Speed Cameras

[pemberton 15]

Has anyone noticed that the speed cameras (NOT SAFETY CAMERAS!) at the Dunkirk end of University Boulevard have been removed. Can anyone tell me why and is this a permanent thing, will those at the Beeston end be removed, probably made enough dosh along that stretch or realised that drivers have got used to them so are not creating enough revenue! !tony!

[Craig Strongman 13]

Yeh, but there is still one set down there!

[Caz 25]

And there's one up there as well LOL LOL

[Bip 88]

And there's one up there as well LOL LOL

Caz? you grease me up...........sorry Crease me up!. !rotfl!

[Caz 25]

Yeah me too.............

[radfordred 6,284]

Picked this off another message board i use ( FISO its a fantasy football site ) I'd like to share it with you , properly because i now know some of you .

After reading it i was thinking sometimes ( i think we all do ) put your foot down , loose your rag with others , take the odd risk , it's not worth it .

( who keeps moving my posts ? I'd like it here )

_______________________________________________________________

Right, I guess if you are reading this then I must have got through writing it, but right now, I can't be sure I will.

Four years ago today, my father died. He was 71 and had cancer of the pancreas. We knew the end was near for him, but it came more quickly than expected.

When the call came it was too late in the day for me to catch a ferry or flight south, so I booked in on the early Harris crossing and went to bed.

At 6 a.m. I learnt that he'd died at 3.

The journey down was routine enough. Fair weather through Skye, Fort William, Crianlarich then, I thought, Glasgow and onto his home near Motherwell, a trip I have been making since childhood.

But, as I drove south down the windy upper reaches of Loch Lomond, I approached a sharp corner and was passed by one, then another motorbike travelling northwards at speed. About 10 yards on, as I began to slow for the bend, a third bike appeared. The driver was fighting the pull, having taken the corner too fast. To my left was a crash barrier, a wooded drop and the loch. To my right, more trees and a steep hill. The best I could do was to brake hard. As I did my thought was, quite simply, "He's f*cked."

What I could do wasn't enough. The biker slewed further into my lane and hit the ground, slamming low into the front of my car with a short, loud, metallic bang.

I estimate my speed at 30 -35 mph. His is harder to gauge. It is enough to say there were barely seconds between his appearance and disappearance.

The impact threw him and his bike backward and he landed in the centre of the road.

My door was jammed by the smash, so I climbed out of the passenger's. The road behind was straight for a half mile and I could see the second biker had stopped. I waved both arms and he started to return, at which point I went to the body in the road. Blood streamed from the helmet.

The second biker dismounted and I asked him to find a house and phone for help, but the man in the road was his friend so he rushed to his side. Another biker appeared, not one of the three, and he called the emergency services on his mobile while I returned to the injured man. At about this point an HGV travelling north pulled up, so closing the main route on the west coast of Scotland for the next five hours.

Some years ago I took a basic first aid course so, with little better knowledge the man's friend, I tended to the body in the road. The blood I'd seen was flowing from his mouth. I presume his crushed rib cage had punctured his lungs as it was bright red and oxygenated. To our amazement, we heard him breath, gargling and bubbling through the blood - but he breathed. As his blood pressure dropped the flow diminished, but I realised that the way he had landed was causing him to drown in his own blood. We took the decision to gently rotate him until the camber of the road facilitated the clearing of his air passages, draining the trachea of the now darkening blood.

It was obvious that he wasn't getting enough oxygen but the lower part of his full-faced helmet prevented giving artificial respiration and to remove the helmet could have been fatal in itself, especially if the neck or spinal chord were damaged - and if it were possible at all.

For twenty minutes that bloke and I nursed his friend. His name was Graeme Nicholson. He was 29, married but with no kids. He'd passed his test one week before, and bought his bike, a 500cc Japanese chrome mountain, that very day.

The first motorbike eventually returned, having at last realised he'd lost his friends, but he kept a distance. I was just aware of the large man in black leathers screaming, waving his arms, utterly distraught, being comforted by halted travellers. That was quite scary.

Every so often Graeme would blink. Every minute he would gasp a gurgling breath. At one stage I had to remove a blood clot the size and colour of a piece of liver from his mouth. I can see it now, sat drying in a puddle of claret.

After fifteen minutes or so, rubberneckers appeared for a gander, to see why their journeys had come to such an inexplicable halt. B@stards.

Then a student nurse joined us, but so early in her studies as to be of little practical help, but she joined us in our words of encouragement to Graeme, to hold on until help came, to fight for his life.

For me, this continued for twenty five minutes until a dentist arrived. He obviously knew more than me, so I stepped back and looked at the scene before me on this beautiful, sunny day in Spring, the day another Graham, my father, had died. While I'd missed one Graham's death, I seemed destined to be present at an other's.

It was then a Glaswegian voice called to me, "Man, yer lookin' awfy pale. Come awa an' have some water. You're in shock, bud."

"Yeah," I thought, "I probably am." So I took his advice, and his water, and stood looking on as the dentist did what little he could.

"Them guys passed us not five minutes before we stopped an' I said to ma mate, "those boyz is headin' fer trouble riding like that." An' I'll tell the po-lice than when they come.", he said.

He gave me his address, in case I should need a witness. He was a runty, wee, ex-army man. He had common sense and kindness and I thank him for it still.

It was about now that Graeme Nicholson's heart stopped beating and the dentist had no option but to attempt mouth to mouth. They tried to remove his helmet, but the impact with my car had caused his head to swell and no amount of pulling would remove it.

It was then that he died in the middle of the road.

Minutes after that the police arrived, having had to come over twenty miles from Dumbarton. I put myself in their hands, in time asking to sit in their car to escape the gawp and inanities of the 'tourists'.

When there had been little to do but make Graeme as comfortable as possible I had fetched a travel rug from my car, and for the next two hours I sat looking at the tartan-shrouded body lying in the road while first the ambulance, then the police accident specialists, arrived.

I let myself cry a little then.

The police were very good with me. Very early on one of them told me, "Listen, Mr. Barlow, there is nothing, nothing you could have done about this. Don't go thinking that if you'd stopped for a cuppa for 5 minutes back there none of this would have happened. That does no good."

It was so obvious to their experienced eyes that there was no way I could have evaded him without jeopardizing myself, or anyone else who might have been behind him. In fact, they forgot to breathalyse me until I said I was surprised they hadn't! Of course, I passed.

At one point we even had a giggle, after they had reported to base that "the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene by a dentist at ...." When his partner sniggered at the incongruity of it, I did, too. Weird how we survive, eh?

Three hours after the impact I was able to leave the scene. The police ran me to a hotel at Tarbet, from where I could phone my brother and explain where I was. Several whiskys later he picked me up and took me to my late father's house and the madness therein .... but that's another story!

The point of all this, and the tears I've shed writing it four years after the event, is this:

It is too easy to take our cars and bikes for granted.

So many posts here and on the other two 'car' threads have talked of speeding; cutting up idiot middle-laners to teach them a lessen; doing what we want rather than what we know is right ..... and on and on.

Well, I'm telling you, my friends, for months after as I put my head to the pillow I saw that bike hitting me. Heard it time and time again. It took me a year and a half to feel like the man I was before the crash. I'm still overly emotional at times. I still shrink when I hear a motorbike scream down the road. I can't look at one without seeing dead Graeme Nicholson in the middle of the bloody road ....

Yet I count myself lucky. Had he not been going so fast, had he not hit me so low, he would have been through my windscreen and into my face and I would not be typing this now. And two mothers would be mourning their loss on the fourth of the fourth, two thousand and three, not just one.

So, playmates, please, raise your glasses in the memory of Dr. Graham Francis Barlow and Mr. Graeme Nicholson who both died this day in 2003.

And - for a while, at least - at every junction, every manoeuvre you make, look again for anything you may have missed - or for what may not be missing you! Our lives are so much more fragile than we care to think.

Be safe, eh? No risk is worth a life.

[Stan 386]

...and I`m going to bore you with a similar TRUE story that happened to me nearly 40 years ago in Notts. (and it certainly proves all coppers AREN`T B`stards.

In a really foul bitterley cold January ,Iwas driving up the M1 from London to Nottingham to attend my mum`s funeral. It was bucketing down.Icy cold,windy. Iwas driving a mini and all those of you who have ever owned one ,know how awful they are in the wet. Needless to say it packed up and I managed to get to the hard shoulder. After a few minutes a couple of cops in a very posh warm car(?Rangerover) pulled up and asked me what was the trouble. In no time,and without asking,they had the lid up taken the leads off and the rotor arm ,cleaned and dried it,put it back together,jump started the car and had me on my way.They knew nothing of my journeyor me. They were soaked to the skin. It was not a guy in a BMW or Rolls,but a chap in a mini.

Luckily I memorised their shoulder markings,and boy did I write to the Chief Plod in Notts to tell him. I wonder often how far up the food chain those 2 went in their careers.

I arrived with minutes to spare at me mums last do.

[Stan 386]

... I suppose they would have the AA ,RAC ,tow trucks and health and safety after them today. !rulez!

[Stan 386]

...speed cameras seem to be the least of problems in Nottingham from what I am reading. It seems it is almost impossible to park in Nottingham without getting a ticket these days. !rulez!

[BRYCECLARE 0]

Beware of new fixed speed cameras outside Bulwell Golf Course as you go to Moor Bridge

[radfordred 6,284]

On my way to work this morning @ 6:22am there was a Police road traffic van setting up just after the QMC flyover .... 6:22 in the morning .................... shocking.

[Guest]

Early bird- radfordred.

[Bubblewrap 3,815]

Catch any worms or did they turn ?

[catfan 14,793]

Speeding, no excuse really.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

I think speeding drivers deserve all they get when they are caught. Some of you may disagree and think it's just a cash cow

for the police. I doubt if you'd think the same way if your car was smashed to bits, with you and members of your family inside it.

Or passing an accident scene with the ambulance crew trying to save the life of an old lady who'd been crossing the road and the speeding driver couldn't stop in time. That old lady could be your wife or mother.

[poohbear 1,360]

What makes me sick is where they put the damned mobile things to catch speeders going just over the limit on open roads..

I live on an old council estate with a main bus route going through....It's like a race track out there and I know from experience some idiots are going well over 70 in a thirty zone....they never EVER get their arses on here where they are needed....It's a miracle kids aren't killed every day with these idiots around here..

[radfordred 6,284]

But when I finish today @ 2pm that same road will be @ standstill with the works @ crown island,my journey home used take me 6 minutes some days it now 45 minutes .... Wheres the facking speed cameras then? Thats what I want to know?

[MelissaJKelly 2,120]

Likewise RadfordRed. I come home past QMC and down to Crown Island and it's a nightmare at the moment. Going into next year as well. Fun times ahead.

[catfan 14,793]

What has traffic congestion got to do with speed cameras ?

In my experience it does not not matter one iota what the speed limit is, many will exceed it..

A tougher approach is needed.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Melissa (#18), Crown Island is a nightmare for everyone but have you thought of taking a different route?. Turn off at Dunkirk flyover and go along Abbey Street (where the White Hart Pub is), turn left at Triumph Road and go to the end. Turn left at Wollaton Road and it's only a few yards to Crown Island. If you live at Radford then you could just carry on along Abbey Street to Lenton Boulevard.

[denshaw 2,871]

I pass by Crown island several times a day, I saw someone working there last week.

[MelissaJKelly 2,120]

Michael - #20 that's the way I actually get to work but come home the opposite way. May be worth trying though! I'll let you know how I get on thank you.

Drove to Long Eaton today after work and the traffic on the way there along Derby Rd etc was tragically bad!

[Compo 10,328]

Thinking of a motoring holiday in Scotland? It is 140 miles from Stirling to Inverness on the A9......and every mile is covered by AVERAGE speed cameras. You can lose your licence many times over in one trip, so beware! Scotland - home of maximum surveillance.

[catfan 14,793]

If I had my way Compo there would be speed cameras every mile on every road !

[mick2me 3,033]

Stop complaining and do summat about it

Call for volunteers to help police catch speeding drivers

Nottingham Post‎ - 4 hours ago

Volunteers are needed to help crack down on dangerous speedsters and save lives.