[ABD Logo]The Association of British Drivers
Local Issues — Northamptonshire
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A Northants Talivan parked on the verge beside the A14 eastbound, immediately after the B660 over-bridge, heading towards the A1. This mile-long straight safe section of the road with no junctions nor entrances cannot possibly be an accident blackspot. The only conclusion is that they have parked here because that's where they'll rake in the most cash.
 
Watch out also for Talivans parked on overbridges on the A14 and M1. With increasing complaints from Northamptonshire residents about excessive speed enforcement, the Talivan have taken to targetting roads more likely to be used by drivers from out of the area — people who don't write to the local papers.

 
 
2005-09-01 Judge Raps Speed Camera Racket
A judge at Northmapton Crown Court has critisized the use of speed cameras. Dealing with the case of a 62 year old man who police claim was caught doing 46mph in a 40mph zone on the A509 at Great Harrowden just north of Wellingborough, Judge Richard Bray said:
“You are not alone in this county in being unhappy with some of the provision of speed cameras.
Some people feel it is a form of taxation which is turning law-abiding citizens, such as yourself, into criminals. It is not a very satisfactory state of affairs.”

Great Harrowden is a very small village and there only a handful of properties on the A509, so the 40mph limit is highly questionnable anyway (or at least it would be questionnable if we lived in a democracy).
Anger Over Humps
Residents have launched an all out attack on the dictatorial policies of Northamptonshire County Council after they decided to totally ignore the results of their own survey on new speed humps in the Mounts area of Northampton. RASH (Residents Against Speed Humps) have issued this press statement:
Council Make April Fool of Democracy
 
In spite of the huge number of objections to the proposed Mounts area humps scheme, Northamptonshire County Council today announced its intention to carry on regardless. Clearly determined to waste as much council taxpayers money as possible before the financial year-end, they have ignored the will of the people to start work today, 1st April.
 
Residents were asked to approve of, or object to the council's plan, with 155 against but only 20 voting in favour, almost an 8 to 1 majority objecting. Many people also offered their ideas for better traffic calming schemes, all of which have been completely ignored. In fact there has been no consideration of alternatives, as council policy dictates must happen in every case.
 
The £45,000 calming plan centred on Military Road school will be redundant next year, when the school is moved to completely new premises, away from the area. In the 18-years of computerized records there have been no fatalities and very few injuries.
 
The principle objection of the campaign group Residents Against Speed Humps (RASH) is the mounting evidence that speed humps lead to more deaths through delayed ambulance response times and impaired emergency care. RASH have also identified increased vehicle noise, pollution, global warming and vehicle wear and tear as side effects of speed humps. The council has no meaningful data on any of these crucial issues.
 
Group spokesman, Thom Hale, said: The council's behaviour comes close to criminal negligence, wasting council taxpayers money on discredited technology. RASH will escalate its campaign to force the council to justify its actions, or bow to the will of the electorate.
 

Spin, Spin, and more Spin
Northamptonshire Police have announced that child road casualties are down by 20% in 2003/4 compared to 2002/3. The actual numbers are a reduction from 74 to 63. This is apparently good news, however, no attempt is made to categorize whether these children were pedestrians/cyclists or in cars, nor are any figures given to indicate how these figures compare to previous years.
Reading on you find that their beloved "KSI" figure is exactly the same as last year; thought they absurdly try and claim this still constitutes a reduction because it's lower than some contrived figure from the 1990s.
They then go on to say that if it wasn't for motorcycle accidents, the KSI figure would have come down. They seem to be implying that motorcyclists are to blame for the non-reduction. As we all know from the government's own TV commercial, motorcycle accidents are often not the fault of the motorcyclist, but again no attempt is made to define the cause of these motorcycle accidents.
The old trick claiming accidents have reduced near speed cameras is rolled out again, and the actual number of fatalities is once again conspicuous by its absence.
When will they learn that the public are tired of this constant spin, and want all the facts, not just those which the people who make a living out of speed cameras have carefully selected to justify their continued existence.
Northamptonshire Police — Twenty Per Cent Fall In Child Road Casualties
 
 
One Down...
The speed camera on the A43 at Brackley Hatch near Silverstone has been covered up. This follows questions about its positioning and the fact there was no history of any accidents due to excess speed.
 
 
Speed Camera Kills Father of Two
Kevin Lee, a 38 year old father of two from Kettering, killed himself after being flashed by a speed camera in the fear that he would lose his licence and his job as a trucker.
Kevin believed he already had nine points on his licence and that the extra three would mean he would be banned. Tragically, six of the nine points had expired because they were over 3 years old, and the damned speed camera didn't even have any film in it.
Kevin was found hanged from a bridge on the A52 in Sandiacre, Derbyshire. A coroner returned a verdict of suicide.
"Speed cameras certainly had a major impact on Kevin's death. Driving was his life and the thought of losing his licence had ripped him apart."
Jennie Lee, Kevin's wife

Persecution of the Innocent
Apparently drivers sent on Northamptonshire Police's "speed awareness course" are gleefully told the saga of a woman who had lost her licence in one day by doing the school run (4 journeys - 12 points, £240) through a recently altered speed limit. They go on to claim that not only did she lose her licence but ultimately her job and finally her marriage. We don't know if this is a true story or some particularly nasty propaganda invented by the police, but if it is true, and you know who this woman is, please ask her to get in touch with us.
 
 
Police refuse to accept evidence
Northamptonshire Police tried to prosecute a Rushden woman for exceeding a 40mph speed limit on a dual carriageway, even though she was on a slip road where the speed limit didn't apply. Even when she sent them a copy of a letter from the Highways Agency stating this, the police tried to maintain that their photos showed she was on the main carriageway, when she was not. The police continued to pursue her for six months, ignoring her letters. She told us:
"in simple cases of speeding it seems the authorities make up the law to suit themselves"
 
 
Beware Busybodies
As if the plague of Talivans in Northamptonshire isn't bad enough, the Police and the local Talivan have decided to make things worse. In their infinite wisdom, they've given a speed gun to local busybodies in the village of Whittlebury on the A413 between Towcester and Buckingham. Map
 
 
The Lies Continue
Northamptonshire Police continue to treat the people of Northamptonshire like idiots by continuing the claims about the 'success' of speed cameras. In 2003 their website proudly stated:
 
"The number of people killed and seriously injured on Northamptonshire’s roads has dropped by 31%"

Sounds good doesn't it?
Until you read further down the page and discover that they are grouping killed and seriously injured figures together to hide the fact that
 
fatal accidents in Northamptonshire increased by 35% in 2002

 
Fatal accidents in Northamptonshire before and after speed cameras.
1993  43
1994  36
1995  47
1996  41
1997  57
1998  60
1999  76
2000  58
2001  46
2002  62
2003  61
Source: Road Casulaties in Great Britain 2003

 
Despite the continual claims about how 'successful' speed cameras are in reducing accidents, fatal accident rates have never dropped to the levels they were in 1993, 1994, and 1996, when there were no speed cameras in Northamptonshire.
1999 was an unusually bad year for accidents, which is precisely why Northamptonshire was chosen as one of the trial areas for speed cameras. The results were a foregone conclusion — accidents were bound to fall the next year, and they would be able to attribute this reduction to their beloved speed cameras. For more about this trickery see: Rigging The Evidence.
 
So what is this 'KSI' thing then?
Basically, it's a way of fiddling the stats to give them the answer they want. They group fatal accidents with serious injuries — as though there were no significant difference!
They can then churn out some nice figures which 'prove' how wonderful speed cameras are, whilst arrogantly believing that no-one has the intelligence to see through their deception. Meanwhile the number of people killed goes up.
 
 
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