Novus Systems
Information on the
Road Safety Bill
The Road Safety Bill was passed as an act of Parliament in November 2006, but is awaiting Royal Ascent to make the bill law. It embraces a range of new laws designed to improve road safety. Key elements of the bill which affect vehicle drivers are the issues relating to the use of mobile phones whilst driving and the illegal use of laser and radar detectors to avoid detection from speed cameras. GPS based speed camera detectors continue to remain legal.
GPS-based alert systems are supported by the government as a road safety aid - unlike ‘detectors'. The Department for Transport (DfT) has said that GPS-based systems "compliment the government's policy to ensure camera sites are visible and conspicuous to drivers, and so help deter excessive and inappropriate speeds on the roads."
If there was any doubt before, there isn't now. GPS speed camera warning systems are 100 per cent legal - and that's official!
In a Commons debate it was confirmed that during the second reading of the Road Safety Bill in the Commons, when transport minister Dr. Stephen Ladyman and Tory MP Owen Paterson both admitted that they used GPS speed camera warning systems in their cars. Mr Paterson even stated "the device has made me drive better." When asked to clarify that the systems will remain fully legal, Dr Ladyman said that devices which use satellite technology, "will continue to be perfectly legal. I have one myself."
Our research has shown that there is considerable confusion over the legality of systems that use global positioning satellite technology as opposed to speed camera ‘detection' devices that the Road Safety Bill seeks to outlaw. The fact that the transport minister is using a GPS system to stay within the law and protect his licence sends a clear message that these systems are acceptable and will remain legal."
GPS speed camera warning systems use satellite technology to pinpoint exactly where your vehicle is on the road. The vehicle's position is constantly compared with the system's database of speed camera locations and the driver is warned of a camera's proximity and the appropriate speed limit and will remain legal.
Speed camera and laser ‘detection' systems on the other hand, do not use GPS technology or databases of known camera locations. They simply detect some types of speed camera and although currently allowed, there is consensus that the Road Safety Bill passed in November 2006 will make the use of these devices illegal.
Customers should be absolutely sure that they purchase a GPS speed camera warning system if they want to stay completely legal in the future, but they should check that the system does not include a laser detector."
Time is running out for tens of thousands of drivers who continue to buy and use radar and laser ‘detectors' to avoid speeding fines and penalty points. Although currently legal, devices using radar and laser technology to detect or block fixed and mobile speed cameras and laser traps are set to be outlawed under the Road Safety Act 2006 when it has passed royal ascent.
For more indepth inforamtion please follow the link below.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/010/05010.i-v.html
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