How soon are you in range of these things?
A friend of mine *ahem* rounded a bend at 40ish and saw the van about 200 yards away. He was instantly on the brake and scrubbed it down to 30 straight away. He *cough* was wondering if they could zap you instantly at that distance or they had to dial the thing in on you first.
If anyone knows I will pass the information on to *cough* him.
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There's something daft in the rules about usage of them that they're only allowed to zap every 2nd or 3rd car or something like that.
There was a guy got off of his because the "zapper" guy was zapping everything in sight rapid fire. I'm sure the technology is up to it, so i'm not sure of the reasoning behind this.
Came from a news article so might be total bunkum this btw.
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I believe they have a range of over a kilometer, by the time you see it, it is too late to slow down.
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If your *ahem* mate really was doing only 'fortyish' he may get away with it on basis 10% + 1mph. Not much other cause for optimism. Otherwise he *ahem* will just have to sweat every time the postman calls for the next week or two!!!!
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 10 Nov 10 at 15:43
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There is a road near me, they park just behind the bend but where there is a full view of the road. It means drivers don't see it until it is too late. I believe there is then a cop car just a few yards further up to knick all the drivers who go into the back of the other driver for due care!.
*Edit the last bit was entirely a lie.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Wed 10 Nov 10 at 16:23
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>> There's something daft in the rules about usage of them that they're only allowed to
>> zap every 2nd or 3rd car or something like that.
Nope really not true, don't rely on that wives tale.
They are positioned, so that they can nab you as soon as you see them and they see you.
However its takes a second or two for the operator to line you up, and if your speed is falling rapidly at that point (like with heavy braking) he wont get a good enough speed reading for prosecution.
I know, I have escaped a fair few like this, You need to be really sharp about your wits.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 10 Nov 10 at 17:30
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>> However its takes a second or two for the operator to line you up,>>
I would think the camera's are lined up on the lanes and clamped in position, if the operator is using a handheld he can just hide in a doorway, (as our local plods do).
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The cameras are on tripod affairs linked to the laser speed device (Laserlyte 20/20 ??) they are fully movable in all planes so that the camera follows the line of the laser - the p[erator aims through a sight at the approaching car and as said above can be used at an extreme range. Operators will park at regular spots, they "know" in their water what's within an achievable range or not...no hiding place, unless you're lucky.
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There are no fixed cameras in Fife, the vans are often around blind bends, have cameras covering both directions, and a third if at a junction. So they can cover both directions on one road and look down a 20mph side road as well. Government cash machines!
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 10 Nov 10 at 18:28
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>> the vans are often around blind bends,
I'd debate the "cash machines", ON, that actually sounds like a sensible use of them... If you are going round a blind bend over the limit you want your head felt!
For once I'd support their use in those conditions!
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>> >> the vans are often around blind bends,
>>
>> I'd debate the "cash machines", ON, that actually sounds like a sensible use of them...
>> If you are going round a blind bend over the limit you want your head
>> felt!
>>
Maybe "Out of sight around around curves" is a better description.
One of the roads I have in mind is a left curve in a 30mph dual carriageway with trees and a wall on the left and the camera van out of sight on the grass verge.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 11 Nov 10 at 10:34
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The rule is they have to form prior opinion that you were speeding before they check your speed. Checking everyone is not on.
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>> The rule is they have to form prior opinion that you were speeding before they
>> check your speed. Checking everyone is not on.
Err no such rule.
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I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a rule but the law provides for a Police Officer (and no doubt these days the canary jacketed world and his dog) to form an opinion when a vehicle is speeding but he needs to corroborate it in approved ways to secure a conviction....again the first element is second nature to them now in known locations.
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>> According to this cars.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=147862783 the range is 500 metres.
>>
Are you happy to test that L'es?
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Government cash machines!
South Oxfordshire District Council's cameras are currently switched off, apparently as a cost saving measure. They either raise money or cost money, but they can't do both.
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I'm posting the below - the information has come to me from someone who has read the thread but doesn't want to post in person.
I'm reliably informed that the laser equipment in the camera vans, when they zap a suspected speeding vehicle, do so several times, as means of ensuring the reading is accurate. It's done very quickly, so that is not normally detrimental to the user...but...if the vehicle is braking heavily, the different zaps show different speeds and therefore show up as an error and unreliable.
In respect of braking and thinking laterally, you obviously have to be careful of someone rear ending you and being liable for 'driving without due care and attention' for suddenly braking hard.
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>>you obviously have to be careful of someone rear ending you and being liable for 'driving without due care and attention' for suddenly braking hard.
Surely if someone 'rear ends' you, it is going to be their fault.
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Day four.
So far, so good...
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Postie been to your friend's house then ?
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>> I'm reliably informed that the laser equipment in the camera vans, when they zap a
>> suspected speeding vehicle, do so several times, as means of ensuring the reading is accurate.
>> It's done very quickly, so that is not normally detrimental to the user...but...if the vehicle
>> is braking heavily, the different zaps show different speeds and therefore show up as an
>> error and unreliable.
Exactly as I said above. The emphasis is on heavy, you need to be making big changes in speed between the zaps.
Ask the camera van on the road from Dorking to Leatherhead, he has failed to knab me twice!
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A good few years ago now I had a Sierra Sapphire Cosworth as a company car. Things were so much more liberal then....Petrol was affordable and company car tax was at acceptable levels.
Anyway, enough of that, this one time I was pressing on a bit in the Cossie. Might have strayed a mph or two over the limit, briefly...Looked in the mirror and to my horror there was a jam sandwich behind me, not yet lit up but definitely interested and keeping pace. My feral, and with hindsight, highly ill advised reaction, was to slam the anchors on. He wasn't a laughing sort of policeman I fairly quickly discovered...He didn't actually rear end me but it must have taken all of his undoubted experience not to. I don't think he liked me much... I expect he was picking traffic cones out of his dashboard for quite a while afterwards.
:-(
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>>>highly ill advised reaction, was to slam the anchors on.
Indeed... foot off throttle and tug on handbrake is the best you can do.
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He didn't actually do me in the end. Which under the circumstances was more than decent of him. It was on an unlit A road at night and when he asked why I'd braked so hard I said I thought I'd seen a fox run in front of me and instinct had kicked in....He did leave me in no doubt as to his opinions on the matter but admitted that he hadn't had time to get a reading on my speed. Well, I suppose he was a bit busy trying not to crash at the time....Whoops...
:-)
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...I said I thought I'd seen a fox run in front of me and instinct had kicked in...
Quick thinking, and a good thing you didn't say it was a black rat.
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Is that the one that sits at Mickleham bends Zero ?
Its sitting in the 50mph zone, just after the fixed camera which everyone knows about and slows down for.......
......as they pass the fixed camera and speed up they come around the bend and get zapped by the mobile ....very sneaky.....
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I don't think that's sneaky, I think it's quite funny. Not as good as the idiots on the A38 near Lichfield who don't know what an average camera is and brake hard for each set, but then there is no justification at all for the 60 limit there that I can see.
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I keep meaning to measure the distance between the average cameras in the 40mph roadworks on the A404(M) near Maidenhead. Then I could work out the optimum time to cover the distance between them.
As it is, I try to stick to an indicated 44 - although there'll always be someone who thinks that an indicated 38 in the RH lane is the only way.
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Whats the situation with to them parking illegally? I noticed one of Hampshires finest Camrea vans in our village on the A31 parked on the maintained verge which I assume they shouldnt do - isnt there guidelines they should follow?
RM
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Day 15.
My friend looks to have been a lucky boy. He'll be more careful in future, I'll be bound.
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>> Is that the one that sits at Mickleham bends Zero ?
>>
>> Its sitting in the 50mph zone, just after the fixed camera which everyone knows about
>> and slows down for.......
>>
>> ......as they pass the fixed camera and speed up they come around the bend and
>> get zapped by the mobile ....very sneaky.....
Yeah - Him - he's failed to get me twice.
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Replying to WDB - I disagree - there is one single camera which must be making a profit.
"A motorway speed camera which has increased the number of crashes and injuries at its site is revealed today as the most profitable in Britain.
It is estimated to catch up to 500 drivers a day, generating nearly £1million a year in fines."
Last edited by: Perky Penguin (p) on Mon 22 Nov 10 at 22:05
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>> "A motorway speed camera which has increased the number of crashes and injuries at its
>> site is revealed today as the most profitable in Britain.
>>
Where???
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Yet accidents have risen by a quarter and casualties have almost doubled since the Gatso camera was installed on the M11 at its junction with the North Circular A406 near Woodford, Essex.
Report dates from 2009
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I had assumed they didn't work in the dark, but last night at 20:10 there was a camera van checking eastbound traffic on the A50 at Field Head. The van came into view here:
bit.ly/fOIJCL
It was parked on the nearside verge, about where the next car is in Lane 1.
If... someone was doing an indicated 50mph (therefore a real-world 46ish) as they came from the 40mph zone to the 50mph one, should they be wary of the postman for the next fortnight?
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>> If... someone was doing an indicated 50mph (therefore a real-world 46ish) as they came from
>> the 40mph zone to the 50mph one, should they be wary of the postman for
>> the next fortnight?
>>
Oh yes, thats why it is there!
You could always hope that the operator was on a donut break. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 23 Nov 10 at 08:32
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I like voluntary taxation - I decided not to pay it any more!
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Durham police are always blathering on about how they don't believe in fixed cameras, as if they're the motorists friend or something.
They use mobile ones, simply more profitable! And I've yet to see them in a blackspot. They usually lurk around corners where the speed limit changes rapdily (30 to 60, or more rarely the reverse)
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Saw a chap in a black car in a layby on the M4 yesterday pointing his speed gun out of his car window to catch people. Cheered me up no end as someone had just overtaken me and shot off into the distance clearly doing more than a ton.
I suspect I'm in a minority that would be quite happy to see hidden cameras on the motorway network that snap at a sensible speed... say 95+ indicated.
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Mobile Cameras - Skoda
