Well not quite, but it looks as though they are going
to try to ban the use of Radar Detectors with a harsh penalty
if you still use one and all other devices that inform in
any way are to be banned. Don't panic just yet, they have
been on about this for a long time and as yet every time they
tried they have failed. It is not expected to see
a ban enforced on GPS Based systems such as Origin and Road
Angel.
Latest News - April 2005
It looks like the Bill has been dropped!!!
See http://www.politics.co.uk/legislationitempage.aspx?menuindex=430010609&itemid=7197862
The interesting part is the sentence “This Bill has
been dropped and will not become law before Parliament is
dissolved on 11 April 2005.”
They will have to start over so I understand.
Latest News - December 2004.
'If you have a jammer or are thinking
of getting one you must read the Jammer law page, it contains
new information that YOU need to know about' - Jammer
law Page
There is a paper going through in January to ban the use
of Laser jammers and Radar Detectors. GPS devices such as
Origin, Road Angel, Road Pilot and Cyclops will not come under
the ban as long as they do not have any optional Radar Head
fitted. Laser detectors built in or separate are believed
not to be covered in the ban.
Wording from the
DOT.
Thank you for your email about speed camera
detectors.
Excessive or inappropriate speed is a factor in many road
accidents. Analysis of casualty statistics in Great Britain
has shown excessive speed to be a contributory factor in 28%
of all collisions that result in a fatality. It is essential
for the safety of all road users that the police can undertake
speed enforcement to identify people who speed, in particular
in covert operations.
It is for this reason that we propose
to prohibit devices that prevent or interfere with this police
activity. Clause 17 of the Road Safety Bill gives the Secretary
of State the power to prohibit the fitting of, or the use
of vehicles carrying, speed assessment equipment detection
devices. It defines such devices as a device one or more of
whose purposes is to interfere with or detect the operation
of equipment used to assess the speed of motor vehicles.
The precise details of which devices would
be prohibited will be set out in supplementary secondary legislation.
This will be done following full consultation with interested
people. It is not intended to prohibit Global Positioning
Systems which usefully give drivers information on the location
of published camera sites.
Lesley Reed
Road Safety Division
Department For Transport
2/11 Great Minster House
Latest News - 16th July 2004
Well its all over the press at the moment. They are miss-quoting
it as usual.
|
16th July 2004
Speed camera detectors to be banned
Devices which detect speed cameras are to be banned,
the Government has revealed.
The Department for Transport said it
would seek to ban the dashboard devices as soon as possible
because of fears motorists were using them to break
speed limits without being caught.
Thousands of drivers have installed
the detectors after a huge rise in the number of speed
camera penalties.
They have already been banned in many
European countries including France and Ireland.
A Department for Transport spokeswoman
said: "We are aware of the problem and as soon
as a legislative opportunity becomes available we will
seek to make these devices illegal."
Road safety groups welcomed the announcement.
Rob Gifford of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for
Transport Safety told The Times: "This is a long
overdue closing of a legal loophole.
"Speed camera detectors should
not be needed by law-abiding drivers."
Transport minister David Jamieson yesterday
said he was happy for people to know where the cameras
were. But he did not want information to be passed on
revealing whether or not they were switched on.
He told a Commons committee: "If
there is a map showing where they are, then I think
that's a good idea, because people will then be very
careful in that area."
He also ruled out random breath-testing
and said there were no plans to lower the legal drink-drive
limit.
|
Wednesday 30th June 2004
Ban For Speed Camera Spotters?
Speed camera detectors could be made illegal in the
UK. Auto Express has learned that the Government is
looking at ways of banning laser detectors as they can
give away the position of mobile speed traps.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport explained:
"The police have the right to carry out covert
surveillance. Devices that detect the signal given off
by a mobile speed camera can give this away, and this
could be seen to affect the police's ability to do their
job properly." But he added: "We have no problem
with those systems which only use GPS satellite technology."
Such gadgets, known as locators, are deemed acceptable
as they can only tell drivers where fixed cameras are
- and this information already exists in the public
domain. In addition, Gatsos are designed to slow motorists
at accident hotspots, and GPS systems help warn drivers
that they're nearing a high-risk location.
Many European countries - including
France - have already banned all detectors, but a similar
move by the UK authorities could give weight to the
argument that Gatsos are no more than a way of raising
revenue.
|
|
July 16, 2004
The Times
End of the road for motorists who use in-car
technology to beat speed cameras
By Ben Webster
DEVICES which detect or jam speed cameras are
to be banned because of concerns that drivers are exploiting
them to drive over the speed limit without fear of being
caught.
More than 100,000 drivers have installed the devices
and
dozens of companies supply them. The market is growing
rapidly in response to the huge rise in speed camera
penalties.
Two million tickets were issued last year and police
expect to hand out three million this year.
The Government plans to include the ban in a forthcoming
road safety Bill. The penalty for carrying a device
in a
vehicle has yet to be determined but the maximum fine
is
likely to be £1,000 and drivers will also have
up to six
points added to their licences.
A Department for Transport document outlining the proposed
ban states that it will prohibit the carriage of devices
that either actively inhibit the proper function of
a speed camera or detect the presence of functioning
speed cameras (as opposed to dummy housings).
Devices that use satellite-positioning systems
to give
drivers early warning of a speed camera will remain
legal.
Ministers believe there is no problem with drivers
simply being reminded of an approaching camera, which
should be highly visible anyway under rules introduced
two years ago.
The ban will instead focus on devices which tell drivers
whether or not a yellow speed camera housing contains
a live camera.
Many housings are dummies because police forces have
only a limited number of cameras that they rotate in
their enforcement sites. Drivers are able to speed past
many camera housings because their detectors fail to
bleep or flash, indicating that the housings are empty.
Ministers also want to prevent drivers from evading
detection by police officers armed with speed guns.
Most forces supplement their fixed cameras with mobile
enforcement as an extra deterrent.
The ban would bring Britain into line with several other
European countries which have outlawed camera detectors,
including France, Belgium, Greece, Austria, Turkey,
Switzerland, Luxembourg, Ireland and Norway. In Luxembourg
the maximum penalty is a prison sentence of between
eight days and three years. The Republic of Ireland
also deals harshly with offenders and a six-month prison
sentence is possible.
Until 1999, the devices were believed to be illegal
in Britain under the 1948 Wireless and Telegraphy Act.
But a test case established that radar and laser detectors
were not covered by the Act because they did not interfere
with
the signal.
Road safety groups welcomed the plans for a ban, saying
it
would stop drivers from believing they could speed with
impunity.
Rob Gifford, director of the Parliamentary Advisory
Council for Transport Safety, said: This is a long overdue
closing of a legal loophole.
Speed camera detectors should not be needed by law-abiding
drivers: a competent driver is always aware of the speed
limit and can assess the speed at which the vehicle
is
travelling. I am glad that at last the Government is
taking
action.
But the RAC Foundation said that detectors were a useful
tool for high mileage drivers who would risk being sacked
if
they lost their licences after getting four speed camera
penalties.
Edmund King, the foundation's director, said: Some fleet
drivers fit these devices for quite legitimate reasons.
When driving 40,000 miles per year it is relatively
easy to
stray above certain speed limits, so these devices act
as a
reminder to slow down.
Will drivers who have bought these legal devices in
good
faith be compensated if they are made illegal to use?
A
MORI survey commissioned by the Drivers Technology
Association found that 60 per cent of those who used
camera detectors said that they had become safer drivers
since purchasing the devices and three quarters said
they had become more aware of speed limits.
|
FLASH GADGETS
* There are 5,000 fixed and mobile camera
sites
* Speed camera fines generate £68 million annually,
of
which £54 million is spent on running costs
* The Government claims that speed cameras save 100
lives every year
* The proportion of vehicles speeding excessively (15mph
more than the speed limit) has fallen by 80 per cent
at fixed camera sites
* However, this drops to 28 per cent at mobile camera
sites
* There are several different types of speed camera:
* Specs, which calculates a car's average speed between
two points
* Truvelo, which takes a picture of the front of the
car
* Gatso camera, the most common, found all over Britain
* Accident casualties at 743 camera locations have
increased rather than decreased, a new study shows
* This year almost three million speeding penalties
are
expected to be issued, up from 260,000 in 1996
* Womens speeding offences have risen by four percentage
points in the past five years, yet still constitute
only 17 per cent of the total
* The number of traffic police has fallen by 11 per
cent
since 1996
* Home Office guidelines state that 15 per cent of
cameras can be placed at places other than accident
blackspots
* The A537 from Macclesfield to Buxton is the most
dangerous road in England. There are no speed cameras
on
this road.
July 16, 2004
Sky.com
Clampdown on Gatso detectors
Speed camera detectors which use lasers or radar
could be banned by the Government.
The Department for Transport is looking at ways to
outlaw these systems because it believes they interfere
electronically with the operation of speed cameras.
Both the DfT and the police are also concerned that
such systems are being used by illegal street racers
to avoid detection.
The DfT gave no indication of how soon the devices
could be banned, but said it had been working on plans
to outlaw them for some time.
However, a DfT spokesman said there were no
plans to ban satellite navigation-based (GPS) detectors
which warn motorists of approaching camera sites. 'We
don't have any problem with people knowing the location
of cameras - that's why they're listed on the internet,'
he said.
Laser and radar devices work by detecting the signal
that static and mobile cameras use to catch speeding
motorists. GPS systems work by comparing a map of camera
locations against the car's position, warning drivers
if they are approaching a site.
Some systems rely completely on lasers or radar, while
others such as Snooper or Road Angel use them in combination
with GPS coverage.
|
As I understand it the following may be banned. Radar
Detectors and Laser Jammers.
GPS Systems such as Origin
and Road Angel will not come under the ban.
The ACTUAL statement from the Department for Transport is:
"The Department for Transport is looking at ways
to outlaw these systems because it believes they interfere
electronically with the operation of speed cameras"
There is an article on my site called Project 706,
in the interferance page.. This
explains the problem.
Law Update.
The government and the DETR are looking into
banning the use of Radar Detectors, an e-mail seems to confirm
this from Phil a reader of the site. Phil sent an e-mail to
the Road Safety Division, their reply went as follows:
The Department agrees with you that enforcement
is necessary to assist in reducing vehicle speeds. This
view is supported by the police. Indeed, the number of speed
limit offences dealt with by police action increased by 17%
in 1997 (the latest figures available) to 891,000. If you
feel that your local police force is not devoting sufficient
resources for road traffic law, you may wish to contact them
directly to discuss this issue.
Safety (speed and red light) enforcement cameras
are proving to be an effective way to reduce traffic speeds
in certain circumstances. They do not have an extended or
"zonal" effect which one of the reasons we advise they are
only placed at sites with a history of speed related accidents.
A Home Office commissioned cost benefit analysis of enforcement
cameras showed an average 4 mph speed reductions and a 28%
accident reduction at speed camera sites.
On 1 April a new funding mechanism for speed
and red light enforcement cameras was introduced. This new
system allows the police, local authorities and courts to
use some of the revenue from fixed penalty speeding fines
to be used to fund new camera operation. This new activity
might be additional cameras, placing film in cameras where
there was previously none, or lowering the speed thresholds
at which point the cameras operate. However, this is only
a pilot project designed to prove that the mechanism can be
made to work.
The pilots are operating in 8 police force areas
and involve partnerships of the local police force, local
authorities and magistrates' courts. They will run initially
for two years and, if successful, will be made generally available
in England, Scotland and Wales.
As I have already explained, safety cameras
are most effective at accident blackspots. However, many drivers,
when faced with a safety camera will slow down, only to speed
up again once past. This is clearly unacceptable. The Department
would much rather drivers reduce their speeds voluntarily
and consistently whilst on our roads.
In addition, many drivers buy detectors purely
to frustrate the safety camera and avoid detection when speeding.
There are clear road safety issues here which need to be addressed.
This is why we are looking at current legislation to see how
we can prohibit the use of camera detectors. However, before
we can introduce legislation, we are required to consult organisations
which may have an interest in this issue.
I hope this has been helpful.
Ian Edwards...
If you want to send a e-mail to Mr Edwards,
saying you either agree or disagree please do so, he does
not know I have pasted his mail address here, but I feel Radar
Detectors add to road safety... his mail address is Ian_Edwards@detr.gsi.gov.uk,
Please be polite to him after all he is only doing his job.
Latest News 29th May 2002... In simple there is no
news, no ban now new laws no nothing. We are not expecting
a ban from what we hear on the grape vine
Latest News: 11th May 2001
There is no news, The DETR will not give out
any info, its however not expected that a ban will be put
in place, they have to many holes in the SI.
It is expected they will have to rewrite the SI and start
again, the General Election will also affect the time they
have.
So so far no ban is in place and its not expected to be put
in place for the foreseeable future.
The DTA, a new group set up to fight the ban are watching
the situation very closely and have a good fighting fund to
deal with the problem. This members in this group are the
manufactures and retailers of the equipment covered in the
proposed ban.
Details of what the DETR are planning.
