Can someone please explain how UK speed camera work??

[Error7]

'Police' Safety 😛 Camera Vans in the North West usually have amber flashing lights on the roof so that they look more like highway repair vehicles from a distance.

 

[Error7]

The red arrow indicates a small lay-by where Police 'Safety' Camera Vans like to park up with their flashing amber lights so they look like council workers cutting the grass. After driving on the M6 motorway at 70 MPH, if you exit at junction 25 you arrive at a dual carriageway with a 40 MPH limit. 350 yards down this dual carriageway you come across this 30 MPH sign!

 

[Nigel]

I did like his accent though! Is he from Wale's perhaps?

That is a very local accent to your map location - I was guessing 10 miles down the valley!

Personally I don't think the van should be labelled "Police / Heddlu" unless it is actually owned and run by the police authority which as far as I can tell, it is not. So I think it is reasonable to take the view that it was impersonating the police as was the person in charge of it.

I don't understand why they want to impersonate the police though - wouldn't they make more profit by impersonating a builders van?

 

[Gibson99]

sounds similar to a section of US hwy 90 somewhere between Dayton and Beaumont, TX. it's a wide 2-lane road with a 70mph limit and wide paved shoulders plus a wide grassy shoulder, so slow cars (and often farm tractors) can safely drive 20-60 mph on the shoulder without slowing down to let cars pass safely.

anyway, there's a tiny little town... can't remember the name, but over the course of about 1/4 mile, the speed limit drops from 70 to 60, then 50, 45, 35, 30 and 25... with cops camped out behind several of these speed limit signs. there's not even a traffic light in this town. then on your way back out of this town (1/2 mile later) it slowly steps back up to 70, but over more like 2 miles... so they can bust you if you get up to speed too fast.

i tried to find it on google street view but that was taking too long. but when you can see 3 different speed limit signs because they're so close together... if that's not a speed trap i don't know what is.

 

[Nigel]

I did like his accent though! Is he from Wale's perhaps?

Here is the accent from Brynmawr - 10 miles over the hill in the next valley:

 

[kamkar]

I dont know if its wrong, but that guy filming the guy in the van cracked me up 😀 the vans here are completely unmarked but have mirror plastic on the rear windows with holes cut in it where the cameras is. ( pretty easy to spot )
Allso the vans only mesure when you are pretty close to them, so if you pay attention when you drive there is ample time to breake down to the legal speed.

Just read today in the news that many Danes are outraged by the new vans, so they set up facebook groups and use apps to warn about where the vans are.
That allso crack me up and just proof what i have allways said " most Danes dont give a damm about speed limits" and so they have launched countermesures so they can keep speeding.
Now its not that i agree a whole lot with the speed limits we have here, but still its the law, and so you have to follow it, or change it by voting for some one who will change it.
And if you get caught with your hands in the cookie jar, be a man and face up to it.
As outraged as many Danes have become over the new vans i get the same way listening to the lame excuses ppl come up with when they have been busted, its so bad i cant even watch those cop programmes on tv any more as i get so angry 🙄

Allso read in the news today that the goverment/police expect to make 600 million DKkr on speeding tickets with the new vans in 2015.
Now that is a lot of mony, but a statement like that just tell me its a mony machine, and still i am outraged by what they have payed for those extre 75 vans as i doubt it will get those ppl to drive slower.

Perhaps this year will the year of my first speeding ticket, my driving in like most Danes ( +10 km/h ) and can get higher at times when i dont pay attention.

Not a member of any facebook group - dont have a app to warn me - and i dont have a radar/laser alarm in my car.

 

[sludgeguts]

Regarding the 10% +2mph.
It's not an allowance given by the camera/police, it's the inaccuracy of your speedo - it can be as much as 10%+2mph 'out'.
In other words, if your speedo says you are doing 30 then you will be doing 30 or less.
If you are clocked at 32mph, for example, then your speedo could say anything up to 37mph - so you are knowingly speeding.
Having 4 drivers in the family, I'm proud to say that I'm the only one with a clean licence - the rest have been on speed awareness courses. My wife had the lowest difference, being clocked by a fixed camera at 31mph & she wasn't the only one on her course complaining about this. It seems that everyone on the course believed in the 10%+2mph so were miffed at being done for 31, 32 etc when they were doing less than the 'allowance'.

 

[micky moo]

Regarding the 10% +2 mph. It's not an allowance given by the camera/police, it's the inaccuracy of your speedo - it can be as much as 10%+2mph 'out'.

That's part of it. But the speed cameras themselves can also be 'out'. The cameras are only tested and approved to work with a tolerance of +/- 2 mph up to 66 mph. And then 3% tolerance above 66 mph.

Here are the guidelines from the horse's mouth; from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). They apply throughout England & Wales. See: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ACPO+Speed+Enforcement+Policy+Guidelines+2011-+2015

Having 4 drivers in the family, I'm proud to say that I'm the only one with a clean licence - the rest have been on speed awareness courses. My wife had the lowest difference, being clocked by a fixed camera at 31mph & she wasn't the only one on her course complaining about this.

There must be more to this story than you're telling us, sludgeguts. Because you don't get done for doing one mph over the speed limit. The cameras aren't even approved for that tolerance or measuring accuracy.

Perhaps your wife was in fact doing 31 mph in a 20 mph zone? Or her offence was not speeding per se but careless or dangerous driving, perhaps?

But then they wouldn't have offered her a speed awareness course. They would have summoned her straight to court.

It seems that everyone on the course believed in the 10%+2mph so were miffed at being done for 31, 32 etc when they were doing less than the 'allowance'.

Check the guidelines from the ACPO...

No one is done for doing one or two miles an hour over the speed limit. At least not without exceptional extenuating circumstances; and then you'd be summoned to explain yourself.

Just imagine it: the loophole lawyers would have a field day. Defendant ticketed for doing 31 in a 30. But camera only accurate to +/- 2 mph!

 

[kamkar]

My friend was once stopped for speeding by a cop using a handheld radar gun, my friend was proberly a little over the limit, but the cop said he was wayyyyy over.

So while they where arguing the cop did a mesurment a woman pushing a kid in a pram, and she was breaking the speed limit too 😀 so my friend was allowed to go drive on his motorbike without a fine.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

 

[mcaf123]

Legend

 

[Error7]

I tried doing this without success but then I realised that I was riding in a 40 MPH zone 😀

 

[sludgeguts]

There must be more to this story that you're not telling us, sludgeguts.

Because you don't get done for doing one mph over the speed limit. The cameras aren't even approved for that tolerance or measuring accuracy.

Perhaps your wife was in fact doing 31 mph in a 20 mph zone?

Or her offence was not speeding per se but careless or dangerous driving, perhaps?

But then they wouldn't have offered her a speed awareness course, would they, sludgeguts? They would have summoned her straight to court.



Check the guidelines from the ACPO...

No one is done for doing one or two miles an hour over the speed limit. At least not without exceptional extenuating circumstances; and then you'd be summoned to explain yourself.

Just imagine it! The loophole lawyers would have a field day. Defendant ticketed for doing 31 in a 30. But camera only accurate to +/- 2 mph!

I saw the letter they sent her. The camera was a fixed speed cam which used to be on the main road about 1/4 mile from our house. It's no longer there after getting torched and repaired a few times.

See also http://www.gocompare.com/covered/2011/09/five-myths-about-speeding-debunked/
"Institute of Advanced Motorists' chief examiner, Peter Rodger. A retired policeman, what he doesn’t know about the speed limit probably isn’t worth knowing...
A statistic which is often bandied around is that you’re within your rights to get away with being over the speed limit by 10 per cent plus two miles per hour. “The speed limits are exactly that,” says Peter Rodger. “It doesn’t matter if you’re even 1mph over. “ "

Or read http://www.motoringfirst.co.uk/MotorOffenceBible/TheLawInTheory.php

As I said, everyone on the course was moaning about their speeding letter.


Edit. Just found another... http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?10689-speeding-camers-allowance
" The sales manager of a company I have dealings with was recorded as driving at 33 mph in a 30 limit when caught on a mobile police van camera. He got a £60 fine and 3 points on his licence."
"Remember reading a while ago about motorists being sent FPNs for doing 31 and 32 in a 30 zone. (I think it was Wales.) Made me smile as these characters were all complaining that they had 'only broken the law a little bit'.
I have heard of one motorist being sent FPN for doing 30.6mph in a 30 zone. I think the camera operators are in competition with each other to get the lowest figure over the limit."

 

[Deleted member 46308]

My friend was once stopped for speeding by a cop using a handheld radar gun, my friend was proberly a little over the limit, but the cop said he was wayyyyy over.

So while they where arguing the cop did a mesurment a woman pushing a kid in a pram, and she was breaking the speed limit too 😀 so my friend was allowed to go drive on his motorbike without a fine.

😀

 

[micky moo]

I saw the letter they sent her.

It would be nice to see this jaw-dropping letter. If the actualité is as you report, then your wife seriously needed a brief; any decent motoring lawyer would have gotten it booted out of court. With perhaps even compensation for abusing the court process and wasting everyone's time.

"Institute of Advanced Motorists' chief examiner, Peter Rodger. A retired policeman, what he doesn’t know about the speed limit probably isn’t worth knowing... A statistic which is often bandied around is that you’re within your rights to get away with being over the speed limit by 10 per cent plus two miles per hour. “The speed limits are exactly that,” says Peter Rodger. “It doesn’t matter if you’re even 1mph over. “ "

Mr Rodger has spent a lifetime in speed enforcement; he's a career anti-speed freak. Even in police retirement he's pushing the same-old agenda. Hawking his costly Advanced Motorist training classes. The Institute of Advanced Motorists is a private business; its "qualifications" have no recognition in law. Old Rodge is scaring the bejeezus out of us to boost his enrolments. With a white lie or two; all in the interest of road safety, y'understand!

As I said, everyone on the course was moaning about their speeding letter.

Was your wife doing 31mph in a 30 zone, or in a 20 zone? There's a gulf of difference. The first is well below the ACPO threshold of prosecution. The latter is more than 50% over the speed limit. It's like doing 109 mph on the motorway. Enough to get you nailed & jailed!

Edit. Just found another... http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?10689-speeding-camers-allowance

" The sales manager of a company I have dealings with was recorded as driving at 33 mph in a 30 limit when caught on a mobile police van camera. He got a £60 fine and 3 points on his licence." "Remember reading a while ago about motorists being sent FPNs for doing 31 and 32 in a 30 zone. (I think it was Wales.) Made me smile as these characters were all complaining that they had 'only broken the law a little bit'. I have heard of one motorist being sent FPN for doing 30.6mph in a 30 zone. I think the camera operators are in competition with each other to get the lowest figure over the limit."

That's anonymous hearsay on a web forum; it could have been posted by anyone. I'm going instead with the official Speeding Enforcement Policy Guidance from the ACPO, bless 'em!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ACPO+Speed+Enforcement+Policy+Guidelines+2011-+2015

 

[sludgeguts]

It would be nice to see this jaw-dropping letter. If the actualité is as you report, then your wife seriously needed a brief; any decent motoring lawyer would have gotten it booted out of court. With perhaps even compensation for abusing the court process and wasting everyone's time.



Mr Rodger has spent a lifetime in speed enforcement; he's a career anti-speed freak. Even in police retirement he's pushing the same-old agenda. Hawking his costly Advanced Motorist training classes. The Institute of Advanced Motorists is a private business; its "qualifications" have no recognition in law. Old Rodge is scaring the bejeezus out of us to boost his enrolments. With a white lie or two; all in the interest of road safety, y'understand!



Was your wife doing 31mph in a 30 zone, or in a 20 zone? There's a gulf of difference. The first is well below the ACPO threshold of prosecution. The latter is more than 50% over the speed limit. It's like doing 109 mph on the motorway. Enough to get you nailed & jailed!



That's anonymous hearsay on a web forum; it could have been posted by anyone. I'm going instead with the official Speeding Enforcement Policy Guidance from the ACPO, bless 'em!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ACPO+Speed+Enforcement+Policy+Guidelines+2011-+2015

The offence was about 3 years ago & was 31mph in a 30mph zone.
You're saying about hearsay on a forum but the ACPO guidelines are only guidelines whereas the speed limit is a limit, a cut off point.
Why on earth would anyone lie about getting done for doing 1mph over the limit?
Would you rather I just sat back & told everyone it's ok to go along with the 'guidelines' of 10% +2mph when I know this isn't the case?
If you truly believe in the 10%+2mph then fine, you carry on driving past speed cameras at 10%+2mph over the limit, I really don't care.