Speeding

[190]

With smaller wheels the 13mm or so change in diameter between brand new tyres and ones worn down to the legal limit could be significant in terms of speedo accuracy?

Good point.

My wheels are small as they go on an MB at 195/60 R16

With a 13mm reduction in diameter the calculations come out at a 2% reduction in circumference which would increase the speedo over read by 2%

 

[Philc57]

The perfect speed camera would of course never catch anyone. The whole purpose of them is to slow people down to make that road safer....so every time they catch someone it's just another failure of that camera to do its job. They got the fine.....but the driver was still going too fast.
Personally I struggle to see how anyone gets caught with a fixed camera on a post....they are bright yellow, don't move, ping up on most SatNavs in plenty of time.....are these people asleep? Obviously the mobile ones are more tricky....but even they can only be at predetermined places.....which is easily accessible public knowledge and again on my Satnav.....so at least slow down until you go past that spot.
Obviously I'll get my first ticket in 33 years drop through the letter box now I've written that!

I don't drive everywhere with my satnav on ,and if I did my nav hasn't got that warning on it . The particular road was at the time quiet ,I was talking to wife just going my merry way , no risk to anything , I just didn't clock I was approaching camera.

 

[BTB 500]

My wheels are small as they go on an MB at 195/60 R16

Possibly smaller on the A & B Class?!

 

[Stratman]

^^^^My W203 has 195/60/15 wheels

 

[zipdip]

I don't drive everywhere with my satnav on ,and if I did my nav hasn't got that warning on it . The particular road was at the time quiet ,I was talking to wife just going my merry way , no risk to anything , I just didn't clock I was approaching camera.

So many get caught just like you,just how likely you are to be caught depends where you are in the country,a hotbed of camera vans is in Wales,they need the money and go all out to catch people,but like you sometimes you are caught offguard,my one brush with a speed camera was on the M25,well not the motorway as such but the A road it turns into either side of Dartford Crossing,I made a crazy appointment in Worthing at 8am between the christmas and the new year,so I was practically on my own in the dark approaching the bridge ,I was in the second lane as trucks come up the last slip before the bridge and was catching a black ford car so I moved to the third lane to pass,at that moment two trucks came up the slip and the Ford driver was either tired or boozed and just dived for my side door,so I accelerated into the outside lane passed him slowed down back in the lane I had come from,but I had passed the 60 mph camera,I think to this day they still have just one unlit 60 mph round sign on the armco,you could be forgiven for thinking thats deliberate,anyway so many people wanted to know what went on in the speed awreness course I went on it as I wrote before a total bore,if you want to be the darling of the failed driving instructor know that rural roads are the most dangerous and the speed limit of a two way A road is 60 mph,having said that you can safely go back to sleep mode with your eyes open.

 

[Petrol Pete]

This did make me chuckle when it happened. If I remember it correctly it was about the time the sharing of the money/maintenance leant to far over to 'central government' ie: they kept all the money from the fines but expected Swindon council to look after the cameras.

Swindon turns off speed cameras

Swindon became the first local council in England to switch off fixed-point speed cameras on Friday, saying the money to maintain them would be better spent on other road safety measures.

www.reuters.com

 

[Germgh0st]

The fact speed cameras exist at certain locations, in some cases at least has very little to do with speeding. Particularly if the same people involved with planning locations are the same people who also erect signage - I learned last year that the placement of the signs warning of tight bends and also speed limit signs, are thrown up with gay abandon in certain places, based on wildly varying reported accident figures. The local authority in charge dictate what goes up and where, but they don't operate on a common set of statistics throughout the country.

Case in point, a B road in Cambridgeshire I was using on driving course I did last year - had 6 tight bend chevrons erected at a corner that didn't warrant anything of the sort, basically there had been a handful of accidents (single figures) and they'd increased the number of signs (on 2 or 3 occasions) after a couple of accidents. But the corner was well sighted, not that tight, smoothly surfaced and in an NSL area. Whereas some similar roads we used in Bedfordshire/Northamptonshire, had horrendous bends and no signage whatsoever (even though they'd had had reported accidents).

In summary, placement of cameras might originally have been about accident prevention, but if their installation follows (as I suspect) road signage placement and other mitigation measures, then that is most definitely no longer the case.

Er, no, they're looking for at least four killed or seriously injured with that kilometre, or eight personal injuries in the last three years, with causation factors suggesting that speed was a contributory factor in some of the accidents.

So, essentially if nobody got hurt there, as a result of speed, there wouldn't be any cameras.

Worth remembering that most cameras are actually inactive. If all cameras were actually active, we'd be well and truly mucked.

It's "ourselves to blame," especially "young teenage men" ourselves.

.

I was under the impression, backed up by a set of rules someone previously posted, that to count towards a speed camera the majority of the injuries/fatalities must have a factor of speeding. I also believe that the locations chosen on a day to day basis for mobile cameras (as not all locations are manned all of the time) take into account the proliferation of speeders at a given location, i.e. somewhere where it is deemed people speed more than other places will take priority. Based on that if , in theory, everybody stopped speeding at a certain location then it would be manned less and less frequently.

So maybe not a direct correlation, but I think my original statement holds true to a large degree at least.

 

[Stratman]

I'd rather cameras were placed at known speeding locations before four people have been killed, rather than after.

 

[Gazwould]

There was this 60 mph road with three junctions in line , carnage for two decades but no deaths but took as long to become a 40 .

The mindless logic of these powers that be retards...

 

[Alfie]

Well I've been done for 33 in a 30.
Meliden near Prestatyn.
And then there is the van that sits at the end of a long straight stretch.
That's the coast road into Prestatyn after passing Nant Hall. The limit drops to 30, for no good reason.
This summer plod will be scaring away many much needed tourists from the area, again.

Yep. The 10%+2 is a myth.

 

[Alfie]

Here we go: the still current legal requirements on speed camera placement:

View attachment 125450

From: Speed Camera Placement

And: https://www.safespeed.org.uk/twoyear.pdf

This may apply for camera placement but I can assure you it has nothing to do with prosecutions. As we see here one member done at 33 in a 30. My wife was done at 31 in a 30 on brighton sea front.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Yep. The 10%+2 is a myth.

That what my traffic cop friend (partner of a salesman here) usually works to here in sunny Sussex due to guidance from his superiors....so there is an element of truth to it...he wont nick anyone under 36 in a thirty. Like he said to me.....if it was 31 mph he would nick thousands....but they are just after the serious and dangerous speeders.
That said once in a while they have a push on speeders in areas where there has been issues (racing etc) and they will do a few weeks there with zero tolerance.....so the 10 plus 2 thing is not something I would risk.

 

[Tonygw]

Here's an example of why slower speed limits are a good thing and should be enforced by speed cameras!

Fred was driving along happily at 60mph surfing facebook and playing candy crush on his phone when he glanced up at the road there was a sudden bend and he ran off the road and hit a tree. Oh dear..

Same scenario but Fred was doing 50 mph, when he glanced up he had time to use that big wheel in front of him and steer round the corner. Nasty crash avoided...


Speed is dangerous!! think.. have I got time to react in between candy crush levels? If the answers no.. slow down!!

 

[MEMERC7]

Well I've been done for 33 in a 30.
Meliden near Prestatyn.
And then there is the van that sits at the end of a long straight stretch.
That's the coast road into Prestatyn after passing Nant Hall. The limit drops to 30, for no good reason.
This summer plod will be scaring away many much needed tourists from the area, again.

Last sentence is just silly nonsense. Tourists are put off by the anti-anybody-other-than Welsh attitude that is all pervasive & exemplified by the endless tedious unfriendly multi-lingual signs everywhere.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Well I've always found the Welsh very friendly and welcoming....wanting to preserve your traditional language is hardly unfriendly or tedious. Sounds like you are the one with issues!

 

[Big Janner]

It wouldn't be if people didn't speed, it's speeders that enable it. If you're going to speed then you need to be prepared for the consequences of breaking the law, I was caught a few months ago and it was a fair cop, took it on the chin. I never understand why people slate speed cameras - they wouldn't be there if people didn't speed.

Always been my position.

If my memory serves me correctly, I've been pulled for speeding 18 times, varying from 34 in a 30 by a camera, to having a police car follow me for 7 miles on the M40 before I dropped below 100mph when they very decently, 'clocked' me at 99.28mph

It was my choice (or inattention that caused me) to speed, so, I take the points/awareness course and continue to try to improved ( not successfully, if my record is taken into account)

 

[Big Janner]

Speedo calibration is always on the side of caution.

My SL speedo reads 70 when I'm doing 68.

33 in a 30 - that's very unlucky. Below 10% + 2 I would argue the case based on calibration of your speedo and the camera and margin for error - which is the reason for the 10% +2. I've done so and been successful in the past. As for the van - well you know it's there so there's not really any excuse not to slow down for it. There has to be justification for speed limits, and it's not the police who set them as far as I'm aware (could be wrong) but the councils and relevant safety boards.

At the end of the day whether you agree with the limits or not, the choice is stick to them or exceed them and be prepared for the consequences.

 

[Big Janner]

Just because they cannot under read does not mean they automatically over read. Most modern cars have extremely accurate speedometers. So if a camera gets you at a true 33, then your speedometer would be showing 33.

Not would, Dippo, should

 

[JHS]

My speedo reads 50 when I am doing 49.4 according to my speedo phone app.

 

[E55BOF]

Maybe your phone's slow...