Ok folks-here is todays teaser...
I was driving through Gloucester on Saturday evening and got flashed by a GATSO at 40mph (exactly) in a 30mph zone.
Yes I know it was my fault and I should not have been speeding etc etc.(please I dont want to start another long thread on the speed debate).
What I would like to know is this-the camera was on the opposite side of the road to me and faced my oncoming car.
There were no other vehicles in the coverage zone of the camera,and I clearly saw the two flashes in the top right corner of my windscreen as I drove past.
It was a standard GATSO,not the digital type.
Sooo do I expect a NIP through the post or have I avoided the fine and points this time?
I have done a search on the forum but I couldnt find anything that specifically relates to my query.
Once again I know it was my fault and I know I was exceeding the limit so fair enough if I get the points!!
Thanks in advance
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I am under the impression it is only the camera on your side of the road that is activated when you are speeding.
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Has anyone tried setting off a camera with, for example, a tin can on a string?
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You're ok if you set off a Gatso on the other side of the road.
I try my best to set one off on my way to work every morning. Must have done it at least 30 times. The best fun is timing it so that someone else is in the zone when it flashes.... ahem.
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There are cameras, not GATSOs but TRUEVELOs, which can be turned round and will take pictures of traffic coming towards them. There are sets of inductive loops buried in the road surface on both lanes of a 2 lane road and the camera faces one way for a week and then the other. A typical example of this set up is on the A 428 in Great Barford between the Black Cat roundabout on the A1 and Bedford. You can be photographed by the one camera in either lane, and radar detectors won't warn you as there is no radar!
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Gatsos work in both directions and when the speed is set, the camera is tripped when it is exceeded with + or - that speed.
Amazingly on UK roads, Police insist on installing one on each side when one will often suffice on a two lane road (which has started to be the procedure as of recently).
You can only be prosecuted if there were white distance markings on the side of the road you were on. If these were only present on the side of the road the camera was on you are in the clear.
It is often tempting to do what G mentions and prod the throttle just towards the end of the markings, sets the camera off for all the people coming the other way :-) The simple pleasures from that otherwise boring drive to work...
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How many are 'active' nowadays? I got flashed doing about 80 on the A7 (?) from Edinburgh to Carlisle. No points.
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www.speed-trap.co.uk a good source of reading re things like this. I think they reckon only about 1 in 8 are likely to be loaded a) with the camera and b) with film
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One of these truvelo jobbies also on the 428 at Harlestone (Northants), regularly turned about. Any views on the safety implications of being flashed in the face (as it were) partic at night. Time it got me was late evening on spring BH monday so film had run out, but just one flash distracting even in full daylight.
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Yes I've triggered one going in the other direction at night. Gave me a right fright and got me completely disorientated. I thought of telling plod that it was unsafe, but then I couldn't be bothered.
There's a GATSO at the bottom of a steep hill in Brentwood, and I reckon I could easlily do 40 past it on my pedal bike. Wondered if it would trip? If so I could do the world a service by using up its film. (That's a joke BTW 'cos speeding on a bike is just as dangerous as a car :-))
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The one at the bottom of the M11 (Britain's highest earning camera) can be distracting from the opposite direction, and a moment's inattention can be fatal.
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Indeed it is, but apparently you can't be done for 'speeding' on a pedal cycle. The worst thinf you can get is a charge of 'cycling furiously'.
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Only if they get the numberplate of your bike ! ! ;-)
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The worst thing they can do you for on a bike is 'drink cycling' which carries the same license losing penalty as if you were in a car. Not a prob if you never intend to drive.
dan
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