Reply With QuoteThat's a good question - I travel through one of these zones every day and often wonder about this.
I read somewhere that if you keep changing lanes it reduces the likelihood of being caught, though this might just be an urban myth.
Maybe its me being thick here, now average speed camera systems as far as I am concerned are pretty much straight forward, the clue is in the phrase 'average'
I seem to missing something though, I come across the same guy almost every day for the past year or so in the road works on my way to the office and he races through the 50mph average speed camera zone and has done on at least 20+ occasions I have been on the same stretch of road.
So, thinking he is an idiot and going to accumulate points, he is still on the road...I now see drivers using another average speed camera road, which is 70mph, to which they are clearly exceeding the 70mph limit.
Is there something I dont know? Or just idiots that dont know how they work?
That's a good question - I travel through one of these zones every day and often wonder about this.
I read somewhere that if you keep changing lanes it reduces the likelihood of being caught, though this might just be an urban myth.
Glad its not just me buddy.....I dont want anymore points (got done for a mistake I made, thought it was a 40 when it was a 30 zone..dual carriage way with central reservation) ...so dont want to risk it.Originally Posted by Velorum
I often see it too and wonder if the tolerance for tripping a NiP is quite high on these, but I guess they are all set at a local level so you wouldn't know.
They're not always working unfortunately, some are dummy cameras too.
The changing lanes thing used to work when you had one camera on a dual carriageway that had to be focussed on one lane or the other, so as long as you were in different lanes at each camera you didn't get done.
That's no longer the case on the current systems, and the cameras can read multiple lanes.
Threshold for nips should be the same as those for the standard cameras in that area.
A guy at work got 12 points and a ban in one return journey a couple of years back after not understanding how average speed cameras work...
I see these idiots aswell slowing down then speeding up for them aswell....and wonder how thick can you be to not get the 'average' part.
So does each camera treat it as a separate offence despite it being along one stretch of road?
In a similar vein if say there were 3 of the usual kind of camera's at various points along a stretch of road - say over a 10 mile distance - and you tripped all of them going just above the limit would this count as one offence or three?
If a police car followed you over the same distance and then pulled you over then I am pretty sure that it would be just one offence.
Ive often wondered about that too.
Pretty sure if the first camera clocks you and you pass through say 10 camera's then turn off the road, the system will log this and generate 1 offence for speeding over that distance.
Thanks
That's something of a relief
The guy in the office who got a ban accrued the points over a long return journey to Bristol from Wakefield. He passed through several sets of average cameras over the two days.
He was fortunate to only get 12, in fact from memory he already had 3 so technically had 15 when he went to court.
I've wondered about this too.
There seem to be lots booting it past at 90. They can't all be first-time speeders...
There are still the idiots that appear to brake at each camera, clearly not understanding the 'average' part of the system, but I must admit, especially with the A9 and 120 odd miles of the bloody things, that you can still make decent progress and overtake many cars.
Maybe people forget that car speedos tend to overread. My GPS confirms that at a genuine 60mph my car reads 65, and 76 at an actual 70mph. Pop the cruise control on at these limits and people look at me like I'm an idiot as I pass them.
Still doesn't answer the question as to why so many speed well above the limit at roadworks. Maybe they know where the cameras are dummies, but I don't fancy pushing my luck.
I also wonder about some HGV's
Ive been on restricted and average speed camera sections and carefully calibrated my cruise control to GPS readings and often seen HGV's sail past me at what must be 60 or just above in e 50 zone. Being as their livelihood is dependent upon them keeping their licence they must know something that we don't.
Currently working in Staines so use the M25 and I see this all the time but I always stick to 73 as indicated on my sat nav so around 75 as indicated on my speedo. I've seen some people who are clearly doing around 80 so have always wondered what they know that I don't.
Seems all too easy to get off in court due to your livelihood being dependent on your ability to drive. Not that many years ago, it took until a 4th drink drive conviction for my boss to lose his license. Also, as was mentioned in the satnav thread, often you'll just get a speed course and fine, and no points. I also wonder how many might be foreign and just drive off into the sunset before action is taken.
Ive seen more cameras flashing over the past couple of weeks on my usual commute between the M3 and Reigate junctions.
I do not know about the UK ones but over here the average speed cameras do not clock the speed of the vehicles passing.
They register what time the license plate numbers pass and then the central computer at a remote location calculates the speed which thus is the average.
You could race through the first, stop for a coffee and race through the next within the time frame adding up to the allowed speed.
Since the cameras register every vehicle that is also checked against anything from road tax, insurance to whether the inspection is valid.
with action almost only following 10% + 2, an actual 79 is the least at which a 'ticket' follows (assuming 70 mph limit of course!!). Spedometers read appros 10% over so 85 on the clock is reallly 76.5 and thus under the threshhold for action. At 70 mph, someone passing at 85 is quitea bit quicker, but almost certainly safe. I wonder of this is whyno Government will increase the posted limit - there is simply no need. As others have said, not all cameras are active and not all set to 10% + 2. Those who brake at the HADECs Average cameras arejust too stupid to be allowed on the roads!!.........
I am pretty sure that is the case in the UK, else they would just be speed cameras, not average speed cameras.
Not entirely true. 10% plus 6mph is the max allowable over-read but any amount between 0% and that speed is legal. It depends on wheel/tyre combinations as much as anything else. My BMW is only about 3% over.
Last edited by Padders; 25th March 2017 at 16:28.
Why would average cameras not be? After all THOSE are the topic.
It is not like in the old days when it was just a box that might or might not contain a camera with a card (even older film). They are connected to a remote computer system that is basically always on.
Thus the ones over here are continuously on bar glitches.
You are correct that they are connected to a computer, but they are not always on. Certain zones over the complete stretch of the enforcement area can be turned off.
It's easier to tell at night if they are working as there is floodlighting as well, aimed at the spot where your number can be seen by the camera.
I must admit to the better safe than sorry approach.
I've been through the road works on the m1 at Northampton a few times recently and set my cruise control to 50 according to my sat nav and always have somebody half an inch from my arse flashing his lights then bombing past often wondered why they aren't all banned.
another pet peeve is having hgv s almost on top of you in the next lane in the Northampton 50 Limit cos the lanes are so narrow but you can't slow down cos someone is right behind you and you can't speed up to get past them cos you would be going faster than 50
Anyone using the A30 it's 40 around Bodmin and the averaging cameras are miles apart.
Maybe because they can set their cruise at 56 or 57 and still get through without a ticket so get frustrated with those abiding by the limit. Or they are idiots.
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