I received notification of my speeding fine

911 said:
Doesn’t your hospitals offer valet parking, or a bus, taxi or Uber? Maybe park out on the street. Or, have a friend go along and drop you off and come back to pick you up when you call them that you are ready
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Valet parking? 🤣 🤣 🤣🤣🤣

Never in my experience, but in Australia people on the old age or invalid pension who are at the hospital for any reason, including visiting, can have the parking ticket validated. This then lets you out of the boom gate without charge.
 

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Dear Betrick, alias Leadfoot.
I had to translate KMH into mile/hr. You were blazing away at 47m/h when you got nabbed by the speed camera. But the speed limit was 43m/h. To be honest, that's not a whole lot over the speed limit. In the US, most cops won't ticket a speeder under ten miles/h over the speed limit.
I take it OZ doesn't take kindly to any speeders??
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Dear Betrick, alias Leadfoot.
I had to translate KMH into mile/hr. You were blazing away at 47m/h when you got nabbed by the speed camera. But the speed limit was 43m/h. To be honest, that's not a whole lot over the speed limit. In the US, most cops won't ticket a speeder under ten miles/h over the speed limit.
I take it OZ doesn't take kindly to any speeders??
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There is leeway. About 2-3 km. But with the fixed, permanent cameras, over the limit, done for.
 

Capt Lightning said:
One of the few good things the Scottish government did was to scrap parking charges at most NHS hospitals - if you could find a space. This was largely solved by "The Wood foundation", a philanthropic organisation who financed the building of a multi-storey car park at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. There are also a number of bus routes that serve the hospitals. There are a couple of satellite departments where you do need public parking at £1 per hour.

911- I get the feeling that you have never experienced our NHS!
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No. I don’t even understand what I am reading. Do they charge you to park at the hospitals?
 
Bretrick..

I got a speeding fine through the post one day many moons ago - maybe 20yrs ago... not sure.

Anyway, apparently, they had footage where I was speeding at some ungodly hour (around 3/4am) in some place I've never even heard of.

So, I phoned them up and told them it wasn't me. I don't know the place and I was in bed asleep.

Eventually after checking their photo from the speed camera, they admitted the camera was unclear on the registration plate number because the location of the tow bar was in the way.

Same make of car as mine, same colour, but I don't have a tow bar and my reg number was slightly different to what they 'thought' was on the speeding car.
They realised their error, apologised, and that was that.
😊
 
hollydolly said:
Did you see mine the other day.? 2 weeks ago at my hospital appointment there was no visitor parking spaces, I drove around and around for 15 minutes waiting for one to become free.. none did and I was in danger o being late for my appointment so I had no option..but to park in the Staff car park. I was there just over an hour... and the fine came though the post yesterday...

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A different perspective and the roll on effect....

NHS staff pay to park in the Staff Car Park. In comes out of their monthly salary. Places are limited and their parking area is comparatively small in relation to the main car parking areas.

So - parking by a member of the public causes a staff member to park somewhere else, possibly in the main car park which they will have to pay for. Bear in mind they are already paying for a parking space in the staff car park. So they end up paying double.

Imagine if that person can't find a space to park in the main car park so had to search the side streets, which might be quite a way away or has parking restrictions.
If they are fined for where they've parked - they also have to pay that fine.
How many times can that happen to that person in a 7 day week? How much money are they likely to be out of pocket for because a MOTP parked in a dedicated area for staff?

Multiply that person by hundreds/thousands staff members who waste time looking to park and how that impacts on the daily life of a Hospital's workings. Delays in shift handovers because staff are late to take over from the previous shift because they've been delayed trying to park adds more time that pt's have to wait to be seen or attended to.

From trainee doctors and nurses, qualified doctors and nurses, physios, porters, specialists doctors called in for emergency treatment to pt's after a major incident/RTAs. The list is endless.
Pharmacists - notorious for keeping pt's waiting for their medication, sometimes taking a full day. Could one of the pharmacists be late because they couldn't find a space?

All because MOTP park in their dedicated parking area.

.........

Hollydolly, if you'd thought you'd have enough time for getting there, (taking into consideration what might be happening on the roads, as well as finding a parking place), then you perhaps didn't allow enough time, if you only had 15mins to find a spot.

If someone who is able bodied like yourself, perhaps do what I do or what my sister does.
I usually allow an hour/an hour and a half to get to the hospital and add extra to find parking. Depending on the time of the appt (ie rush hour traffic or in school holidays) I allow more time. Plus I add on needing loo time. ;)

Are you over 66 ie qualify for the elderly bus pass?

If I'm lucky I find somewhere on the side roads. If I can't I drive on to the busy shopping area and park in a supermarket's car park (4hr parking times for free) and then either walk the one/two miles to the hospital or get the bus using my free bus pass.
I might be mega early, or nicely timed. If I'm mega early I go buy a coffee in the cafe - read a book or do a crossword or just people watch.

My sister's hospital is in another county too. She's not too good walking as she has COPD. She drives so far, parks her car wherever, then either gets a cab or bus to the hospital. She uses her free bus pass too.

Just a thought if you have to go again :)
 
There are no buses which go from where I live to the county where the hospital is...

The staff car parks are 3 or 4 times the size of the visitors car parks.. there are several staff car parks... ..many more spaces for staff than visitors

I can't park at a supermarket car park because the closest supermarket car park has a 2 hour limit or an £80 fine... and also as I have a knee and hip problem it makes it painful to walk far or fast

I am certainly not going to pay for already expensive fuel to get me to the town where the hospital is only to pay again for an even more expensive cab to take me to the hospital and back again to where I've parked my car...
 
911 said:
When I would stop a driver for going over the speed limit and they would blame it on their cruise control, I would tell them to take their vehicle back to the garage get their cruise control recalibrated. I would show them the sticker on my radar gun and tell them, “See, my radar gun has been calibrated.”
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Did you often cite people for 3.8 miles over the speed limit?
 
Speed cameras and red light cameras are simply installed to produce revenue. Several U.S. cities purchased red light cameras with an agreement that the seller would get a percentage of the revenue, not to be less than a set amount. When the cameras didn't produce enough revenue the city shortened the yellow light time from the standard of about 4-5 seconds. This increased the revenue as people used to a longer yellow light now began to be ticketed. Moreover, it was documented that intersections with the red light cameras had increased collision rates due to people slamming on the brakes to avoid a ticket.

6 Cities That Were Caught Shortening Yellow Light Times For Profit - National Motorists Association
 
911 said:
When I would stop a driver for going over the speed limit and they would blame it on their cruise control, I would tell them to take their vehicle back to the garage get their cruise control recalibrated. I would show them the sticker on my radar gun and tell them, “See, my radar gun has been calibrated.”
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Was the calibration done using tuning forks ? I remember that system from the 70's and 80's here in Ontario. The copper had to record testing the equipment in his memo book at the start of each shift, in case a lawyer in traffic court tried to argue that the instrument was not properly calibrated. How was your equipment calibrated ? JimB.
 
Some areas in California have been approved for a trial run with speed limit cameras. I'm in favor of it and hope it succeeds in its aims to prevent pedestrian injuries and deaths.

"The bill... will allow (six) cities to install cameras around schools, high injury networks — streets with the highest rates of injury and death — and areas known as street-racing corridors, as part of a five-year pilot program.

Under the law, the cameras will issue warnings for the first two months, and then for the first violation for driving 11 to 15 mph over the speed limit. The legislation also caps the number of cameras at 125 in the most populous cities such as Los Angeles.

The law comes amid an alarming rise in traffic deaths as officials and advocates debate the role of policing in road safety.

“The bill is intended to save lives and manage those that are driving recklessly fast,” said Damian Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are for Everyone, an advocacy group in Los Angeles that has been placing painted white tires along the roads where bicyclists and pedestrians have been killed.

He said the cameras will be an effective way to enforce the law without increasing the drivers’ interactions with patrol officers. “Enforcement has become a bad word if you include police,” he said.

Pedestrian deaths across the country are at a 41-year high. In California about 1,100 people died last year after being hit by vehicles. Speed is a factor in about a third of all fatal traffic collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."

Speed cameras: California's answer to rising traffic deaths?
 
Our cali
jimintoronto said:
Was the calibration done using tuning forks ? I remember that system from the 70's and 80's here in Ontario. The copper had to record testing the equipment in his memo book at the start of each shift, in case a lawyer in traffic court tried to argue that the instrument was not properly calibrated. How was your equipment calibrated ? JimB.
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The tuning fork(s) are also calibrated by the FCC. Every step of calibrating the radar equipment must be logged and each piece of equipment must be numbered and logged into the records book. Once the calibrating had been completed by the calibration officer, the FCC must certify the accuracy of the equipment. The FCC Officer must also log in his number as having certified the equipment.

I really had nothing to do with the calibrating. I do know that after ‘x’ amounts of use by the operator, the radar equipment had to be re calibrated. We did not use radar during inclement weather.
 
911 said:
Our cali

The tuning fork(s) are also calibrated by the FCC. Every step of calibrating the radar equipment must be logged and each piece of equipment must be numbered and logged into the records book. Once the calibrating had been completed by the calibration officer, the FCC must certify the accuracy of the equipment. The FCC Officer must also log in his number as having certified the equipment.

I really had nothing to do with the calibrating. I do know that after ‘x’ amounts of use by the operator, the radar equipment had to be re calibrated. We did not use radar during inclement weather.
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Thanks for the reply. I had to smile when I read your words " We did not use radar during inclement weather ". Here in Ontario , from November to April, we get a lot of that type of weather, and I know the OPP guys do radar every day of the year rain or shine. JimB.
 

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