Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

Please can anyone advise... I'm sitting here worrying about receiving a ticket in the next 14 days... worried is an understatement..

Please can some advise or assist.

I was driving to my parents in Flitwick on the Flitwick Road A1520, Westerning, on Sunday. Bedfordshire Area. It goes from being 70mph to 30mph as you turn the bend. Ive done a bit of research and it is a Truvelo camera.

I'm sure I did break as there was a car in front of me that was slowing down so i would of had to but just remember breaking rather sharply, my head wasn't with it. Now I'm questioning myself and panicking.

I know this camera very well and always slow down normally but this time I'm just a little worried. I want to say I put my breaks on before i hit the 3 horizontal lines but cant be certain.

It did not flash but then having researched into these types of cameras they don't flash, but i did see a red light, but not sure if that was just the reflection of the sun. Surely i would have had to be going slower than the person in front just to avoid hitting him right?

Does anyone know this particular camera or can give me some advice or anything at all...

Thank you....

Edited by Footballcrazy111 on 17/08/2021 at 15:33

Speed Camera - Falkirk Bairn

You will just have to wait & see what the postie brings - I'm afraid.

Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

Yep i guess. Just wanted to know if anyone has had experience with this particular camera in this area - thank you anyway

Speed Camera - Bromptonaut

Worst case is three points and a fine. If you're lucky and were not too far over the limit you might just get a course.

Is there any reason why those would be a disaster?

Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

Yeah I already have 9 points on my DL

Speed Camera - galileo

Yep i guess. Just wanted to know if anyone has had experience with this particular camera in this area - thank you anyway

If you had a dash cam you would be able to connect to a laptop and watch the speed as you approached. I have done this to confirm my speed when in doubt, another reason to have such a device.

Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

Yeah very good idea but I'm thinking I would have had to break quite a fair bit as there was a car in front who was doing the correct speed limit if not under. Otherwise I would have hit him..... what do you think?

Speed Camera - bathtub tom

I think that if someone already has nine points, then they need to learn to slow down.

Speed Camera - Engineer Andy

Yeah very good idea but I'm thinking I would have had to break quite a fair bit as there was a car in front who was doing the correct speed limit if not under. Otherwise I would have hit him..... what do you think?

If you are that close to the car in front at high speed, then you are not driving correctly/safely. You always need room to be able to brake without hitting the one in front if they perform an emergency stop - plus a decent margin.

That means you need to back off from vehicles in front, even if they are driving slower than the speed limit, and if you can overtake safely (and are allowed to), then do so rather than make them nervous by hanging on their rear bumper for ages.

Bear in mind when you're driving at 60mph, your car is travelling at 27 metres per second , whereas most cars will likely stop (emergency stop) in somewhere between 35m and 45m in dry, warm conditions if shod on reasonable tyres.

There's a good reason why the 2 second 'rule of thumb' is useful as an absolute minimum between you and the vehicle in front - more so in poor weather or if your vehicle is older or (especially the tyres) not in great condition.

I would've thought that with 9 points on your licence and the current issues with travelling on public transport that you'd do all you can to keep your driving licence by driving responsibly.

Speed Camera - Engineer Andy

I hope the OP means change from 60 to 30mph, given there are no proper (and unrestricted) dual carriageway sections in the area, only single lane (60 tops) carriageway or filter off lanes for junctions.

Any speed camera will be after a sign with the new speed limit, so there's no excuse if the signs are there stating the reduced limit. They are where the new limit starts, not the place where vehicles should start to brake, but that they should be off the brakes as they should've already slowed down sufficiently (well) before the signage.

Hopefully a lesson learned, whether the hard way or not. Only time will tell.

Speed Camera - Falkirk Bairn

9 points

So it's not £50 fine & 3 points

It's a ban and the cost of getting insurance when you get back on the road.

I knew of a chap at work many years ago.

Drove like a saint when I first met him - he had 9 points and no option as he said..

A few years later he was sacked aged 53 ish - he had been caught Drunk Driving down south whilst on business.

Paid the fine but came back North and drove for 12 months before being found out - stopped for speeding IIRC. Sacked on the spot - he was a star salesman most years but driving a company car when banned saw him sacked and lose most of his pension i.e. funds were reduced to what he paid in (6/7% was what I paid IIRC), the company withdrew their 20/25 years worth (around 20% of earnings)

Speed Camera - Middleman

So it's not £50 fine & 3 points

It would never be £50. The fixed penalty for speeding is £100 and three points.

The OP needs to hope that if he was flashed he was travelling at 42mph or under. For that speed he should be offered a course (provided he has not done one for an offence that occurred in the last three years). Otherwise it's 3 points (provided he was travelling under 50mph, or else it's court and almost certainly six points). Then he's liable to a "totting up" ban of six months unless he can convince the court that he and/or others will suffer "exceptional hardship" as a result.

Speed Camera - focussed

"It goes from being 70mph to 30mph"

As it's a A road it will be the NSL of 60 mph unless otherwise signposted.

Maybe that was your problem?

Speed Camera - bathtub tom

I know the road the OP speaks of. It's a 30 limit in Westoning and then 40 all the way to the 30 limit at Flitwick.

If the OP thought it was a 70 limit, I think I can see their problem.

goo.gl/maps/hcKvjqqTjLXH2Urc7

Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

Here is the link below

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9796434,-0.4988074,3a,75...6

I'm sure I slowed down before the white lines in the road. 4 out of 14 days now and counting.

Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

What is NSL?

Here is the link below

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9796434,-0.4988074,3a,75...6

Speed Camera - galileo

What is NSL?

Here is the link below

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9796434,-0.4988074,3a,75...6

If you don't know the NSL (national speed limits) for single carriageway roads no wonder you have 9 points.

The Highway Code would be helpful reading for you.

Speed Camera - Engineer Andy

What is NSL?

Here is the link below

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9796434,-0.4988074,3a,75...6

Blimey, sir - you had a clear 30mph sign and 100m+ even after it (and you knew it was there) to slow down before the speed camera.

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.978667,-0.4999425,3a,75y...2

The sign on the other side (the white circle with the black diagonal stripe) is the national speed limit (60mph tops unless otherwise stated) on a single carriageway road.

www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9788435,-0.4997029,3a,75...2

It is 70mph on a dual carriageway with a central reservation, but like a single carriageway road, it will be (unless signposted [lower only]) 60mph tops on a dual-laned road. Some roads that have three lanes each way (one I think in the Birmingham area being a 'tidal flow' road) but with no central reservation are also 60mph limit roads as I understand it.

You need to be VERY careful about speed these days given how many changes in limit there are now, so best to gently back off on the throttle as you approach, thus eliminating the need to brake sharply when nearing the new lower limit sign. Far better to do that if some i**** is tailgating you, which will far more likely avoid an accident as it gives them far more time to react to your change in speed on approach.

Speed Camera - Footballcrazy111

Has anyone even had any experience with this camera or a Trevulo Camera?

Speed Camera - bathtub tom

So it's not Westoning to Flitwick like your original post suggested, but Toddington/M1 to Westoning. There's been a camera there since Noah was a lad. I'm surprised you're not aware of it. If you got caught by that, I'm not surprised you've got nine points on your licence.

Speed Camera - Engineer Andy

Has anyone even had any experience with this camera or a Trevulo Camera?

Seen them around, but never had my car's picture taken. Rather not a 'badge of honour' I want. :-)

Speed Camera - HGV ~ P Valentine
Getting a Fixed Penalty Notice

If you get an FPN you can choose to plead guilty or not guilty.

If you plead guilty

You’ll have to pay a £100 fine and have 3 points added to your licence, unless you’re given the option to attend a speed awareness course.

If you pay the fine, how you pay depends on where you were caught speeding. You can:

Your driving licence will have a code on it for 4 years.

You may be given the option of attending a speed awareness course if:

  • the police decide it’s appropriate for your offence
  • you have not been on a speed awareness course in the past 3 years
If you plead not guilty

You’ll have to go to court if you plead not guilty.

You can be fined more and get more penalty points if the court decides you’re guilty of speeding.

The amount you’re fined depends on what the speed limit was and how much over it you were driving. It’s usually a percentage of your weekly income, up to a maximum of £1,000 (£2,500 if you were driving on a motorway).

You could also be disqualified from driving or have your licence suspended.

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Copied and posted

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You will not get offered a speed awareness course with 9 points already on your licence, they remain valid for only 3 years but stay on your license for 4. So if you get 3 pts and total 12, then you will only lose your license for 3 years from the first 3 points you got, after that the total points on your license will become 3 less, so 12 will become 9.

Speed Camera - Middleman

You will not get offered a speed awareness course with 9 points already on your licence, they remain valid for only 3 years but stay on your license for 4. So if you get 3 pts and total 12, then you will only lose your license for 3 years from the first 3 points you got, after that the total points on your license will become 3 less, so 12 will become 9.

I'm not sure I understand all of this.

First of all, having nine points does not preclude the offer of a course. The only conditions for the offer of a course are that the speed alleged must be within (Limit + 10% +9mph) and the driver must not have taken a course for an offence which took place in the three years prior to the current one.

Secondly, the easiest way to explain the "totting up" rules is that points remain "active" for three years from the date of the offence. Twelve points accumulated within three years (with the dates of the offences being used to calculate that period) will see the offender facing a minimum ban of six months unless he can persuade the court that "Exceptional Hardship" will be suffered by him and/or others as a result of the ban.

There's a couple of misleading matters in the cut&paste info you provided:

Getting a Fixed Penalty Notice

Fixed Penalty Notices are not issued for speeding offences. Drivers are made a "Conditional Offer of a Fixed Penalty". This is not a pedantic point or one of simple terminology. There is an important legal difference.

If you get an FPN you can choose to plead guilty or not guilty.

No plea is entered in response to a fixed penalty. You either accept it and pay it or not. Again, this is not pedantic. Pleading guilty implies a criminal conviction has been recorded. No conviction is recorded when a fixed penalty is accepted.

Speed Camera - HGV ~ P Valentine

The Truvelo camera uses piezo sensors to calculate a passing vehicles speed. A total of four piezo sensors are embedded into the roads surface. As a vehicle drives over of these the time difference between sensors measures and calculates the passing vehicles speed.

Copied and posted

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it was a digital camera so you wont see a flash.

Speed Camera - Bromptonaut

it was a digital camera so you wont see a flash.

That makes no sense. A flash is intended to fill in lighting and ensure the vehicle and it's VRN are captured. It doesn't matter whether the camera is digital or contains film.

I was potentially caught by a Truevelo at Hardingstone Northants approx 15 years ago. My lack of observation; went from an an NSL side road to 40 then 30. I missed signage for 30. These cameras whiich face the driver have a filter on the flash but still visibly flash.

I saw the flash but heard nothing more; either the camera was full either film or digitally or I was near enough to 30 to get by.

As pointed out the OP had ample notice of 30, which should be achieved by the limit sign. Being possibly over it 200+ metres after the sign isn't really defensible.

Speed Camera - Engineer Andy

it was a digital camera so you wont see a flash.

That makes no sense. A flash is intended to fill in lighting and ensure the vehicle and it's VRN are captured. It doesn't matter whether the camera is digital or contains film.

I was potentially caught by a Truevelo at Hardingstone Northants approx 15 years ago. My lack of observation; went from an an NSL side road to 40 then 30. I missed signage for 30. These cameras whiich face the driver have a filter on the flash but still visibly flash.

I saw the flash but heard nothing more; either the camera was full either film or digitally or I was near enough to 30 to get by.

As pointed out the OP had ample notice of 30, which should be achieved by the limit sign. Being possibly over it 200+ metres after the sign isn't really defensible.

The problem is that some people appear to believe that a speed camera 'flashing them' is synonymous with being caught, when, as you said, it's just about the unit providing a temporary light source when the ambient level is low in order to get a good quality photo of the vehicle, and especially the number plate.

As a result, they would probably rarely use the flash In the daytime unless the weather was really bad.

I wonder if any speed cameras still use photographic film? Not worth anyone risking their licence (especially at the moment) to find out though! :-)

Speed Camera - bathtub tom

The average speed cameras near me certainly don't flash. If they did, they'd have to flash every car.