Lucky to be alive! (not really but...)

[blassberg]

This morning I travelled 24 miles from my house. After 10 of them I counted 9 speed cameras and 2 traffic light cameras and two pairs of cables across the road.

That's 9 cameras alone in my direction in 14 miles. I can only assume that I drove on the most frigg*ng dangerous road in the world ever and would like to thank the authorities for saving my life

 

[R3ch]

what are those 2 cables on the road for?

 

[BTB 500]

what are those 2 cables on the road for?

Speed monitoring ... positioned a known distance apart, they measure how long it takes a wheel to cross them.

 

[Tigger]

I remember the days I used to yank the handbrake as I went over 2 such cables...

You could see them in the rear view mirror doing a dance quite serpent like...

 

[R3ch]

Speed monitoring ... positioned a known distance apart, they measure how long it takes a wheel to cross them.

Are they being used to catch someone who's speeding or just to monitor the motorist's speed?

 

[andy_k]

they use them to count and monitor the overall speed of all traffic not individual motorists. Very often they were put there to see whether or not it was worth siting a permanent speed trap.

Andy

 

[BTB 500]

they use them to count and monitor the overall speed of all traffic not individual motorists. Very often they were put there to see whether or not it was worth siting a permanent speed trap.

Andy

Yup they're normally put there to gather stats. after residents complain of speeding etc.

In the past they were sometimes linked to cameras in temporary speed restriction areas. They tend to use mobile Gatsos (or SPECS) now.

 

[glojo]

Speed monitoring ... positioned a known distance apart, they measure how long it takes a wheel to cross them.

I wonder how they cope with large articulated lorries, is the tractor unit travelling faster than its trailer?

John the fikkie!

 

[BTB 500]

I wonder how they cope with large articulated lorries, is the tractor unit travelling faster than its trailer?

John the fikkie!

I'm guessing it would simply record a speed for each axle as it went over .. the wires are normally only 6" or so apart.

 

[Thmsshaun]

I often wondered how they worked.

 

[scumbag]

the cables work on air pressure, the bigger the vehicle the more air it pushes out, if it's on road monitoring, it can be set to monitor just cars, bikes, trucks or all of them. You will see a grey box next to the side of the road with the data logger in.

It will loop on itself at the other side of the road. If its a speed measure devcie, which uses a similar principle, it wont loop on itself and they are usually further apart. But they dont measure anything other than the time it takes for a wheel to hit the second one from the first and therefore record the speed. further down the lane you will find friendly geezer, these days in hi-viz, waving at you! The data is transmitted to them.

They do often set these up just to record speed on that section of road to see if the locals really are right.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

Be warned, you might think that by obeying the limit as you cross those lines you'll be reducing the chance of a speed camera appearing. Well they did that here recently, and used the average speed (55mph) to reduce the then limit of 70mph to 50mph. New rules enable councils to set limits based on average speeds.

When I see these strips, I floor it. Theres a pair near me in a 40 zone, I always do 60 over them

 

[blassberg]

Good point - wonder what the reasoning is?

1. Reduce Max Speed Limit to Average
2. Measure Speed
3. Calculate Average
4. Goto 1

 

[Dieselman]

Councils set speed limits at the 85 percentile of speed. In other words the speed that 85% of drivers use.

 

[blassberg]

Councils set speed limits at the 85 percentile of speed. In other words the speed that 85% of drivers use.

Good point - wonder what the reasoning is?

1. Reduce Max Speed Limit to 85 percentile
2. Measure Speed
3. Calculate 85 percentile
4. Goto 1

 

[Silestanix]

I remember the days I used to yank the handbrake as I went over 2 such cables...

You could see them in the rear view mirror doing a dance quite serpent like...

I still do that around here...