Who do you think you are, Lewis Hamilton?

[Moley]

Coming out of our town there's a long, wide, straight road which has always had a 40mph speed limit. Although it's a residential area, the houses are set well back from the main road. Following a couple of incidents they dropped it to a 30mph limit, which everybody completely ignored. They narrowed the carriageway by installing pedestrian refuges and painting cycle lanes - it made little difference. Then they installed a Gatso camera.

This lasted about a month before someone built a tyre bonfire at its base. The case was charred but the windows were still intact so for a few more months it still served as an effective deterrent because there was no way of knowing if it was actually dead or just needed a fresh coat of paint. Then they took it away and put up a new, more robust looking device.

Traveling home last night and coming into town at a respectful 28mph, an oncoming car seemed to be going just that little bit too fast, and while I was thinking “you want to be careful there pal” he got the flash flash.

This has got me wondering, what is the usual trigger speed of these things? So come on, own up, who has ever been nabbed by a fixed camera or mobile patrol, or one of those average speed checks like you find through motorway road works?

My luck ran out about 3 years ago after 30+ years of regarding a 30 limit as ‘anything beginning with a 3’ when on a Sunday morning with little traffic and no pedestrians, approaching the end of a restricted section and heading towards open countryside, I rounded a bend and there was a Kojak with a Kodak. He saw me before I saw him - click click, 38 in a 30.

At the time I resented the anonymity of the ticket in the post and that no-one had had the decency to flag me down, point out the error of my ways and give me chance to apologise or come up with a novel excuse, but they offered me a speed awareness course (and no penalty points) for the same price as the fine, and I believe this has made a permanent difference to my driving habits and actually ended up as a good thing.

 

[Baldbrewer]

I have also been on a speed awareness course, whilst I felt cheated after being caught by a van camera the course itself has changed my driving for the better.
Shame they don't make it an inducement to getting cheaper insurance if you go on a course by your own free as supposed to hearing about the course only when you've been caught speeding!
I have heard of insurance companies now asking if you have been on a speed awareness course which defeats the object of going on one if it's going to affect your insurance premiums , my friend who is a police inspector blames the insurance companies for blatant profiteering from an educational course. He said a naughty word lol! :

 

[iceo]

iv not been given a ticket but have been pulled for going to fast with out evidence both time they had no camera on board or a Breathalyzer so got a talking to . i use some software only phone to clock the speed of my rc cars that works on gps and my car speedo is a 30 the gps is 28.2.

 

[Moley]

Shame they don't make it an inducement to getting cheaper insurance if you elect to go on a course.

Agreed, and I would like to see such a course become a routine part of driver training.

But what were your own circumstances, just slightly over the limit in force? I was told that I fell into the range where they wanted to educate rather than penalise first offenders.


I've just changed my car and haven't yet checked my speedometer against GPS, but my last car also read approx. 3mph above TomTom.

 

[danb]

I did the course 2 months ago for doing 36 in a 30

 

[Baldbrewer]

Mine was 41 mph in a 30mph zone coming into the edge of a hamlet from a 50 mph zone. Van on opposite side of road just over a rise , rushing around to pick kids up so I took the course costs out of their pocket money

 

[dennisking]

Limehouse link tunnel East London, they have positioned the camera in the roof, :evil: That's just not playing fair, who looks up. 34 in a 30 limit cost me 3 points and £80.

 

[Hawks]

Mine was also 38 in a 30 and Kojak with a Kodak.

Although it was some years ago ( 10 + ) He told me if I was 35 or under he would have let it go, but this could just have been his decision and not a policy...

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

About ten years ago my mum got a shock when she received a speeding ticket for doing 70mph on a 50-road through Chigwell. Despite living for twenty years in Ilford, a few miles to the south, she had never been to Chigwell in her life, so was somewhat perplexed - especially when it was proven that it was indeed her car. A little investigation uncovered what must have been a rather neat little scam: the M11 passes west of Chigwell and, like most motorways, it is 70mph along its entire length - except for the section south of (we think) junction 5, which is just north of Chigwell and south-east of Loughton. That section was always 70mph when we lived in Ilford, and continued to be for over a decade after our family moved up to near Saffron Walden, but was reduced to 50 a few months before my mum went to visit a friend in Plaistow.

My mum paid the fine and did all the other usual things, however when she went to visit another friend in Goodmayes a few months later she had a look for the speed signs, knowing they would appear at some point after junction 6 (M25). My dad did the same when he visited his sister in Manor Park.

To be enforceable, both the big "change of limit" signs and the small "reminder" signs have to be easily visible from the road, without anything obstructing visibility, and the "reminder" type aren't enforceable if there are no "change of limit" signs at the point where the limit changes. So as you can imagine, my parents were a little annoyed when the one and only sign they could find was a little "reminder" type half-hidden behind some bushes. In other words, the speed limit on that section wasn't legally enforceable, even if all the usual legal planning stuff had taken place. God only knows how many people have been conned by that, but I suspect it was a nice little earner for Epping Forest (or whichever authority it is that collects fines for speeding on that section of the M11).

 

[hairybiker]

I don't speed in any built up areas. I can't afford the fine :sulk: I have been done for 95 in a 60 a few years ago though, no camera, no car, no kodak. Still don't know where they were.
However there is a speed thingy on a road I drive almost daily. It flashes at you if you are doing OVER 30. Yes 30mph. My "new" car has a very erratic speedo, 33 is 30, but 50 is 50 verified via a sat nav speed check.

I have also passed my IAM test and one thing they are very strict about is the 3/40 speed limits.
But what annoys me is the people that SLOW down for speed cameras when they are NOT speeding anyway. At one point during my IAM training, we were out in a group following a driver up the A68 (speed camera round almost every bend :whistle: ) They SLOWED from 55 to 45 for every camera. So after following them for a bit, I just said F it, and over took them AT the camera, followed by the rest of the IAM trainee's and instructors. I asked about it later and said no problem, I wasn't breaking the speed limit overtaking the car :thumb: One thing they like is "making good progress" which can mean riding/driving at the limit or what ever speed the conditions dictate. I.e. slower in rain/slow/fog.

 

[Paultakespics]

I got caught for 34 in a 30 area. Took the course instead of points. Was a van in a carpark that was around 10 foot above the level of the road running parallel to it.

 

[gl0ckage]

I test trigger these with a biker group. Joys of no license on the front :-)

They trigger at 33mph give or take incorrect speedo alignments. Always claim your speedo was saying it was slower, go to a garage of a mates and get him to say the speedo is running slow, to you it shows 30, but your doing 34ish. Sign it send it off, as long as you aren't a speeder!

My speedo reads fast, but they do lose efficiency over time.

 

[gl0ckage]

All truvelos the ones with a big red eye and little eye work. They are new and they get fixed ASAP. Always assume they work. They are the ones that flash the most, only 1 or 2 in a hundred don't flash.

 

[Crastney]

don't trust the GPS over the car speedo either (imo) - very new cars will have accurate speedo's whilst GPS relies on what satelite coverage you have - which changes as you drive, obviously, because of obstructions, urban canyon, trees, hills etc. older cars maybe speedo has changed slightly over time.

 

[fizz head1982]

There is a formula to the limit set on the camera, although it can be altered depending on local tolerance. Its something like:

limit + 10% +1 = nick nick

Its all just a revenue generating game. Big brother. Far easier to go after the motorist, he has an ID plate on his car and everything is registered. Meanwhile a real crime is happening.

 

[alanywiseman.]

I got told by someone who did a advance driving test that they are set differently (at least the ones on the A9 dual carriage way). THey were getting told to drive through some at 73 and others at 78.

 

[Titus A Duxass]

Over here you bands when it comes to speeding, up to 21 over the limit and you just get a fine. After that the points come on a sliding scale starting at 1 point for between 22 - 30 over.

 

[PaulCa]

I have been got twice, once on the motorway for 85. My story is it was my girl friends car and the 80+ *indicated* was an honest mistake and only short lived, just bad timing of the mistake. I normally do 70-something and on my car indicated is usually 5-7mph high (based on GPS). GF's car was mile for mile spot on indicated The cop said if I had of been doing anything under 80 he wouldn't have bothered me.

Also got sneak attacked by a mobile van. What is the speed limit on a dual carriage way with a NSL sign? 70? Well, turns out it's only 70 if it has a steal safety fence on the central divider. No fence and it's 60mph. So they put the van right at the end of the this safety fence, which runs out about 1/2 mile before the dual carriage way runs out. I honestly didn't know this safety fence rule and the mobile vans expect few do!

I took the points for the first one, no choice as it was by an actual cop car. The second I did the awareness course. This was very frightening. Surprisingly most of the people on the course were women! When most of them were asked what speed they were doing and what speed they thought they were doing, most answered things like, "I had no idea what speed I was doing 'till I got the letter", or "I wasn't paying attention I was wondering what to make for dinner!"

Personally I always know exactly what speed I am doing and in my book in-attention is the real cause of accidents, speeding usually just makes the outcome worse. So... If it were me, "Do you know what speed you were doing sir?", "No idea officer, sorry". Should be 6 points and a double fine.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Coming out of our town there's a long, wide, straight road which has always had a 40mph speed limit. Although it's a residential area, the houses are set well back from the main road. Following a couple of incidents they dropped it to a 30mph limit, which everybody completely ignored. They narrowed the carriageway by installing pedestrian refuges and painting cycle lanes - it made little difference. Then they installed a Gatso camera.

This lasted about a month before someone built a tyre bonfire at its base. The case was charred but the windows were still intact so for a few more months it still served as an effective deterrent because there was no way of knowing if it was actually dead or just needed a fresh coat of paint. Then they took it away and put up a new, more robust looking device.

Traveling home last night and coming into town at a respectful 28mph, an oncoming car seemed to be going just that little bit too fast, and while I was thinking “you want to be careful there pal” he got the flash flash.

This has got me wondering, what is the usual trigger speed of these things? So come on, own up, who has ever been nabbed by a fixed camera or mobile patrol, or one of those average speed checks like you find through motorway road works?

My luck ran out about 3 years ago after 30+ years of regarding a 30 limit as ‘anything beginning with a 3’ when on a Sunday morning with little traffic and no pedestrians, approaching the end of a restricted section and heading towards open countryside, I rounded a bend and there was a Kojak with a Kodak. He saw me before I saw him - click click, 38 in a 30.

At the time I resented the anonymity of the ticket in the post and that no-one had had the decency to flag me down, point out the error of my ways and give me chance to apologise or come up with a novel excuse, but they offered me a speed awareness course (and no penalty points) for the same price as the fine, and I believe this has made a permanent difference to my driving habits and actually ended up as a good thing.

All West Mids Police speed cameras were turned off in April. The only ones about are the mobile vans.

 

[morethanworts]

21 years of driving and so far avoided any points/penalties. If I did get done for relatively minor speeding now, I think I'd consider 1 every 21 years to be OK.

Following something I heard on the radio years ago, I've always thought that if I got 'caught' speeding, I'd check that any speed limit repeater signs that should be there were 'regular' distances apart, were in good order and met all the requirements listed here. If it's in a 30 zone, then it appears the street lights have to be no more than 200 yds apart without there being 30 signs, and there are a few other things concerning National Speed Limit roads, dual carriageways and other bits and bobs.