Let's be devil's advocate for a second. The UK's speed cameras are brightly coloured, so there is an intention for them not to be traps - that is, they would prefer road users didn't speed. You cannot seriously argue that they are trying to sneakily catch people.
If you get caught speeding by a speed trap which wasn't so visible, it is still your own fault and no-one else's. Either you are in control of your own vehicle's speed, in which case you are to blame, or you are not in control of it - which is even worse.
Speed, or do not. Just don't go crying about it and blaming others when you get caught.
your reply seems very accusatory. I'm not suggesting that there shouldn't be a speed limit, or that people who speed aren't culpable for their actions. I'm talking about the fairly well-known incidence of cameras on sharp bends or that are hard to see at the bottom of hills (or worse yet, police pulled up on ramps on the side of the road) where people who are speeding will see them and slam on their brakes. This is well known to cause an increase in traffic accidents and yet the practices I mentioned continues.
Perhaps a more productive tone to take on a discussion forum would be inquiry rather than indignant belittling.
edit: Also, speed cameras are brightly coloured by law, notably a law that the police themselves do not write, so you cannot in good faith argue that the warning paint is an act of temperance on the part of the police.
I'm sorry if I came across as accusatory - my use of 'you' was meant in general, rather than to the poster in particular. But, I was being accusatory to people in general who speed. I'm not sure how to point the finger of blame without being accusatory!
Take even your 'well known' examples of speed traps 'known to cause an increase in traffic accidents' (do you have a source?) - the people who were speeding and slammed on their brakes must share most, if not all, of the blame if they caused an accident as a result. Sure, they were reacting to a speed camera, but would the results have been so different had they been reacting to a real risk, like a person in the road or an unexpected obstacle? The root cause is that they were driving too fast for the road, their reactions or their vehicle.
I have no knowledge or insight into the motivations of the police, that may be an interesting discussion but it's not part of the issue that I was trying to discuss.
Speeding is such an odd law, I find it fascinating how so many people try to assign blame away from the speeders. Just last week, a relation of mine was complaining that they got a speeding ticket because they were caught driving at 77mph on a motorway, which they thought was unfair because, in their words, "77 is meant to be the leeway that police give before they stop you".
I'm no saint when driving, I just wish that speeders could take responsibility for their actions. If you get caught, don't whine about it being anyone else's fault.
And it's such a ridiculous thing, too. Going 7mph faster doesn't really net you that much in the long run. You're barely even saving minutes. Going 100 miles at 70mph takes 1 hour and 25 minutes. Going 100 miles at 77mph takes 1 hour and 18 minutes. You're saving 7 minutes, hardly worth a speeding ticket, right? And if you're going an average commute time of 25 miles, the difference between 70mph and 77mph is two minutes.
What's the point in going just a few mph above the speed limit? Just for the jollies? Sticking it to the man? Because the reason certainly isn't getting there faster.
Take even your 'well known' examples of speed traps 'known to cause an increase in traffic accidents' (do you have a source?) - the people who were speeding and slammed on their brakes must share most, if not all, of the blame if they caused an accident as a result.
What's more important, assigning / shifting blame or preventing harm?
Not everywhere. When was the last time you were on the M25? They are brightly coloured in places where they actively want you to reduce speed (residential areas and the like), and at infamous accident hotspots. Everywhere else (mostly motorways) they are hidden, and traps.
The M25 is littered with speed camera signs, so I don't see how a driver could claim to be surprised by any of the cameras on the road. What is the excuse for being caught speeding on it? Did the driver just forget what the motorway speed limit is? The controlled speed stretches of the M25 also feature regular electronic signs showing the current speed limit in large bright lights. If you fail to see them, you probably aren't paying enough attention.
I've been using the Waze satnav app, and it gives speed camera warnings as it knows their locations. What surprised me was how few speed cameras there actually are on the M25. Lots of the overhead signs that stretch across the width of the road have speed camera signs on them, and many also have the white lines painted on the road to calibrate the camera pictures, but far fewer actually have any speed cameras.
Before I used Waze, I had assumed that there were speed cameras overhead on all these bridges, and it was perplexing to see so many drivers happily driving underneath at 80/90mph, speeds that would definitely be caught on camera.
> and many also have the white lines painted on the road to calibrate the camera pictures, but far fewer actually have any speed cameras.
I call this "underprovisioning" ;) It's a common cop tactic to have a couple points where you can just position a squad car with a radar gun, have a quick calibration and off you go... and as soon as local radio stations or apps broadcast you're there and sniping people for speeding, you take the squad car and go somewhere else.
The fixed-position cams are there to actually reduce accidents because people know where they are and/or get warned by apps, so the danger points are defused; the mobile units are just for the additional profits, in most cases (people will speed up after getting out of the cam range, and then you can bust them).
If you get caught speeding by a speed trap which wasn't so visible, it is still your own fault and no-one else's. Either you are in control of your own vehicle's speed, in which case you are to blame, or you are not in control of it - which is even worse.
Speed, or do not. Just don't go crying about it and blaming others when you get caught.