Static Speed Cameras

fishtoasty · Post by **fishtoasty** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 1:42 pm

In a 30mph zone what speed are these cameras triggered off at is it 40mph?? I went thro one last night you see at 35-37mph and did not see it flash in the corner of my eye but i may have missed the flash....

Any info wold be great

Thanks

Ross

enc · Post by **enc** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 2:44 pm

I guess that you're pushing the boundaries there. The settings will also vary between cameras more than likely. I think you're safe at 10% over the limit, i.e. 33mph but anything over that is risking ita bit.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 3:41 pm

I don't think there's any hard rules governing them, it depends on where they're installed and who does it. Some may do blanket settings, others case-by-case for the sites..... Some may be quite high, like +10 or +15mph where the blanket limit may be considered a little low and most traffic goes far quicker, so the cameras are set to only catch the real speed demons. This is quite rare tho...
A reasonable assumption is +10% +2mph, eg for 30 40 50 60 limits you'd have cameras at 35 46 57 68... you can mostly but not *always* rely on this. I've heard some areas drop the 2mph particularly, or the 10%, or both (bastards!) as it's legal for your speedo to register 10% HIGH but not 10% low. As if you can drive along watching only the dial and nothing else.

North Wales police in particular are sods for this (so I'm told by a couple friends caught at hilariously low speeds) - i've always got half an eye towards the side of the road when on the A55 and A5. And on the A43 north of Corby there's a little town where apparently the cameras are set to 30.1mph... the locals crawl past em and you'd be wise to copy. Then again it is a tricky bit of road so it may be justified to keep you trickling at 25mph.... (look out for the dispicably placed TruVelo a few miles west of there tho, on the A6003... on a steep downhill - I can't get more than 40mph UP it - right at the boundary of a 60 into a 30, between two corners where you can't see it coming until its too late. Luckily I first spotted that one when stuck behind another local. Doesn't serve any purpose that couldn't be better performed by moving the 30 sign back a half mile and upgrading the "steep hill" warning with "Slow" and "Low Gear" plates - pure money grubbing).

fishtoasty · Post by **fishtoasty** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 4:33 pm

Cheers mate any more info

16v_po-low · Post by **16v_po-low** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 6:06 pm

if you've been caught and you have a willing alibi for that time, blag that you went down that road the day after you were caught, the picvtures registered inaccurate and you'll get of scotfree laughing in the face of the law:lol: it does work, happened to my dad:lol:

tornado_ally · Post by **tornado_ally** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 7:10 pm

I f4ckin' hate speed cameras. I could understand why there would be speed cameras near a school but along the A10? 4 of them along a 3 mile stretch! What would kids be doin on the bloody A road! "accident hotspots"
The stretch im talking about is all straight road, only 1 junction. Its a 40mph limit and you have to pose for 44mph and over.
And penalty points for speeding... i think we need a whole forum for that alone. My neighbour has/had 6 years no claims and got a speeding ticket now his insurance is as much as it was back when he was a teenager!

PoloGTi · Post by **PoloGTi** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:23 pm

My uncle in the Police Force told me they snap at 10%+1mph
(10% to allow for speedo variation)

i.e.
30mph => 34mph
40mph => 45mph
50mph => 56mph
60mph => 67mph
70mph => 78mph

You will know when you get flashed, the whole car lights up!
(Been flashed twice but only one conviction!)

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:22 am

I dont get the lowered speed limits and speedbumps around schools... that apply 24 hours a day. What's wrong with a pioneering variable-limit scheme much as is used in "School Zones" across america?
There's a patch of road round here that's got a 20 limit slapped on it for about a quarter mile that i just noticed. It's not so far to go, so it wouldn't be particularly irritating most days, but if there was a camera there and I decided to stick at me usual 32-33 thru there one night in a mild hurry........ that would be well annoying to get flashed, at maybe 4am on the way back from work. (Yeah, it's not on my route, but just extrapolate the situation)

Especially when there's other schools nearby (eg the primary i used to attend) that have 40 limits outside them and no special treatment even though there's no sensible reason that they can't be afforded the same false "safety" afforded by slapping a lower limit and some bumps in.

This post brought to you by the mongolian comma rationing board.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:41 am

PS Any midlands Polo'ers notice the rash of 50-limits creeping in around the BNRR? It's like a plague.. so much for average road speeds going up, or limits being relaxed a little because of less safety fears from traffic volume. Particularly the "Collector Road" that runs alongside the M6 between Castle Brom and the NEC. Used to be a 70, all of a sudden, a 50. Happens to have some intrinsically dodgy turn-offs on it (involving traffic from one direction having to filter right into the reservation then turn across the opposite flow) that could have just been closed up instead for all the safety improvements. When the traffic's light, the difference in safety between 50 and 70 would be minimal because the line of sight is enough that I was able to brake from 80 twice between first seeing the junction and arriving upon it (not able to accelerate back, but I used the black marks as a guide), and it's still trucks blarting on thru at 50 to 56 that would take longest to stop. When it's heavy it will still make no difference as the turning traffic will still have to find a tiny gap to zip thru, gaps that will probably be made smaller by slower, bunching traffic. Safest and quickest way to get to the housing estate on the other side of the dual carriageway (assuming you've come from Castle Brom / Vale) is to either 1. do it at night when there's nothing there and you'll see any danger coming from upto a mile away 2. go up to the other roundabout and turn round, it'll take an extra couple minutes but save you sitting there like a lemon then risking your life (or, go the other way round from the entry roundabout in the first place!) 3. install traffic lights or a better junction design on the f*ing thing... filtering out from the right hand lane is idiocy anyway.

But no, the junctions are kept as-is, and the limit has been dropped from 70 to 50 on an otherwise near-motorway-class road that is dull as f*ing ditchwater even at 75. I fully expect there to be two or three cameras on that thing by summer. It's a two way revenue collecting thing. Use the M6 and deal with the still-present and unpredictable traffic, or use the toll road to do 70 and pay, or use the collector and deal with potentially even-slower-than-M6 speeds, or do 70 on it and pay again thru fines and points. Even in the left lane of the carriageway which has no junctions at all between the two roudies, when there's no traffic. Plus, they've done it to parts of the A38 as well (not to mention the diabolical roundabout & lights setup that would be better served by slip roads - bad enough in car, murder on the truckers and those who have to dodge them). Also expecting the A38 between Bassetts Pole and the A5 to suddenly be considered unsafe at 70mph despite being thought so for 30+ years, and dropped to a limit lower than the surrounding single carriageway roads (or perhaps my route to work will also be zapped from 60 to 40 limit?).

Grrrrrrr...

I suppose there is the little matter that there is after all a housing estate next to it, and the kids and teenage kevs could wander onto the road and get nailed by someone not expecting to have to play chicken with tracksuited sprog, but.... again... 1. there's a bloody motorway not 20 yards further anyhow, you're just delaying the inevitable.... anyone who wanders blindly onto the DC instead of using the footbridges is going to Darwin themselves sooner or later... 2. they'll just jump out with only 50m clearance instead of 100m, end result being the same with a false blanket of safety (chicken at 30 would be fatal). 3. the cash for the signs (and cameras?) could have been spent on some fencing, or a small education scheme to tell the kids "jumping in front of trucks will kill you". But that would probably cost more to do and not rake in extra revenue.

I just don't get it, y'know..... rant over.... feel free to debunk my theories whatever, but it just smells of teh dumb and dropping the road's carrying capacity by 28% to me (as well as putting a full 2 minutes on the travelling time along it, and potentially increasing emissions from newer cars).
Hmm maybe that's it.. reducing the smog from battered old local metros trying to top 68mph.