The speed camera that isn't:

[4me2]

The speed camera that isn't: Motorists cut back gas as they pass ex-policeman's bird box


By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:47 PM on 22nd February 2010


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252690/Retired-police-officer-fools-motorists-slowing-building-bird-box-looks-like-speed-camera.html#ixzz0gRvyy8vx

A bird box resembling a traffic camera has put the brakes on speeding motorists racing through a village.
Retired police officer Bill Angus placed the box on a pole at the edge of his property in order, he says, to offer a little help to the local birdlife.
The birds may or may not be grateful - but his fellow villagers certainly are.

Bird lover: Retired policeman Bill Angus with the bird box, which he says only looks like a speed camera by coincidence

Since the bright yellow box - pictured right - went up, the number of drivers doing 60mph through the 30mph zone has come down.
Mr Angus insists - without so much as a hint of a smile - that the effect on speeders is no more than a happy coincidence.
'Why does everyone think it's a fake speed camera?' he asked.
'It's a bird box and has been designed this way to stop people stealing it. It's a bright colour, too, to attract the blue tits and finches.

Pick the difference: Mr Angus's bird box (left) and a speed camera

'Since I have put it up, the traffic is keeping to 30mph. If people want to think it is a camera, that is a matter for themselves.'
Mr Angus said villagers in Newbottle, near Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, have long campaigned for a speed camera, but were told it was not a priority site.
He added: 'Do we have to wait until somebody gets killed before they do anything? They come flying down here at 80 or 90mph.'
Mr Angus said the domes on either side of his bird box were fake camera lenses to deter thieves, and the lamp on the front, which looks like a camera flash, was part of an old torch he used to plug a hole he 'accidentally' made.

The box also appears to have code on the side reading: KUS KUTU. Mr Angus said this meant bird box in Turkish.

Effective: Vehicles have been slowing down when they see the unit

He added: 'I'd been reading that people should put up bird boxes because of the cold winter. I'm a bit shocked people think it's a camera.'
Resident Kenneth Welsh said: 'Speeding is a problem here. The bird box is ingenious.' Police say there is no law against 'fake' speed cameras on private property.

Ray King, of Northumbria Safer Road Partnership, which controls the placing of speed cameras, said: 'We have no issue with a bird box that looks like a camera . . . but if it overhangs the road or creates a danger to pedestrians, then it would be an issue


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252690/Retired-police-officer-fools-motorists-slowing-building-bird-box-looks-like-speed-camera.html#ixzz0gRw5eIEj

[muttleymacclad]

I think it's very funny but a sh*tty thing to do to the birds. Why? Well when someone realises it's fake and decides to vandalise it, what if birds have nested in it, and the chicks get killed?

MML (in tree hugger mode)

[Thrush]

lol what bird is going to nest in that.

I suggest a we have zero policy speeding law in all non- motorway / dual carriage way routes.

If caught you car gets crushed.

Goverment won't be making any money, and the speeder will only reach those dizzy hights by either walking very fast or buying a new car.

[Goldberg]

I hope he got Planning Permission for that Eyesore! and what evidence does he have that Vehicles were doing 60mph..

If a motorist saw that at the last moment and thought it really was a camera, then in extreme conditions they could slam the anchors on and possibly hurt/kill someone!!

Just because he is an ex-copper does not give him the right to take the law into his own hands, fucking busy body has nothing better to do!

I hope the council take it down! I bet if they installed a real one in place and it flashed to catch speeding motorists then they would complain of that too!!

[Owl]

Pretty sure impersonating a police officer can see you serve jail time. Is this not a similar offence?

It really bugs me when people decide to take the law into their own hands. You asked were told no so sod off with your smug grin.

If this causes an accident with a motorist slamming their brakes on I really hope he is held partly accountable

[Delboy_1976]

I can't see the problem tbh. If you weren't speeding in the first place then you wouldn't have to jam on the brakes would you?

[Goldberg]

But people react even if they are not speeding. They might be doing 30mph but slow down to 20/25mph with a driver behind not watching or paying attention and 'bang' ...

I see it as been a problem, he is breaking laws in doing this and he is an ex copper. That is my problem with it.
If it was a granny who worked her fingers to the bone each and everyday of her life I would applaud it, the fact he is one of those coppers who has not really retired (a bit like the old fella in Heartbeat) is what gets on my tits!


The only people who deserve recognition for a profession they no longer serve in to me are the Armed Forces people. Not some fucking (ex)village copper. I guarantee he runs the Neighbour Hood Gossip, sorry Watch....

[TwoPlAnKs]

Well he's fucked it now anyway, this story will get passed round the local area and they'll just go twice as fast to spite him.

Everyone always posts on here with keyboard warrior shit about what you should do to someone if they vandalise your house or something, but something boring like solving a speeding issue causes the anti-vigilante side to come out.

He's getting off with violating the intent of the law on technicalities, give the man some credit. If he'd done that to get out of copyright fraud or something he'd be called a hero.

Just because speeding is the "acceptable" crime doesn't mean it's OK to drive through a fucking village at 60mph.

Even to the guy who said speeding should be a car-crushing offence on anything but dual carriageways and motorways. Why not dual carriageways and motorways? I know of single track roads where you could drive at literally any achievable speed in a road car during rush hour and not endanger anybody but yourself, and of dual carriageways that are accident blackspots. Of course I don't agree that it should be a first-offence car crushing job, but why single out motorways and dual carriageways? Is it because it's considered acceptable to speed on those roads?

Given that this "village" is in England I guess it could have a population of a few thousand. The place should never have a main road going through it in the first place, that's the problem. I'm sure it was great in the olden days when all tracks would pass through all the villages between too points, but now we need bypasses. Instead of upgrading the roads to the two-lane well tarmacked and painted ones we have today, they should spend the cash on building a totally new road around the village.

[Goldberg]

Again, how does he know the cars are doing 60mph.....
Maybe they are doing 59mph, maybe 61mph... Not one single person can tell by sight just how fast something is travelling.

He's a fucking busy body ex-copper and I hope all his windowz getz smashedz in by da interweb police, innit.

[c0axial]

Must be Bored...

[Soulassassin]

Speeding or not, its still a fucking eyesore.

[TwoPlAnKs]

Again, how does he know the cars are doing 60mph.....
Maybe they are doing 59mph, maybe 61mph... Not one single person can tell by sight just how fast something is travelling.

He's a fucking busy body ex-copper and I hope all his windowz getz smashedz in by da interweb police, innit.

Does it matter if he knows?

Plus it would be a piece of piss to work out if he has that much time on his hands, just time the cars between two points.

It's not like he is actually fining people or anything.