Mauritius woke up with another sad news today :
2 road accidents victims as announced in the news headlines of a private radio station.
I was much surprised on hearing that in one of the accidents, the motorcyclist died after hitting the pole fitted with the speed camera ( Camp Chapelon). When I waited for the next news bulletins to confirm the news before publishing my post, the words “speed camera” were not stated anymore. Surely some false rumors or unconfirmed news that were broadcast early and removed later on.
Anyway, coming back to today’s topic, you have surely experienced the unpleasant ride along the motorway in Soreze’s vicinity.
Since a couple of months, authorities have ‘designed’ a temporary road layout to deviate traffic while road works were in progress for the construction of the new highway.
However, when the number of accidents in that specific area started to rise, authorities reacted promptly by… decreasing the speed limit from 60km/hr to 40km/hr. When they realised that the new measure produced unsatisfactory results, they had to find another altenative.
So, instead of opting for a better road design for improved security, authorities have found the ultimate solution :
Threaten drivers with speed cameras
Personally, this behaviour and design of this specific road network can only confirm the incompetency of some people working in those concerned departments.
Yashvinblogs 
How much are speeding tickets in Mauritius? They should make it high and also impact how much your auto insurance goes up.
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Rs2000 🙂
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Speed cameras around there do make me stick to the limit, et mo pa trouvE how that part of the road can be dangerous, actually with so much of curves, it is a pleasure to drive there, accidents are what they are.. just accidents, it is bound to happen, my sincere condolences to the victim’s family.
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From Defimedia :
C’est sa passion pour le rallye qui aura coûté la vie à John Westley Louis. Le jeune homme a été tué sur le coup dans la soirée de dimanche. Sa moto, une Honda 125 CC, a fait une violente sortie de route et a terminé sa course contre les barrières métalliques qui entourent la « speed camera » installée sur l’autoroute à Camp-Chapelon. Le drame s’est produit vers 22 h 30. L’impact a été d’une rare violence. La moto de la victime a été réduite en un amas de ferraille. La police soupçonne le jeune homme d’avoir perdu la vie lors d’une course de motos.
http://www.defimedia.info/defi-quotidien/dq-faits-divers/item/4191-accident-mortel-%C3%A0-camp-chapelon-%E2%80%93-sa-passion-pour-le-rallye-aura-caus%C3%A9-sa-perte.html
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saw the where the accident took place today.
extra… so moto in tappe juste avec ca barriere autour camera la.
2eme radar direction port louis
RiP.Sympathies a la famille
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I fail to see how a temporary speed limit of 40km/h is dangerous? It’s people who do not respect it who are hazards. With all due respect, do these people have a problem with their leg or foot (or brain) so that they cannot use the brakes of their vehicles?
It’s normal (everywhere around the world) to have low speed limits in WIP areas. I’ve also used the roads you’re mentioning and did not see any problem with them or how they were temporarily arranged.Also, I’ve pleasantly noticed, during my recent stay in MU, that people have become much much much more civilized at least in areas monitored by speed cameras. So the authorities have my kudos…
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Sad news but what about driving education? Speed cameras are part of that. You even wrote an article on the psychology of drivers in MU last year: http://www.yashvinblogs.com/good-driver/
Driving discipline is what it lacks.
Just for the understanding of speed limitation. Most people, and even people from the police force, do not know why speed is usually limited in to 40 or 50 kms/h. Its not designed to frustrate drivers. In a collision between a car and a person at 50 kms/h, the person has chances to stay alive, maybe crippled but alive.
Based on this, many European cities have limited their city-centre to 30 kms/h with no road marks.
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Still from Defi :
La police pensait au début à un simple accident de la route. Coup de théâtre ce lundi 10 janvier. Les limiers de la CID Sud ont arrêté trois habitants de Pailles. Ils sont soupçonnés d’avoir lancé des pierres en direction de John Westley Louis. Ce mécanicien de 24 ans habitant Cassis a alors perdu le contrôle de sa moto, une Honda 125 CC. Il a fait une violente sortie de route et a terminé sa course contre les barrières métalliques qui entourent la « speed camera » installée sur l’autoroute à Camp-Chapelon.
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his bike was going at 126 km/h before he crashed. the camera took his pic.
source: le mauricien 1.10.2012
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“Driving discipline is what it lacks”
Bien dit mon cher. Si ton prof te menace mais ne les met jamais á exécution, je parie que trouvera du plaisir á re-enfreindre ses lois. Mais si le prof est intransigeant á chaque fois, meme la premiere fois, tu pensera mille fois avant de récidiver. Je n’invente pas la roue: c’est de la psychologie de base – tu l’appliquera avec ton bébé bientot :-).
Dommage que les policiers et les con-seillers du PM soient les seuls á ne vouloir comprendre… Peut-étre qu’ils ont des nounous pour controler leurs progenitures, ou qu’ils aiment tellement accueillir des experts singapouriens…
” the person has chances to stay alive, maybe crippled but alive.”
Encore une fois, bravo. Reducing speed limits does save lives!
If you have noticed, these very intelligent authorities have “uniformised” the speed limits from 30, 40, 50 upwards to a single limimt of 60km/h in all secondary roads (called B-class roads by RDA), and sometimes 70, 80 and 90 on others (usually A-class or M-class roads). Without any logic, but certainly oblivious to the basic “survival rule”. Just remember that any collision with a human at speeds above 60km/h reduces his survival probability to below 50%. That’s enormous. Now imagine all the small roads of Dodoland where speeds were limited to 30/40, now fitted with brand new 60 signs…
“30 kms/h with no road marks.”
Wep.
Any one BMW-driving* lady whined about it…
Why do I have to mention BMW-driving?? Because I think I agree with this expert. BMW drivers, Audi drivers and luxury vehicle drivers generally (in Mauritius add to these Range Rover, Volkswagen, Mercedes and any car with +2,000cc enginess, with VERY FEW exceptions) are real a$$hole-attitude drivers.
And this nice article to sum up where our ‘developping country’ is aiming at today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/13/road-deaths-schoolchildren-poor-nations
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Enkor mem zistwar:
http://www.lexpress.mu/story/42248-deux-speed-cameras-en-panne.html
Quelquepart, c’est agréable d’être traité de “stupide” par un con…
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I’m reluctant;y posting this:
http://www.caradisiac.com/Quand-les-radars-de-feux-font-exploser-le-nombre-d-accidents-81872.htm
Who would have thought that these things could actually INCREASE the incidence of accidents…?
I think that it depends on the context: France’s drivers have a similar mentality to ours: floor it then think of consequences, so when they realise there is a camera, they hit the brakes hard. In other countries where defensive driving is of prime importance, they slow down first with consequences of speeding always in mind.
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