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Video: Cardiff cyclist triggers speed camera

Tell-tale flash as rider zooms past camera on Welsh capital's Newport Road...

Have you ever wondered if it’s possible for a cyclist to set off a speed camera? Well, here’s some footage from Cardiff that proves it is.

Uploaded to YouTube in 2012 – and given a fresh airing on Wales Online yesterday – the film shows a the tell-tale flash as the rider flies past it on the Rumney Hill stretch of Newport Road, where the speed limit is 30mph.

As is pointed out in the excellent Cycling and the Law article on the BikeHub website, speed limits do not apply to cyclists, not least because bicycles aren’t fitted with speedometers – although it’s sensible to try and adhere to them to avoid a charge of “cycling furiously” or “wanton and furious driving.”

Luckily for the rider in this instance, the police car that comes round the bend seconds later seems to have missed him triggering the camera.

Further west on Newport Road as it heads into Cardiff city centre, at the junction with Colchester Avenue, is a speed camera condemned as a “cash cow” in October 2014 after it was revealed that in the first six months of the year, motorists had paid in excess of £800,000 in fines or fees for speed awareness courses after being caught speeding there.

Many would argue that viewing speed cameras as a money raising exercise misses the point that they are installed primarily for safety reasons – although in this case, the Institute of Advanced Motorists suggested that the sheer number of drivers falling foul of that specific camera should prompt the local authority to look at why so many people felt the need to drive above the speed limit there.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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11 comments

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Stumps | 8 years ago
0 likes

Average speed check cameras are the way head, not individual cameras. Drivers just slow down then accelerate - unless you live in Cardiff it seems !!!!

Avatar
Bob's Bikes | 8 years ago
2 likes

Further west on Newport Road as it heads into Cardiff city centre, at the junction with Colchester Avenue, is a speed camera condemned as a “cash cow” in October 2014 after it was revealed that in the first six months of the year, motorists had paid in excess of £800,000 in fines or fees for speed awareness courses after being caught speeding there.

 

Amazing apparently it's the camera's fault that drivers can't drive below the speed limit/responsibly.

Avatar
Simon E replied to Bob's Bikes | 8 years ago
1 like

fatbeggaronabike wrote:

Amazing apparently it's the camera's fault that drivers can't drive below the speed limit/responsibly.

Agree.

Why is it that so many drivers think they can choose which laws to obey?

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CyberTonTo72 | 8 years ago
0 likes

I used to live in that area andgot flaged by an PC for going 45mph at the bottom of that hill, so easy to get speed on that road 

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The _Kaner | 8 years ago
0 likes

30mph speed camera...whoop de do....try doing it on a 50mph stretch....

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tritecommentbot | 8 years ago
1 like

This begs the question.. how did road.cc know what was happening on Wales Online smiley

 

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kenyond | 8 years ago
1 like

Not that hard to trigger that camera tbh its on a very nice down hill stretch of road

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Hipshot | 8 years ago
4 likes

Seems he was  going so fast he warped spacetime and went back to 2012.

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vonhelmet replied to Hipshot | 8 years ago
3 likes

Hipshot wrote:

Seems he was  going so fast he warped spacetime and went back to 2012.

Maybe he was going at 88mph.

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Wookie | 8 years ago
0 likes

“cycling furiously” or “wanton and furious driving.” is equivalent to Dangerous Driving not speeding

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Accessibility f... | 8 years ago
2 likes

Welcome to 2012.

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