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news
Driver speeding past child cyclist (Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team)Driver caught speeding past child cyclist at an "eye-watering" 61mph in a 30mph zone outside school
A driver has been caught speeding at 61mph in a 30mph zone, just a few feet away from a child cyclist, with the police confirming that a prosecution will take place, while also identifying 280 other instances of motorists speeding or using mobile phones in one hour.
Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team shared the image of the driver taken from the speed gun, caught driving a white Mercedes at double the legal speed limit outside Hayes School in Paignton, passing a child cycling on the edge of the road.
The policing team wrote: "A busy morning on the Paignton Police patch. Enforcing outside Hayes School and on Dartmouth Road, where this driver was caught at an eyewatering 61mph in a 30mph, with a child on a bicycle just feet away‼️ Driver will be prosecuted".
Adrian Leisk, Head of Road Safety at Devon & Cornwall Police, said: "Our South Devon team identifying, yet again, that speeding drivers in Torbay are not expecting to be held to account."
Our South Devon team identifying, yet again, that speeding drivers in Torbay are not expecting to be held to account. This is all the more concerning when you read https://t.co/Uazq63iuwk where Torbay is ranked number 1 for all the wrong reasons https://t.co/LXr73CflS1
— Adrian Leisk (@Adrianleisk) August 24, 2023
He added that this was made all the more concerning given the fact that the borough of Torbay, comprising of Paignton, ranked first in the list of places where casualty reduction efforts have been the least effective, according to the GB Road Performance Safety Index report.
The future projection data also indicated that without significant intervention, Torbay will have a 'killed or seriously injured' (KSI) casualty rate that is 3.45 times the target rate for 2030.
The team was not just policing in one location. A person asked the social media account of the roads policing team if they were enforcing speed between Marldon Rd and Marldon Cross roundabout, mentioning that it was "like a racetrack going north".
Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team replied saying that they had completed an hour of speed and mobile phone enforcement at rush hour, identifying over 280 offences.
Hi Kevin, yes on that same afternoon I completed an hour of speed/mobile phone enforcement at rush hour. Over 280 offences identified 👍🏼 - 31027^
— Devon and Cornwall Roads Policing Team 🚔 (@DC_RPT) August 24, 2023
A police spokesperson told DevonLive: "The #NoExcuses campaign was developed to highlight some of the most unbelievable reasons given by drivers for committing one of the ‘fatal five’ offences by motorists travelling on the roads of Devon and Cornwall."
> Speeding red-light jumping driver who almost hit schoolchild fined – but not banned
Earlier this month, road safety stakeholders in West Midlands, led by the region's walking and cycling commissioner Adam Tranter, introduced a new package of tougher measures to tackle dangerous driving.
The meeting also cited the aim to "target the most dangerous drivers" with "relentless enforcement of the rules of the road".
Just this week, new high-tech bi-directional speed cameras were installed in Devon and Cornwall. The new cameras, placed in areas including Drakewells and Gunnislake, have already caught thousands of drivers in just the first few days of a trial period in the south west.
The pilot project saw four of the new cameras installed with 3,280 drivers issued tickets in only two weeks. One of the cameras has been activated about 120 times per day in the first two weeks, while another detected a driver travelling at 73mph on a 30mph road.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
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50 comments
Only 280 in an hour?
Come to Lancashire and I will guess that you will catch more as almost everyone I see are either speeding or on the phone, blatently too, seeing as we never see any police on the roads.
Driving at 30mph over the speed limit usually leads to a ban.
We're all assuming that it was the car doing 61mph, but how do we know it wasn't the cylists?
Good point - or the camera?
Of course, that's all treating the motion of the vehicles as being in a static inertial frame...
Don't forget to start counting in the motion of that inertial frame within the wider world (bigger inertial frame?): the earth rotating at ,037 mph / 1,670 kph or the solar system orbiting galactic centre at 448,000 mph / 720,000 kph...
The footage does look a bit blue in that still so it's possible the camera is seriously miscalibrated...
It's those direct energy lasers
https://fullfact.org/online/maui-laser-government-weapon-fire-pictures/
I've just noticed that they blanked the reg plate and the time of the offence but quite happy to show the child and adult. I thought they erred on the side of caution for minors ?
That occurred to me as well, although obviously with the helmet and glasses it would be difficult to identify the child without them they are clearly a keen cyclist and you don't see that many kids that age on race bikes with proper kit on, so they are probably quite well-known around their neighbourhood. Definitely a bit more pixelation might be appropriate, might suggest it on their tweet.
Name and shame (the driver, I mean).
Show the number plate and let
cycling vigilantesa community-based justice system hand them an appropriate punishment.But 280 offences in one hour?!!? F..k me, that's scary.
I'm disappointed that is a speed measurement device and not an NLAW target designator..
These stats unequivocally show that a very large proportion of drivers are law breakers.
Yeah but it's not real crime.
Police should be arresting just stop oil and others committing thought crimes to keep the highway safe. Motorists are an easy target.
280 law-breaking drivers in an hour: but it's the cyclists that are the problem.
It seems to me that - although it is mentioned by the policing team and by Adwitya of this parish - the fact of there being a child on a bicycle or a school is actually completely irrelevant.
The point is that this person saw fit to drive at 61 mph in a 30 mph. End of! (as I gather the teens say).
Aggrevating factor - total disregard for vulnerable road users.
It would be kind to assume the driver noticed the cyclist, and reduced their speed to overtake them.
To 61mph
Some while ago D&C Police announced they were installing AI cameras to catch mobile phone offending drivers. I thought at the time this was a bit of a hoax
Thankfully, I was wrong. These cameras are detecting offenders and they are being prosecuted.
D&C Police are also proactive at prosecuting drivers who have been caught on other driver's dash cams.
I look forward to other Police Forces in the UK following D&C Police's excellent example👍
I look forward to other Police Forces in the UK following D&C Police's excellent example
So do I, but with little hope that the determinedly recidivist and idle forces like Scotland and Lancashire will pay any attention.
61 in a 30? "Exceptional hardship" or "can't remember the incident"
Which one will get the lowlife out of a ban?
Didn't know who was driving; the sun was in my eyes; the TRO has a spelling mistake in it, so the speed limit is invalid; medical condition; something, something road tax
Don't feed the need of the sad angry troll
Gone, it seems!
Is it safe?
Is that a fwightened kitten really? It might be a Perce, waiting to pounce ferociously on any small rodent that appears to gnaw on the RoadCC box o' cornflakes or even Rendel's wiring!
I'm more like a tick - easy to ignore initially, but gets more irritating over time.
A good analogy! You can wait "questing" on the end of a forum thread-branch for a loon poster to stumble into range then brush agin' 'ee. On to the loon with a leap, bite and suck at 'is daft hoot, until he itches and scratches with mental discom-fits.
Ahh, a few days' respite before the next iteration.
It can't be true, can it?
I've looked up the location where this happened on Dartmouth Road. The Mercedes would have passed these cyclists at a point where two lanes become one and the shared cycle path ends, so there is no other option but to ride on the road:
https://goo.gl/maps/hmmmH25a66yeGZT48
The appalling speeding to one side, this just shows how having short gaps in cycling infrastructure means it's not really fit for purpose - plus further up the road, what could be a cycle lane seems to be used for parking.
The driver also appears to barely be able to see over the steering wheel...
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