As reported in MCN  a while back average speed cameras to be placed on the A537 Cat & Fiddle road. These cameras are in place now but not fully operational yet. As they are still digging trench for laying cables near Cat & Fiddle Pub. But it will not be long before they are so watch your speed. Fun Police strike again                                                                                                                                                                              

oh dear..thats one of my fave roads too!! shame it is illegal to blow up speed cameras ...............lol...............take care everyone then...                                                                                                                                                                             

i happen to agree.....its a great road but a unforgiving one......if it cuts down on accidents then i agree with them.....so sorry if i seem a bit of a old fart on this one...but i really think the road needs them                                                                                                                                                                               

I'm with Ian on this one.  Or at least kind of.

I hate having to propose measures such as speed cameras and the like.  But the fact is when a road suffers from a very high accident rate caused principally by inappropriate speed and other measures (education, warning signs etc) are ignored, then little choice remains.

As I've said elsewhere, we've only ourselves to blame.

All I hope is that sites such as this and Snake Pass are sufficient to teach us our lesson.  Otherwise all of our other favourite roads are going to have similar treatments installed.

So next time you witness some idiot riding like a moron, trying to get his knee down, passing on blind bends, having to brake hard mid bend etc, politely remind him of the Cat and Fiddle and that the vast majority of the biking world ain't impressed.

Hopefully he'll get the message .... but probably not!  If he doesn't then hopefully when he does get it drastically wrong the only one who suffers will be him.                                                                                                                                                                              

If you've got to have speed cameras at all then I reckon average speed cameras are the least worst option. At least you won't get an SP30 for momentarily passing the limit at one point only - they'll have got you well bang to rights on an average speed camera, thiugh.
The C&F is a road you've really got to know well, else it'll bite!                                                                                                                                                                             

wow we nearly agreed on something geoff......the only issue with average speed cameras is if lets say there are three you can go bollocking through ( technical term for very fast ) then stop for half a hour before getting to the ladt camera and you dont get clocked on the last one....so i would say proper speed cameras would be better maybe....or both.....god i am gonna get ripped into after this !!!!!!!!!! 

The pussy n pluck is one of our test routes. It is an unforgiving road if you take liberties with it. Even in the hight of summer you have to be on the ball as all to often you will find a tractor/horsebox or something around a blind bend. Personally I was disgusted by some bikers behavior last time I went to the pub, complete knobbers the lot of them.

Bloody bikers, you're all the same!

tbh couldn't care what they do on the Cat and Fiddle. It's too tight, too twisty, too busy and the surface is rubbish.   However average speed cameras are seriously bad news. In town, speed limits are fine, but in open country why not let rip, if conditions allow ? Once in place, who's to stop the speed nazi's ratcheting down the limits ? Quite apart from the issue of constant surveillanceBig brother is watching you.                                                                                                                                                                               

Just love " the pussy & pluck" hahahaha  all the time i have been going there or past it and never heard it called that before !!!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

"but in open country why not let rip, if conditions allow"

Because Rob there are a minority out there who don't care if the conditions allow or not!  They are going to "let rip" regardless!  And it is because of these pi**ocks that there are measures such as average speed cameras.

Oh and I am one of those that you would call a "speed nazi"!!  Maybe if we ever meet I'll bring some photos from work that'll guarantee you never swing a leg over a bike again!

It's nowt to do with "constant surveillance", it's to do with stopping people from dying on our roads.  Anyone who can't see this needs to step back and have a think.

I suppose I should be grateful for attitudes like this.  Without them I'd be out of a job.                                                                                                                                                                             

Geoff  - point taken, I guess at the sharp end you'll have  a very different view. If 1 life can be saved etc.   However I don't believe ever restrictive speed limits are the answer. for eg. How many lives are going to be saved by reducing nationals to 50 mph ? While I don't have stats, I would suggest very few.   I would suggest than driver training, in terms of skills and attitude, probably with refresher courses, at say 10 year intervals, could have far more long term benefits than the over simplistic speed kills theme.   Take that to its logical limit and we'll be back to the man with the red flag.                                                                                                                                                                             

If they keep dropping the speed limits where else are the hospitals going to get the spare parts from   My mates a doctor and has always called me Donner                                                                                                                                                                             

The one problem with the speed arguement is that statistically it is not speed that is the main factor in most accidents.....it is poor driving, so if the so called speed nazi's are to be believed if we all slowed to 50 miles an hour then there would be very little accidents ......try coming down and driving on the back roads around devon where the roads are congested with coffin dodgers and covered in mud from tractors (reported several times...told nothing could be done contact council)...you don't see police stopping these dangers to the road and having ago ........ NO too busy sat on a layby on dual carraige ways totting up speed tickets for drivers going 5 -10 miles an hour over the limit.   We are the most monitored and governed (FREE) society in the Western world.....I think there is a CCTV camera per 300 people and a host of rules and regulations not only from our own government but are we the only country in the EU that actually enforces those stupid rules and regs from Brussels (example new bike test smart waste of money)........so ok your average speed camera's are 'some say needed', well I say try doing a regular trip from South Cornwall to Mid Scotland, which used to take 8 -9 hours max 10 years ago to 12-15 hours as its average speed off and on from exeter to Stirling.....you won't be so keen on them then, bearing in mind it is 24hrs a day even at night when there is no traffic running ......                                                                                                                                                                             

There was a list of roads in bike mag a few months ago that listed which roads could be subject to average cameras and how roads are graded at three levels one been it needs cameras.Most bike crashes are rider loosing control on bends so yes rider edultulation is needed and if that does not work then we will end up with more cameras.                                                                                                                                                                             

edultulation
Howay steve you can't use big words like that without an explanation for us thickos!! lol                                                                                                                                                                             

I think its education in stead of edultulation he meant to write keeps getting his mucking words in fuckle lol  but yes lets face it if the local forces spent as much on rider education than dishing out yellow vests then we would get somewhere.....   I remember years ago 20 The Northern Constabulary used to run Advanced driver courses for cars and bikes using there registered instructors....a small contribution was made for admin costs but it educated drivers car and bike alike and also reduced your insurance fees.....so if it was done then why not now.......                                                                                                                                                                             

Simple answer  -  money.   Speed cameras are simple, cheap and have the added bonus of raking in a few £squillion in fines aswell.   Wether they're effective is apparently irrelevant.                                                                                                                                                                             

These cameras are operational so i am told now. The sad thing is it's the condition of the roads left my the winter not speed that is going to be the main factor with bike accidents this year.

Be extra careful on them roads.                                                                                                                                                                              

Not wrong with the roads. On the way up from Leeds rally the amount of holes on the road is shocking I wouldn't want to do it in dark be too hard to see                                                                                                                                                                              

normal average cameras dont work like the way suggested above guys. Speed past 3 and have break before the 4th. They work between 2 cameras but could be any 2, so a set of 4 means it could be 1and 4 plus 2 and 3 or 1 and 2 3 and 4 or 1 and 3 2 and 4 if you get my meaning