Reinhard
I always thought they weren't allowed to trap where you are going down a hill?
Neon-Gecko
As a layman that has been my understanding as well. I also believe that the may not trap in hazardous conditions, such as misty weather or slippery roads for safety reasons, but that may have changed...
VellaJ
AFAIK that's still the case. Though how they get around it is to trap at the bottom of the hill. So they aren't on the decline, but the cars are still carrying the speed...
jt
Yep. You shouldn't speed. Period. Unless its pouring with rain and the roads are wet.
Reinhard
I have 2 fines for where I was still going down a hill so steep that you have to keep your foot on the brakes all the way down. It just seems really scaly.
vic
Reinhard wrote
I always thought they weren't allowed to trap where you are going down a hill?
I've checked quickly....
http://www.aa.co.za/technical-services/legal/legal-questions/speed-camera-on-down-slope-of-hill.html
Question:
Is it legal to have a speed trap on the down slope of a hill?
Answer:
Yes, it is indeed legal for the traffic authorities to enforce speed limits on downhill sections of road. A manned speed trap where offenders are stopped at the roadside may be set up anywhere.
Speed traps, where a photograph is taken and the notification of the offence or fine is mailed to the owner of the vehicle, must have prior authorisation from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
guidothepimmp
Flip side is
Is it legal to exceed the speed limit on a downhill?
Didn't think so
Onus is on us I'm afraid
singemonkey
guidothepimmp wrote
Flip side is
Is it legal to exceed the speed limit on a downhill?
Didn't think so
Onus is on us I'm afraid
+1
studmissile
A traffic cop once told me that they should actually give you a 10km/p margin. So in a 60 zone they will only fine you if you clock 70 (for 120 it's 130 and up).
What you you clocked at going downhill?
Reinhard
Yeh I know you should stick to the speed limits, I am not debating that. Thanks to all those who felt they needed to remind me of that. Do you go to the unemployment line and tell people they should have studied harder in school too?
What I have seen lately seems to be trapping targeted at catching the most people in the shortest amount of time and not in areas where it will actually contribute to pedestrian safety or in areas with notoriously high incidences of accidents. I am guilty and I'll pay the fines, it's just the way they are doing it lately....
nick
Reinhard wrote
Yeh I know you should stick to the speed limits, I am not debating that. Thanks to all those who felt they needed to remind me of that. Do you go to the unemployment line and tell people they should have studied harder in school too?
What I have seen lately seems to be trapping targeted at catching the most people in the shortest amount of time and not in areas where it will actually contribute to pedestrian safety or in areas with notoriously high incidences of accidents. I am guilty and I'll pay the fines, it's just the way they are doing it lately....
Its unfortunately always been about making money and never been about making a difference.
DonovanB
Reinhard, you do drive a GTi, Great Traffic income...
Reinhard
Donovan Banks wrote
Reinhard, you do drive a GTi, Great Traffic income...
? I think Engen, Shell and BP are the big winners lol
studmissile
Sorry buddy but we all get a chance and a turn! You not the first or the last!
Reinhard wrote
What I have seen lately seems to be trapping targeted at catching the most people in the shortest amount of time and not in areas where it will actually contribute to pedestrian safety or in areas with notoriously high incidences of accidents. I am guilty and I'll pay the fines, it's just the way they are doing it lately....
Lately?.... Those A-HOLES have been targeting me for years!
Bob-Dubery
It's a never ending and universal debate. Jeremy Clarkson is forever banging on about speed traps and how the police use them just for gathering revenue and how they do nothing for safety. Even if you present stats to show declines in accident rates he won't listen. He once produced figures over 20 years to show that the number of accidents on a stretch of road fitted with permanent camera traps had gone up. He forgot to take into account that the number of cars on the roads had also gone up and so maybe a smaller percentage of drivers were having accidents. Mind you, Clarkson seems to think it's his constitutional right to drive as fast and as noisily as he likes and that anybody interfering with his fun is a tyrant.
Downhill trapping is OK by me. There is a notorious stretch of road near where I used to live that has permanent traps on both sides. Uphill on one side, down on the other, depending on which way you are travelling. This is the stretch along Beyers Naude drive from Northcliff corner past the cemetery to the corner of Judith Road. That corner and the long curve past the cemetery are major accident hot spots. The guys start speeding, sometimes racing at Northcliff corner and the downhill run is straight until they get to the cemetary and then two things started to happen - they either lost control on the long corner past the cemetery or they'd try to run the robots at Judith to head up the hill into Melville and hit somebody trying to turn right when it was their right of way.
At one point it got so bad they were running a set up there with "smart" equipment and a pursuit vehicle. Remember that ALL of this is in urban areas. If the cameras picked up a speed of 120 or higher it would send a photo of the car down to manned stations and a pursuit vehicle parked 3 blocks down on a side street. The pursuit vehicle would launch, and cops at the next three intersections would try to flag you down. If you didn't stop at any of those intersections you had to deal with the pursuit vehicle. And then it was straight off to the holding cells, one phone call, no bail and you can explain to the magistrate in the morning. I got chatting to the cops one night and asked if all this was really necessary. They said yes - they had caught several bikes and a handful of cars at over 200 clicks and these guys are not going to stop just because some policeman flags them down, they are going to keep on going.
Given the number of accidents along that stretch of the road I was only too happy to see the permanent traps put in, and don't mind that they're on a down hill.
What does annoy me is that people see those traps and slam on anchors and go through at 20. That's not safe either, and it's not necessary. Go through at an indicated 60 and you're fine.
What I would like to see is roving patrols that target guys who drive around with no number plates. A guy driving with no plates is up to no good.
Reinhard
In my case it is the Jip de Jager Hill between Hendrik Verwoerd and the Engen at the top of the Hill. You drive 60 coming from the Engen and at the bottom of the Hill you WILL be doing close to 90 if you don't ride the brakes all the way down. I was caught doing 81 on the steepest incline, just before I start braking for my turnoff at the robot at the bottom of the hill. I love cruise control on the N1, but in urban areas where you keep braking and accelerating, it gets turned off automatically ☹
What I have noticed lately on the stretch of N1 between Paarl and Kraaifontein is the occasional car with headlights (usually very dim) and no tail lights. Man that's dangerous, almost as bad as people driving 80km/h on the N1.
Anyway, the fines will be paid, and no new gear for a while ?
Bob-Dubery
Reinhard wrote
In my case it is the Jip de Jager Hill between Hendrik Verwoerd and the Engen at the top of the Hill. You drive 60 coming from the Engen and at the bottom of the Hill you WILL be doing close to 90 if you don't ride the brakes all the way down.
Sure it's a pain, but the speed limit is still the same, and the damage done to a person or a car is not diminished because you are going downhill. The onus is on the driver to control the vehicle's speed.
Agreed on the point about unroadworthy vehicles. In Jo'burg the cops tend to organise road blocks where they will check for these things, but pigspotter will soon get wind of it and let everybody know and so anybody who doesn't wish to have their car examined will just take another route. There should be more roving patrols. I see them for taxis in Joburg, but they should just generally be roving and stop any car that seems to in a questionable condition or whose driver is misbehaving.
FruitarGeek
Reinhard wrote
I have 2 fines for where I was still going down a hill so steep that you have to keep your foot on the brakes all the way down. It just seems really scaly.
I was going to if you where referring to Kloofnek. But then I read further ?
Reinhard
X-rated Bob wrote
Reinhard wrote
In my case it is the Jip de Jager Hill between Hendrik Verwoerd and the Engen at the top of the Hill. You drive 60 coming from the Engen and at the bottom of the Hill you WILL be doing close to 90 if you don't ride the brakes all the way down.
Sure it's a pain, but the speed limit is still the same, and the damage done to a person or a car is not diminished because you are going downhill. The onus is on the driver to control the vehicle's speed.
Agreed on the point about unroadworthy vehicles. In Jo'burg the cops tend to organise road blocks where they will check for these things, but pigspotter will soon get wind of it and let everybody know and so anybody who doesn't wish to have their car examined will just take another route. There should be more roving patrols. I see them for taxis in Joburg, but they should just generally be roving and stop any car that seems to in a questionable condition or whose driver is misbehaving.
Ditto on more roving patrols.
Nitebob
Reinhard, something even more dangerous to me is busses up here. These Putco guys just do not care about legislation up here. I am stating this under the assumption that the do know the legislation. Twice this past week, I had to yield to a busdriver, just because his vehicle is bigger than mine....if I ever do go "sawed off shotgun" this will be why. Once at a traffic circle where you are to yield for traffic from the right, this guy didn't even slow down. Then at a robot, when it turns green, he turns right, in front of oncoming vehicles that were to carry on straight.
I might be looking at the smaller picture, but this is more concerning to me than the mismanagent of the country, crime, corruption, and all the rest. That we don't even care about obeying the smallest rules, and basic descency is out the window.
Sixteen years back, you looked both ways at a pedestrian crossing and made sure it's safe before crossing, these days you walk and all vehicles (in excess of 500kg) have to hit the brakes so as to not plaster a 65kg jaywalker to the tar.
16 years ago, I'd sit at a red traffic light, and wait for upwards of 2 minutes at 02:00 in the morning. Now I treat it as a four-way-stop. So I guess I'm guilty too, but that's my whole point, we should be too sh*t scared to skip a light....even at that time of the morning...
