Mobile Traffic Enforcement - They Have to Go !

[Mr.Edwards]

These little smart cars with the telescopic camera are really starting to piss me off. Have seen them everywhere. These are paid for with my / our council tax and so far i have only seen general outrage from the public about them. One car parked in Lordship Lane on Saturday actually had a crowd of people pretty amazed. I realise we need parking enforcement, but these guys are preying on any tiny mistake by the public. I know people that have pulled up in a bus lane for a couple of seconds to get something from the back seat and be snapped.

BUT this really takes the biscuit. One of these cars this morning was parked opposite Tesco on East Dulwich Rd, near Kings on the rye trying to catch people in the bus lane. I saw him get out of his car, take a "Traffic Enforcement in Operation" sign down, put it in his boot and carry on. Me and another guy challenged him on this, when he told us to mind our business. I could only remember the first part of his number plate. For the first time is years i didnt have a bloody mobile.

Any ideas who to contact high up in Southwark council or local councillor / MP ? People must be petitioning this. Or am i just wasting my time and just live with it ? Are there any councillors who read EDF ? I'll vote for anyone who gets rid of them LOL.

Cheers,

E

[littlemisssmith]

There is actually a designated parking spot (just inside the park on the left hand side) for this said car on the peckham rye/east dulwich road traffic light junction.

There are there everyday on my drive home from work!

Not suprised you got that responce, most traffic wardens are rude!!

[figgins]

www.notomob.co.uk

I hate these stupid little cars. The council clearly is not interested in stopping bad driving/speeding/illegal parking. On the contrary, it wants it to continue and even increase, because it is a source of revenue. If they wanted to reduce it, they would have signs up warning you that the camera car was around. How much of the council's annual budget comes from speeding tickets, parking tickets, "yellow-box-offence" tickets, etc.? They rely on this money. If everyone suddenly stopped speeding, stopped getting parking fines etc. they would be in trouble. And we are paying for it - twice. We pay for the car and the staff to be employed (and to tell us to mind our own business) and we pay when we get fined.

[Penguin68]

There is always a confusion, doubly confounded by operative payment incentives, between a council's duty to ensure that agreed restrictions are 'policed' - those restrictions nominally reflecting issues of, for instance, keeping traffic running smoothly and safely - with a desire to use their powers to raise revenues through enforcement of rules designed to raise revenues.

Where councils use motorists as a form of unofficial taxation sources (as opposed to the offical taxation of charging for parking and parking permits) this places them morally in the same position as wheel clampers on private space - i.e. lower than a rats **se.

Councils, let us not forget, are elected by us to run local things effectively for us, they are the servants of the people not their masters or owners. Too many councillors and (especially) council officials forget this.

I would rather pay higher council taxes, which are open, declared and can be debated and discussed than watch councils fill their coffers through arbitrary and unthinking stealth taxes through fines, often handled by outsourced companies targeted on revenue raising and allowed to act in unfair ways. Governments and local government now spend their time criminalising individuals, using the arm of state enforcement to draw money from us which they fear we would not pay were we allowed to vote on it.

[Mr.Edwards]

Well put ! Just noticed there is a councillor, James Barber on here. Might email him.

Basically ive not met ANY person of the public that thinks these are a good idea. You're right though, they are a major cash cow for the council so it will be hard to get rid of these.

I just don't like living in a society where every nuance and slight mistake is punished and fined.

Funnily enough it has started to bring people together. I saw a guy with a sandwich board and a mask, warning people there was a traffic enforcement car lurking. Made people laugh.

[StraferJack]

But we don't. We do however live in a society where traffic has become so heavy, on a limited set of roads, with ever increasing volumes, that something needs to be done. Whilst I don't think these cars are the best solution and they can be heavy handed, they are a symptom and not the actual problem

So you can count me as one of the public not outraged

As for being a cash cow - I wonder what the balance sheet looks like - collection, salaries etc versus income. I doubt it's that much of a cash cow

As for them being rude - I challenge anyone to do that job and face, on an almost minute by minute basis the mind-numbing hostility of people

[Mr.Edwards]

There's always one.....

@straferjack how do these enforcement cars impact/remedy heavy traffic ?

Are you one of these enforcement guys ? ha ha ...

[figgins]

"I wonder what the balance sheet looks like - collection, salaries etc versus income. I doubt it's that much of a cash cow"

Maybe Southwark council could publish the figures. For all I know, they already do. Anyone know?

[david_carnell]

They remedy it by acting as a preventative measure for people not to drive/park in an anti-social manner i.e. blocking bus lanes or parking in restricted areas.

These hinder the flow of traffic causing delays to buses (carrying far more than a solo motorist in a car) and other road users.

If people were more considerate when driving observed traffic regulations instead of whinging when they are caught doing something they know perfectly is illegal then the roads would be less congested and traffic flow would improve.

[kford]

"There is actually a designated parking spot (just inside the park on the left hand side) for this said car on the peckham rye/east dulwich road traffic light junction. "

Hidden in the bushes too. So much for prevention rather than cure.

[StraferJack]

"There's always one.....

@straferjack how do these enforcement cars impact/remedy heavy traffic ?

Are you one of these enforcement guys ? ha ha ...

"

neither helpful, nor considered. It?s always people who don?t want to listen who say things like ?well I don?t know anyone who??

[MrLoxley]

@straferjack just passed one of these guys hidden in a bush by Peckham rye. No traffic at all. Kinda blows your theory apart. Idiot

[StraferJack]

Now I'm being called an idiot and my theory is blown apart - which theory exactly?

That it?s not a cash cow? I said I wondered what the balance sheet looks like. But they get enough abuse when out in the open so them hiding in the bushes doesn?t change that much for me (and it strikes me as an emotive phrase anyway ? hidden in the bushes ? really??)

You know all those American films where two cops are parked on a side road and then some car goes speeding by ? I suppose they are hiding too. They could just be out on the main road and give speeding drivers a fair chance I suppose

But really ? calling me an idiot based on what I?ve said so far says more about you than it does me

[PeckhamRose]

But remember my photo of one of them eating his lunch parked on a double yellow line where there were no other cars around? Justify that anyone?

[StraferJack]

What's to justify - in the bigger scheme of things it doesn't matter. A quiet back street and some guy eating his lunch. If you had a photo of traffic backed up behind him it would be different

They have a tough, shitty job to do and justlike police cars have to break speed limits to catch stolen cars sometimes, these guys get a pass to do their job.

It really isn't a big deal

[MrLoxley]

@straferjack no really, he is camouflaged by a bush. With no warning that traffic enforcement is in operation. If you even go in the bus lane for a second.... Ticket ! Check the guy out he's there everyday by kings on the rye crossroads. There's never been any traffic around that area at 10am really, so it's not a congestion thing. I've taken into account everything you've written, thought about it some more, and decided you are definitely an IDIOT

[StraferJack]

But in 2011 does anyone NEED a warning that traffic enforcement is in operation. Why can't you just take it as read?

[kford]

I've written before on here (and to Southwark) about these Orwellian devices blocking the bus lane at the junction of ED Grove and parked dangerously on the LL junction with Hansler Road. The contractors seem to have got the message as they're now almost always parked outside SMBS, in a parking bay.

And they still leave their engines running to power their equipment, which itself is an offence attracting a ?20 fine (the 2010 Southwark Transport Plan wants to raise this to ?120).

[kford]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> But in 2011 does anyone NEED a warning that

> traffic enforcement is in operation. Why can't you

> just take it as read?

Because legally, there has to be a warning. That's why they used to tie their signs on to nearby lampposts. There are permanent ones fixed on LL now.

[pk]

Mr.Edwards Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> There's always one.....

>

there's at least two, as i'm not outraged either

[Loz]

I'm in the 'Sometimes Annoyed" category. Not so much they use mobile enforcement, but that this information only seems to go into fines.

For instance, there was a story the other day that a certain box junction in Battersea raised ?2m in fines last year. That to me suggests there is a problem with the junction - be it the signage or the road.

Now I happen to know that particular junction and part of the problem is that two lanes on one side of the lights becomes one lane on the other - I've very nearly been caught out myself on this one. A simple change - making the left hand lane a left turn only - would go a long way to fixing this issue, but no, it's been that way for at least 15 years. Are Wandsworth doing *anything* about it? No. But why should they? It's turning them a nice profit. And that is wrong. And that annoys me.

[littlemisssmith]

Quote:

@straferjack just passed one of these guys hidden in a bush by Peckham rye. No traffic at all. Kinda blows your theory apart. Idiot

I do love it when people say how they feel!!! Cracks me up!!!

Whilst i agree traffic wardens have a tough job i think that anyone dealing with members of the public in a frontline position has just about the same abuse if not more than these guys! If they cant be polite when asked what they are doing then maybe they shouldnt be in a job where they have to deal with members of the public on a daily basis! They must have read the job description before they applied!!!

[Earl Aelfheah]

Not outraged.

I'm not a massive fan of cameras (rather than police officers) enforcing traffic law (cameras have no discretion and are often ineffective at catching the really dangerous / antisocial drivers IMO). Having said that, cameras are cheaper and can be deployed more widely and easily than police officers. There is no doubt that they reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads. They're a compromise, but a necessary evil.

[kford]

"There is no doubt that they reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads."

There is no proof whatsoever that this particular type of traffic enforcement camera saves lives.

They are not calibrated to be speed cameras, so can only enforce minor and non-endorsable offences like no-left and no-right-turn violations, box junction blocking and parking.

And how will hiding in the bushes at ED's most dangerous junction prevent an accident?

[njc97]

Loxley - "If you even go in the bus lane for a second.... Ticket !"

I think we can all spot an easy solution to that.

Loz - the problem with that junction in battersea is the drivers. The excuse that "it's difficult to see the exits" is bullshit. And the markings on the road are v cleear.