeding system in all new cars

Road safety campaigners want anti-speeding technology (Intelligent Speed Adaptation - ISA) fitted as standard to all newly manufactured cars after a rise in the number of crashes caused by breaking the speed limit.

The system shows the speed limit of the road a person is driving on and can control the speed of the vehicle.

Intelligent Speed Adaptation technology allows drivers to select an option where acceleration is stopped automatically at the speed limit specific to any road (this can also be disabled via button). When this mode is turned off the speed limit is still displayed but the speed not overridden.


Its developers say ISA is intended as a road safety device, but it could have additional benefits.

These include reducing congestion as a result of collisions, and cutting vehicle emissions as drivers adopt a smoother driving style

Campaigners are making the call as part of Road Safety Week after Scottish government figures earlier this year showed a 14% rise in road deaths in Scotland during 2016 compared with 2015.

Jason Wakeford, director of campaigns for Brake, said: "Speeding remains a major problem, causing untold suffering to families up and down the country."

More on this story

Police to net an extra £12 million from speed awareness courses

More than a million drivers each year now opt to attend speeding awareness courses instead of receiving points and a fine

Currently police forces are not supposed to generate and income from the courses but do receive a "flat fee" to cover their costs, because of a £10 per person price rise from last month, they are estimated to receive an extra £12 million a year from speed awareness courses going forwards

With thousands more speed cameras being placed around the country, Police forces have now been accused of deliberately targeting motorists to raise revenue

Hugh Bladon of the Alliance of British Drivers claimed it was clear by the huge numbers taking part, that police forces were generating significant amounts of revenue from the schemes.

He said: "The incentive is clearly there for the police to get people onto these courses because they benefit financially. It does not accord with what our definition of justice is in the UK".

Claire Armstrong of the group Safe Speed, also said it was nonsense to suggest speed awareness courses were about anything but making money.

She said: "These course are using the police as a sales mechanism for the speed camera industry. It is so far from being about road safety that they should be embarrassed.

"Motorists are being bribed into doing these courses that are not improving road safety. It is a huge scam."

Two private companies run the majority of courses, but five police forces; Lancashire, Merseyside, Humberside, Cheshire and Northamptonshire run their own.

Any profits they make, must be put back into road safety, but with forces facing unprecedented financial pressure, any extra revenue will be welcomed by Chief Constables.

For more information around this please read this story in the Telegraph

Drivers who kill will now face life sentence

Dangerous drivers who cause death while using their mobile phones or speeding will now face life in prison.

Drivers who kill while under the influence of drink or drugs will also face a life sentence. And there will be a new offence of causing serious injury through careless driving, as part of renewed efforts to improve road safety.

The new measures mean such drivers could face the same length of sentence as those convicted of manslaughter, with maximum penalties raised from 14 years to life.

Read the full story in the guardian

Beware Admiral’s policy when it comes to speed awareness courses

We came across a news story in the Guardian where journalist Miles Brignall, had called Admiral whilst looking for car insurance. One of the questions was asking if he had been on any speed awareness courses. He replied “yes” and the quote increased by £50.

This seems ridiculous when the whole point of the courses is that they are an alternative to prosecution meaning that no official record is kept. Admiral defends its action saying that its data shows that drivers who attend a speed awareness course are more likely to have an accident in the following 12 months than those who committed no offence. “A speed awareness course will impact the premium, but shouldn’t impact it as much as a speeding endorsement".

Miles said that his course provider, DriveTech, says it does not share details as it is information not in the public domain.

It would appear from the information in the Guardian that as far as they know, at the moment at least! Admiral is the only insurer that asks this, Other big firms are still only asking about formal convictions.

Common sense therefore having come across this information would be to avoid admiral when its car insurance renewal time if you have attended a speed awareness course within the last 12 months.

Fore more on this story please see the Guardian

Drink driver caught speeding at 146mph on M4

Billy James Rich was caught drink driving whilst speeding at nearly 150mph on the M4. 

Mr Rich, from Highworth, was behind the wheel of a black BMW in the early hours of Wednesday when he overtook an unmarked police car at speed on the A350.

After heading on to the motorway, he was clocked doing 146mph (235km/h) by officers before being pulled over near Chippenham.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to drink driving and speeding

During a hearing at Swindon Magistrates' Court he was fined £692 and disqualified from driving for 22 months.

PC Andy Lee said: "His actions put himself, other drivers and road users in danger."

Source tispol.org

Confused about the new speeding fines?

Are you confused about the new speeding fines? just in case you are here is a simple guide table of how the new system functions in legal system

Speed camera camouflaged as a bin could be coming to Britain

An innovative 'super speed camera' dubbed a car driver's worst nightmare could be making its way to Britain's roads after successful initial tests.

The speed camera created by Belgian company SecuRoad utilises infrared lights and can be hidden in different locations such as rubbish bins or vehicles.

The speed camera, named 'NK7', can be used without anyone operating it and will cost about €50,000 (£42,000).

The use infrared lights by the camera means that drivers do not notice if they are caught on camera. Whats more just one of the devices can simultaneously monitor three driving lanes in each direction.

Belgian authorities have already put the camera into active use and currently have 30 of them at their disposal. They hide them inside rubbish bins and put on the pavement next to a street where they want to enforce a speed limit.

Germany is said to have also started to use similar speed cameras, and Deerlijk-based SecuRoad has plans to use the devices in other countries in Western Europe.

Earlier this week it was revealed that British motorists face being stung with fines of up to £640 for speeding in Europe under a controversial change to EU law.

But European drivers caught breaking the limit in the UK will not be hit with the same penalties because of a difference in motoring laws in Britain.

Meanwhile drivers caught well over the speed limit from next week face a fine amounting to 150 per cent of their weekly earnings.

The higher fines came in to force yesterday and mean any motorists found guilty of the most serious speeding offences may have to cough-up one-and-a-half times their weekly pay to cover the cost of their excessive speeding.

 

For more images of the camera in use please visit the article Source BBC