Average speed cameras.

[ukracer]

So I'm driving up to Inverness this morning. Up the a9 through the average speed cameras. There is a report on the bbc Scotland news saying how well they are working and less speeders are being caught.
Now I'm stuck for nearly an hour now because of an accident. Did a search for accidents on the a9 and the Internet is full of fatal accidents. There was even one the day after they got switched on.
So I'm coming to the conclusion that they ain't working that we'll.
A rescue touch has just gone buy so hopefully not much longer.

I can't see how average speed cameras work.........I mean how can I comply with the law if I don't have the tools to do so. ALL they can do is force law abiding I drivers to go Extra slow just in case...encouraging those in a hurry to get past at all costs so at least they can go at the speed limit.

 

[ukracer]

Just been on the radio (13:30) overturned tractor and trailer

Obviously doing 80 as if it's a dual carriageway. Lol (sorry)

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Near Warminster was a well know do gooder (AKA Mr Richard Cranium) he was well known for campaigning about everything. Like cars in is village doing “to faster speed”

He made a fake GATSO speed camera and placed it on the edge of his property.

It was with great mirth that he was caught for speeding, in his village, on a speed trap he arranged.

Oh yes, soon after the fake camera was not there.

 

[brightspark]

they peed me off round our way with there roadside camera afer they nicked me for 4mph over limit I was that narked I parked my van 8yards up the road in front of his camera and took my lunch break he came over and asked me to move yea when I'm finished I will there's nowt u can-do about it . sling your hook

 

[dazza]

They don't have many of these here, i did blast through one coming back from Alicante did not realise until i exited the monitored stretch and a Porsche made me look like i was standing still .

 

[ukracer]

We have no fixed cameras in Pembrokeshire so only encounter them when traveling.

Average speed cameras are great fun as so few people are numerate:
Simplified scenario (not dissimilar to actual situation on A40 elevated section at Port Talbot, except 50mph not 60mph):

• 2 miles of average speed limit of 60 mph
• Due to traffic cover first mile at 30 mph.
• How fast can I drive over the second mile and not get flagged?

Most people seem to think the answer is 90mph on the basis that 30 + 90 divided by 2 is 60.

Actually you can travel at the speed of light if you could:

2 miles at 60 mph takes 2 minutes (60mph is one mile per minute after all)
1 mile at 30mph takes 2 minutes, so all your 'allowed' time has already passed.
Even if you traveled the second mile at 180mph - one mile every 1/3 of a minute - you have taken 2 1/3 minutes to cover 2 miles which is




51.4 mph

So I'm that bloke in the big old black Jaguar thundering past you, supercharger whining, 'slightly outside ACPO guideleines' once the last camera gantry is in view on those stretches I know well. When the road ahead is clear and it is safe to do so - as I was taught back when that sign meant 'end of restriction' not 'National Speed Limit'.

(and who gets ticked by the regulars who know where they are on their local roads and I don't. Any A14 regulars? )

Problem with that is its also covered by National speed limit....lol

 

[Mee]

they peed me off round our way with there roadside camera afer they nicked me for 4mph over limit I was that narked I parked my van 8yards up the road in front of his camera and took my lunch break he came over and asked me to move yea when I'm finished I will there's nowt u can-do about it . sling your hook

Many more people doing it now, if you are a commercial driver you have to take breaks, many companies have policies which require company car drivers to take breaks; imagine someone on tacho being told to move by plod and they do and exceed their driving hours, plod complicit in an offence.

Not sure how true it is, but some lads removed the front number plate from a camera van, stuck it over their own front plate then drove past the van a few times exceeding the speed limit.

There was a guy in W. Midlands gathering the number plates of camera vans who bought a number plate making kit and made a set up for each camera van he encountered, when he saw a camera van he stopped and found the right plates and stuck them over his while driving past them at speed. Plod never caught him because they didn't have his number.

 

[voipio]

The A14 revenue generators apparently do result in quite a few penalty notices issued. According to the Hunts Post, there were 42,000 speed camera activations in Cambridgeshire in 2011, involving the A14 and several other locations. According to the newspaper, the averaging speed cameras between Huntingdon and Bar Hill "snared" 630 people. The numbers in the article don't add up by quite a margin.

Anyway, there's talk of the averaging cameras on the A14 being removed. 630 speeding fines in a year doesn't a profit make. The eight linked averaging speed cameras on the A61 (Grenoside, Sheffield to the A616 roundabout at Barnsley) apparently cost £250,000 to install. The A14 installation is about 28 cameras, so must have cost at least triple that figure.

The good news is that the A14 improvement and re-routing scheme has been approved, and preparatory work is already underway - archaeological surveys, contractor compounds, soil sampling appear to be well in hand when I last passed that way.

PS - Some GPS receivers, such as the Garmin 12, and the II+ can display average speed, which can be very useful in averaging speed camera situations, as a reassurance.

 

[bump]

The ones on the A40 are a PITA. It's either busy so 25 - 30 is your max, or it's empty. Or you can do what I saw a guy on a fireblade doing, put your left foot round the back covering part of the plate.

 

[dobbslc]

My Tom Tom sat nav has that feature, but I'm not sure how it calculates the speed through multiple cameras! Are they paired up or do they have sets that overlap so it's impossible to workout exactly what you're averaging.
Say I drift* over the speed limit for a mile and then slow down to try to drop my average between two cameras are they linked or maybe the one after???

*I'm usually drifting off to sleep to be honest, the ridiculous M3 road works are 15 miles long stuck at 50mph! It's bloody dangerous.

 

[bump]

As I understood it cam1 was linked to cam2 which then was the start to cam3 etc.

 

[rtcosic]

The good news is that the A14 improvement and re-routing scheme has been approved, and preparatory work is already underway - archaeological surveys, contractor compounds, soil sampling appear to be well in hand when I last passed that way.

PS - Some GPS receivers, such as the Garmin 12, and the II+ can display average speed, which can be very useful in averaging speed camera situations, as a reassurance.

I use the A14 from the M6, via ageds in Corby, to junction 32 Cambridge Road to King's Hedges Road. Last time the M11 junction road works had finally finished. Not sure if the changes you mention will help me.

Having multiple cameras covering such short averaging distances does militate against the games I mentioned.

All the Satnavs I have had have the average speed feature, as does the on board computer - just have to remember to zero it! Also remember to clear the satnav of its maximum instantaneous speed report as well.
Usually I just set the cruise control or speed limiter to 54 mph true in a 50 average zone and potter along. It's only when you have someone wandering between 40 and 48 mph that it's worth taking advantage of the averaging feature.

 

[Welderpaul]

Has anyone ever been ticketed by these average speed roadworks cameras? There's a set on the A1 heading North that have been there since the beginning of time. I travel to the North East at least twice a week and on a few occasions i have accidentally drifted (well) over the speed limit of 50 mph.

TBH i never drop below 55mph if the road is clear (of dawdlers doing 40mph)

It is so dangerous a great long line of motorists all staring intently at their speedo's slowly falling asleep.

 

[voipio]

I know someone who received a ticket for exceeding the 50 limit in the averaging camera zone when the A14 was being widened between Histon and the Girton interchange on the A14.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@Welderpaul
I know 2 people, 1 on the M3 this year, just past Fleet services.
The other on the M4 M5 interchange when they were doing the improvement works.

 

[brianblock]

I know at least 2 people been done on average speed cameras on A12 Orwell Beidge

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Aye, spinning at 1000mph and hurtling through space at 66+k mph.

 

[rosinante]

I prefer average speed cameras to stop start, it is amusing to watch people overtake me because I leave a big gap while maintaining the speed of the car in front,
the thing that pees me off is the announcement on traffic news is "accident in queue", generally caused by someone who is excused queueing, interesting snippet queueing is the only word in English with 5 consecutive vowels,

 

[Shox Dr]

interesting snippet queueing is the only word in English with 5 consecutive vowels,

That's because their in a queue.

 

[Robotstar5]

...interesting snippet queueing is the only word in English with 5 consecutive vowels,

...and rhythms is the longest word with no vowels