Beware of the Motorway Gantry Speed Cameras

[Deleted member 9849]

With the advent of the ''smart''motorways and the temporary lower speed limit at busy times it follows that speeding fines will increase,and so they have.....
Speeding tickets on 'smart motorways' rise sharply - BBC News

I have been through lots of these overhead gantry speed limits on the motorway and wondered if they were enforceable or whether they were just advisory.I couldn't understand that when I was doing the speed limit through them other drivers were racing past obviously over the limit.Did they have some insider information that the temporary speed limit was just advisory or that the cameras weren't working?

Apparently not as according to the report there has been a big increase in speeding fines from these overhead gantry cameras,it is a compulsory speed limit,the speed cameras are active and you will get fined and points on your licence so be aware.

 

[mark61]

Don't know why people ignore them. They are an "order" sign backed up by loads of cameras. Hopefully they won't be fining when no limit is shown.

 

[mistericeman]

I struggle to believe that anyone can have missed the advent of smart motorways.... don't speed and you won't get points/fine

Simples

 

[Wooie1958]

I`ve absolutely no sympathy at all for the people that get caught on the variable speed limit smart motorways.

Every time we go south the M1 has them lit at different speeds for varying reasons but it still amazes me how many hurtle past as warp factor speeds.

All the information about them is widely available so if people can`t be bothered to look into it then TUFF.

When they are lit the speed showing is Mandatory and not just if you feel like slowing down.

Next door but one neighbour got done a year or so back around Birmingham, the gantry showed " 50 ".

Because the motorway was relatively quiet he didn`t see the point in slowing down so he kept going at 76 MPH and that is what speed he got prosecuted for.

 

[n brown]

of course they're enforceable , but still very irritating to be on a quiet motorway and the guy controlling them decides 40 or 50mph might be better as someone is stopped on the hard shoulder or he saw a fox cross the road or just feels like exercising his button finger .
all very well for us law abiding types but infuriating for some. as if we haven't got enough signage to look out for, i'm not sure these things don't make life harder for the beleaguered driver

 

[ricc]

if the limit comes up on a quiet motorway youve just got to assume theres a problem miles ahead and the traffic is being slowed so the problem will have gone away by the time you get there. does wonders for yer blood pressure.... the alternative is a half asleep driver running into the back of stationary traffic at 75mph a few miles further on.

 

[winks]

Don't know why people ignore them. They are an "order" sign backed up by loads of cameras. Hopefully they won't be fining when no limit is shown.

Probably default to the national limit. If that's the case most of us would be at risk of getting a ticket.:idea:

Cheers

H

 

[mark61]

Probably default to the national limit. If that's the case most of us would be at risk of getting a ticket.:idea:

Cheers

H

Not got one so far, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they do start using them.

 

[Deleted member 58330]

and the A9...average cameras. Dead of night and I have to do 50 in my van on a huge wide road. Not smart really when I can do 70 on a crowded M6 motorway. This is based on the assumption they can relate van weight to the applied 50 limit, anybody been done in a van going over 50 on the A9?

 

[maingate]

I posted a thread recently about coming across a cycle rack (complete with 3 cycles) that came off a vehicle on the A74(M) in Scotland. The speed limit was flashed up at 50 mph but nobody took any notice of them. I backed off my speed at first but then let it creep up a bit. The first warning must have been 10 miles before the incident and was probably the reason drivers ignore the temporary speed limit because they slow for no apparent reason. They discovered their error when a lot of brake lights suddenly appeared in front of them.

I don't think there are any average speed cameras on that section of road. At least I have not had a ticket for doing 55 mph.

 

[Deleted member 58330]

I posted a thread recently about coming across a cycle rack (complete with 3 cycles) that came off a vehicle on the A74(M) in Scotland. The speed limit was flashed up at 50 mph but nobody took any notice of them. I backed off my speed at first but then let it creep up a bit. The first warning must have been 10 miles before the incident and was probably the reason drivers ignore the temporary speed limit because they slow for no apparent reason. They discovered their error when a lot of brake lights suddenly appeared in front of them.

I don't think there are any average speed cameras on that section of road. At least I have not had a ticket for doing 55 mph.

No, the orange ones on the central verge are advisory....as are the overhead orange spped signs without a red ring (but always good to heed the warning). I think it is mandatory though to stop when they flash red.

 

[Channa]

Not got one so far, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they do start using them.

The cams must be calibrated to National speed limits I would think. The weird thing is not every stretch of motorway will be the same, ACPO guidelines have always recommended a margin for inaccurate speedos etc. But the margin varies from force to force. North Wales for example had a zero percent tolerance under Richard Brunstrum as CC.

Re peoples frustrations , I have seen it on the M42 50 mph clear carriageways ahead, and back to nsl. of course it frustrates.

Smart Motorways have just been introduced on the M62 on the West Yorkshire stretch peak times journeys reduced by 5 minutes is the claim. I suppose if you consider truck drivers or those being paid, That 5 minutes adds up to a lot of man hours saved. M62 in the stretch quoted carries 160,000 vehicles per day. £136 million invested, perhaps it will pay ?

Channa

 

[antiquesam]

I do keep within the speeds but find they make it difficult when they go in a sequence like 50, 60 , 40 within a very short distance. I do think that there may be an incentive to make a few quid by trying to confuse the odd driver. Fortunately not all of the signs are backed up by cameras according to the lady that lives in my TomTom.

 

[pughed2]

Take my time

Fortunately, I have all the time in the world wherever I go, so don't use the motorways very much, and regard all speed limits as helping me to achieve the fantastic mpg figures which I do for a motorhome.......fiat ducato, trigano. tribute 2003 2.3 it's giving over 43mpg diesel, with a top reading this year of 57 mpg in France. The rest of the cash can stay in the bank............oh, and then there's just the little reminder of the 3 small crashes and half wrecked cars as on the M5 hard shoulder down towards Exeter a few weeks back. When some lunatic flashes by in some sporty little job, I do look forward to seeing him wrecked further along.......steve bristol

 

[Deleted member 52918]

if the limit comes up on a quiet motorway youve just got to assume theres a problem miles ahead and the traffic is being slowed so the problem will have gone away by the time you get there. does wonders for yer blood pressure.... the alternative is a half asleep driver running into the back of stationary traffic at 75mph a few miles further on.

The amount of signage on our roads is a real danger to drivers, especially when they are set out in a confusing way or they guide you in the wrong direction.

I think they (who ever they are) should be made to standardise all traffic lights, roundabouts, signage & road markings across the country.
When I learned to drive I was told that when instructed to go straight on at a roundabout, I had to take the exit that faced the entry to the roundabout that I was on, which happend to be first left!
But, on the direction sign before the roundabout, the exits were marked at 12 o'clock, 3, 6, & 9 o'clock, which when you consider the fact that on first encountering that junction, you can't know where the exits are except by the signage, gives you no chance to be in the right lane for the exit you want.

Mini roundabouts are another quandery, a friend of mine was fined for not driving his car around the mini roundabout, he clipped it a little on his way round.
I would have contested that fine on the basis that the roundabout is not big enough for all vehicles to negotiate without cutting it in some way, so therefore the police would have to fine every large vehicle that used any mini roundabout in the country!

We follow lane markings only to find that the traffic lights are directing you in different way, we stop at lights & then they don't change in a normal pattern or when you stop at the line you can't see the bloody lights without sticking your head out the side window

Why can't we have the controls in the car in the same place & working in the same way. EG., to flash the lights on most cars you pull the stalk back & let go but on other cars this also activates full beam so you end up blinding the other driver.!

Why can't the indicators be on the same side!!

It's such an obvious safety concern that It's amazing there's no legislation for it!

Ah well, I suppose this should have been in the Rants section.

Phill

 

[delicagirl]

driving in ROI is a far calmer and less stressful experience because (outside of large cities) there are so few road signs. It made me realise just how over-signed we are in UK.

The signs i hate the most are those that belong to the 'bleedin obvious' category - a sign at the bottom of a hill showing a hill - yes - i can see that thanks very much; signs that repeat the same message only a few yards later;

Signs now appearing alongside road works with a message about safety for the sake of the workers families - HUH ???

 

[antiquesam]

The people that operate the motorway signs over estimate my knowledge of the UK road network. To tell me that there are delays after to A2043, doesn't really help if I don't know where it is. Similarly, to tell me as I'm going east on M27, that there are delays between junctions 10 and 11 on the M25 is pointless as no one going east would conceivably want to go North on the A3 then clockwise on the M25. Well not knowingly.

 

[Ratchet]

Smart motorways...... dumb drivers

They've recently installed average speed cameras with a 50mph limit in my neck of the woods.

I can't believe how many drivers I see hurtling up to the camera, slow down to 50 as they pass the camera, and then accelerate away like a madman, and repeat the procedure again when they arrive at the next camera............ they obviously have no concept of how average speed cameras actually work

 

[Private]

70mph speed cameras

Probably default to the national limit. If that's the case most of us would be at risk of getting a ticket.:idea:

Cheers

H

Some camera's do default to normal motorway speed limit when the signs are off.
Old source link below but I've heard it being discussed on radio more recently.

Fortunately going over 70 has never been a worry for me, but I despair at the games they seem to be playing with us when the lower limits are on.

Motorway speed cameras to be rolled out to stop those driving faster than 70mph - Telegraph

 

[Deleted member 58330]

The cams must be calibrated to National speed limits I would think. The weird thing is not every stretch of motorway will be the same, ACPO guidelines have always recommended a margin for inaccurate speedos etc. But the margin varies from force to force. North Wales for example had a zero percent tolerance under Richard Brunstrum as CC.

Re peoples frustrations , I have seen it on the M42 50 mph clear carriageways ahead, and back to nsl. of course it frustrates.

Smart Motorways have just been introduced on the M62 on the West Yorkshire stretch peak times journeys reduced by 5 minutes is the claim. I suppose if you consider truck drivers or those being paid, That 5 minutes adds up to a lot of man hours saved. M62 in the stretch quoted carries 160,000 vehicles per day. £136 million invested, perhaps it will pay ?

Channa

Channa where you been lol, Brunstrom went ages ago. GoSafe operate under 10%plus2 as do NWP....they replied to me under FOI answering the tolerance question I had.