Not really Audi related but just wondered if anyone knows anything about the new cameras on smart motorways. Heres what I know, usually the cameras are on every other sign posts and that I've seen them flash when there has been a lower speed limit in place but I've been driving through at 70 and people have been flying past me way above but don't get flashed so hers my question. Are the cameras only on when there is a lower speed limit in place? Hope someone knows some facts because I can't find anything on the internet.
Smart motorway
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There's a multitude of camera types on the motorways, but the newest and most pernicious little ******** are the ones that are hung off the left side of gantries, preceded a few hundred yards back by 3 cctv type cameras. These are the HADECS3 cameras. Google that.
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Seems from what I've just read that the HADECS3 work in conjunction with the variable speed limit? I have no issue with that. I do however find that the majority of the time, imposing a lower speed limit seems to cause congestion rather than ease it!
There were rumours, that were no doubt embraced and reinforced by the highways agency, that the M25 HADECS3 cameras would be active at all times, even when under normal NSL conditions. I've looked no further into it than that I'm afraid.
lol I hear that! But I think the majority are turned on always even when there are no temporary speed limits. I had a puncture on the m25 a while back and stopped in a vehicle refuge area, near the west side of Hertfordshire. On the opposite side of the carriageway, there was a gantry but with the four individual speed cameras. In the time I spent changing the wheel, there were about 9-10 camera flashes!
I have driven on the section of the M25 between J21 (for the M1) and j16 (for the M40) quite frequently as I use this this route to visit my mother in a care home in High Wycombe. This drive I normally do on a Saturday and on the way back (j16-j21) it is often quite quiet and can often travel at 80-9mph and I have never been flashed yet. If the variable speed limits signs are working I tend to stick to the speed limit, just in case. The M25 at these times is still a 3 lane motorway because no-one, except me, seems to use the left-hand lane at all.
Similar experience driving from the a21 turn off to the a12 on the m25, not even been flashed in the 60mph sections up to the tunnels. I guess there's always going to be a first time though...
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The old M25 cameras were set to flash above 90 afaik even when no variable limit set. The hadecs3 is unknown so I slow to the speed limit when I see them. Won't be long before they are everywhere imho which will be a nightmare for drivers.
TX.
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TX.
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I would imagine they can be used whatever the limit set. Why bother risking getting caught? I've seen them flash other cars around 6 or 7 times in the past year on the M1, all with a lower limit set I think, but there's no reason they can't use them at other times. People do go flying past because they usually aren't on when the limit is 70, but it's not really worth the risk IMO. One day they'll get caught.
Likewise. When the VSL is active I just stick the limit. The operators of the HADECS3 vary in the enforcement limits and weather the cameras are active under NSL conditions, so I go through those at the correct limit too. Thankfully, those same operators subject to a political kick up the jacksie and were forced to paint their new stealth cameras yellow, so they're pretty easy to spot now.
Err, I think those sections use average speed cameras....
It it so nice driving in Germany in particular where they have very few speed cameras and of course sections of the autobahn where have no speed limits either. Where limits are imposed most drivers tend to stick to them.
I also like France, where it seems speed cameras only exist to slow traffic in particularly dangerous areas, rather than the UK model, where the placement of its cameras suggests that the primary purpose of the camera is to generate revenue.
Problem with French cameras is that they are not yellow but at least have large signs in the vicinity and are generally on a hair trigger and flash from one km over the limit in my experience. Not sure if there is a UK/French agreement to enforce speeding fines. Worse place are the approach roads to Calais during the holiday season where there are often mobile police units with hand held cameras that, I believe, can issue on the spot fines.
That's the other thing. In France a speed camera sign means there is a speed camera. In the uk, a speed camera sign is used as a kind of confetti to decorate naked signposts with.
I can vouch that the French police do issue on the spot fines, which you must pay, in cash, immediately. But they are nothing but courteous and friendly when doing it, and let's face it, they're French. It's not going to be something they'll do all day.
The days when us Brits could blast through French speed cameras with impunity have very recently come to an end. The bi-lateral data sharing between le flic and the DVLA has been forcibly implemented by the EU, so they can now pursue you.
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vivalacoulter
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On the M4 near Newport I've seen them go off while there was no restricted limit in place. I was doing 70mph and some guy whizzed past FLASHFLASH. So I guess those ones are always on...
You'll be fine. I'm pretty sure the deadline for sharing data was the beginning of this month, but I set off a camera on my way back from Lille recently, and nothing has happened..Just as well I have not driven into France in the last year then!!! Gone are the days of blasting out of Rouen towards Calais on the A16 on a Friday morning at 140 mph or was that 140kmh
Seems some of our cameras are the same. A guy at work was flashed and done for 41 in 40 limit on A127. He was going to contest, but doing the course instead. Crazy , we will all have to stop looking at the road and stare at speedo all the time !
The camera on the westerly approach to Gallows corner is notorious for that but then again its a couple of hundred yards from a major roundabout
I think it was carpenters arms. He said no excuse but there was a lot of activity around him and was concentrating on the other traffic and thought he was under 40.
That is the problem with the system now there is no logic , unlike a human . For people who don't know it this is a dual carriageway that goes down from 70 to 40. So if you are in the outside lane you start slowing early and have the local nutter (it is essex) in your boot or you keep going and brake fairly hard . The inside lane usually has trucks in it.
I came round the m25 last night. Set ACC to 68 and just relaxed and amazed at the speed people flew past me !
M1 & M25 from Northampton to Essex. Tend to cruise at high 70's but occasionally I'll put my foot down for a short stretch without venturing into "go straight to jail" levels of law breaking. Always stick to the limit in a VSL zone though. Clean licence for 22 years and as I write, a little broken envelope could be preparing its self to drop through my door after one of those short stretch burst :/
When (not if) I get that little brown envelope it'll be no one's fault but my own and I shall kick myself very hard indeed. I love my car, I don't like how I sometimes behave when I drive it. The umph I know I have under my right foot without a doubt sometimes clouds my better judgement. I don't tailgate though, if I come across a slower driver. I just slow, pull into the left lane and wait for the nob to wake up and move out of the way. I saw some shocking drivers though that will never get caught on anything but a dash cam and it wasn't the speed that was dangerous. It was reckless manoeuvring at speed and with no consideration for other road users at all. Compared to that, I'm a ****** saint!
When (not if) I get that little brown envelope it'll be no one's fault but my own and I shall kick myself very hard indeed. I love my car, I don't like how I sometimes behave when I drive it. The umph I know I have under my right foot without a doubt sometimes clouds my better judgement. I don't tailgate though, if I come across a slower driver. I just slow, pull into the left lane and wait for the nob to wake up and move out of the way. I saw some shocking drivers though that will never get caught on anything but a dash cam and it wasn't the speed that was dangerous. It was reckless manoeuvring at speed and with no consideration for other road users at all. Compared to that, I'm a ****** saint!
Gugne
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They're also always live at J19 M4 in both directions and will flash at anything over true 80mph. (85 speedo)
I got caught on the way to Italy and on the way back 3 weeks later- 82mph each time.
Satory
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I doubt he was telling you the truth tbh. Bet he can't show you the paperwork. A gatso set like that would be too easy to challenge. Is it in an area that has the limit changed to 30?
No it is a duel carriageway that drops from 70 to 40,
Some areas now have zero tolerance and if you challenge you give up the right to a speed awareness course apparently. He is not the type to lye or exaggerate . That is why I now use ACC where I can where there are speed cameras.
How to challenge it though? Calibration? They're wise to that game now.
My record was 33 in a 30, well below the ACPO guidelines for prosecution, but I did the course.
A little bit of topic drift, but I have never, ever, encountered a greater level of fuckwittery than I witnessed in my fellow classmates on that speed awareness course. If that was a representative sample of the UK motoring public, then the gene pool needs more chlorine in it before the nation grinds to a standstill and sinks into the quicksand of its own stupidity and utter ignorance. How some of these simpletons mustered the IQ points required to even tie their shoelaces is beyond me, never mind operate a motor vehicle.
Satory
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They may be wise to it but I do not believe that they could have changed policy in Essex from '10% + 2mph' to zero tolerance without some degree of challenge that would backlog the court system. That camera already issued more than nearly 20 tickets a day iirc when it was set to national guidelines. If Essex really has changed to a zero tolerance policy on that stretch of road, I stand corrected; but to do so and I can't find any trace of evidence on the web, no news story, nothing on their own website, I doubt it tbh. It would be a really big deal to fly under the radar screen, no?
Flying Scotsman
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I was recently back in the UK and the proliferation of speed cameras is nothing short of "Big Brother" is definitely watching and fining you. Scotland was not bad but the S.E. of England was idiotic. They were placed as money makers on areas, such as downhill roads which all the locals knew of but would catch out others.
Cameras were banned here as it was shown they were a source of cash revenue and not as a speed/safety deterrent. Do not get me wrong I am very observant and compliant of my speed in small villages in the UK and love to test my driving abilities on some of the demanding minor roads that dot the countryside but all done with consideration to other road users.
Generally speaking; speed is not the cause of accidents, it is poor driving skills and not paying attention. Texters should get the same penalties as impaired driving.
Cameras were banned here as it was shown they were a source of cash revenue and not as a speed/safety deterrent. Do not get me wrong I am very observant and compliant of my speed in small villages in the UK and love to test my driving abilities on some of the demanding minor roads that dot the countryside but all done with consideration to other road users.
Generally speaking; speed is not the cause of accidents, it is poor driving skills and not paying attention. Texters should get the same penalties as impaired driving.
10% + 2mph is, and always has been, a guideline, set by the police themselves. It's not written in any statutes, or found in any Act. Essex Police can actually do anything they fancy, and if they want to book people for 41 in a 40 they will, and they're under no obligation to tell anyone about it. As I noted above, most people are thicker than a whale omelette, and will simply pay up. The courts will certainly pick up a few extra cases, but they are not really a bottleneck in a system that operates mainly in fixed penalties. I imagine a robust legal challenge will see you off the hook, for most people the NIP is enough for them to cough up the tax, sorry "fine", and see the back of it. 20 tickets a day is easily within the capabilities of the speed camera partnerships, and the newer digital camera technology. Now they don't use bulk loaded 35mm film they don't have to worry about setting the tolerance so it doesn't run out of film too quickly, and can set thresholds wherever they like. There's a camera on the North Circular that's punching out 160 tickets a day, every single day. 15,000 £100 fines in six months...
I did my course in 2007 or 2008, and even then the met police were very very particular about bringing verifiable, official photographic ID, and scrutinised mine like I was trying to gain access to Kate Middletons underwear drawer or something.
The theory test is a joke, and the practical test not nearly thorough enough. I also believe that periodic re-testing should take place, and driving standards more rigidly enforced. Instead of the constant attack on speed, Crack down on (and ban) dullards and morons who (for instance) can't navigate a roundabout without wandering across multiple lanes, oblivious to the fact that other vehicles are having to take avoiding action, or who tailgate, or are so obnoxious and aggressive that they are a ****** menace, and you'll remove a huge lump of the UK's traffic, congestion, and motoring misery in one mighty cull of stupidity. My vision of motoring utopia mightn't be all it's cracked up to be though, as there will surely be an enourmous increase in bus numbers to ferry these incompetent ***** about...
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Drove down the M25 yesterday and my god I felt like a celebrity with the number of flashes going off!
Luckily it wasn't me being caught
Luckily it wasn't me being caught
