Around J15 approx of the M25 at 1.30 this morning, heading back to J11 I was passed by a Peugeot.
My speedometer showed 80mph, and I would guess the Peugeot was doing in the region of 120mph. It went past as if I was stationary.
I thought to myself "Rather you than me" as he went under a gantry (And this is where I would like to know if I was imagining things) and I saw some flashes and the faint outline of a speed camera sign displayed on the dot matrix displays.
Is this a genuine feature of the gantries - warning when someone has been caught? A test mode of some sort left activated? Just the flash 'leaking' through to the oncoming traffic display side of the gantry? Or just my tired mind playing tricks?!
This is not a speeding thread BTW.
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Don't know. I thought average speed cameras were run from gantries but only worked if you stayed in the same lane. Perhaps they flash up a warning sign too.
Did the projectile switch into the centre or nearside lane after going past?
Regular users of the M25 seem to go quite quickly sometimes. They probably know where it's OK. I think I would hesitate to follow one much over 100 though.
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Yes I saw them later tootling along behind a lorry as I was leaving at J11!
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I've driven many times in the rush hour when this section of the M25 displays average speeds. I always keep to the limit displayed as I feel that it keeps the flow moving. Though you always get those whizzing through without any flash from the cameras.
My SatNav has safety camera alerts installed. On this section it alerts me to about two but the rest are blank. I deduce that several of the gantries don't have cameras as we are led to believe, and that is why you get the arrogant morons speeding through happy in the knowledge they won't get caught.
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Don't know. I thought average speed cameras were run from gantries
This section of the M25 is not controlled by average speed cameras (SPECS), it is HADECS (effectively a per lane GATSO linked to the VSL).
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Its been a while since I passed through this section but I thought the camera sign reads 'average speed check' ?
Would make sense in realtion to the previous post about only 2 cameras showing on the sat nav.
D
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There are no average speed cameras on this stretch of the M25.
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I wasn't talking about SPECS they are on the separate yellow poles, and there was nothing being displayed on the signs.
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The only bit of SPECs on the southern stretch is the M25-M3 south exit.
The cameras certainlt don't trigger at around 100MPH, I've never seen anyone go faster than that.
The pain is the numpty brigade who meander along in which lane they think is prettiest! Had several today down to sub 50 in lane 4. Regulars know where the cameras are & more importantly which one works & don't grasp they're in the way.
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The variable speed gantries were placed on that stretch of the M25 for a reason. If everyone in ALL lanes stuck to the indicated speed then we will all get to where we are going without congestion. People like you that think they have a right to break the rules "M"uck it up for the rest of us. Jumping the gun and weaving from lane to lane is selfish and counter productive. Chill out, and you might find a slower journey might be calmer on your ticker.
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Technically the SPECS bit is the M25 slip onto the M3 & it's caused maximum chaos at most times with massive queues to get from the M25 onto the M3. It's been in place for a year or so & is typical modern traffic mis-management. It screws up both the M3 through traffic plus the traffic trying to get on. It then leaves slow traffic stuck in the outer lanes of the M3 after the 50 limit as everyone speeds backup. It also causes massive bunching making changing lanes in the busy bits absolutely lethal especially with the LHD foreign artics.
Who said anything about weaving about? I was talking about the zero lane discipline which means people meandering around in any of the 4-6 lanes they fancy, at a speed decided by a set of dice or someother random reason. Try Reigate hill CW at around 06:00.
The overhead gantry is typical of something that should work but doesn't. The theory is everyone does the same speed e.g. that indicated but in parctice you get the mimsers braking for every limit irrespective of what speed they're doing & even worse the people who panic brake when the limit changes, they don't know their is a settling time after a change.
Also it's quite common to drive it at late at night with virtually no cars on it & find limits set at 40 or 50. The cameras work 24 x 7 so what do you do.
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My experience is that the "get of my way" brigade have to weave from lane to lane to get past those obeying the set speed.
I agree that some numpty is operating the signals at times and that the speed should drop by 10mph from the first gantry thus getting everyone slowing down together over a longer distance. I've seen it drop from 70 to 50 to 40 within a few hundred yards. Then back up to 50.Which is crazy. So we need a concerted effort to get the signs correct for the traffic flow and conditions and get everyone to stick to them to make it work.
Just because drivers know certain gantries do not have cameras should not make a difference in driving attitude. As I said, getting impatient and zooming off does not help any situation. It makes it worse. Especially when so many do it.
There could be a good reason why they are operated so early in the morning. Maybe there is debris in the road or a broken down vehicle. Something that maybe unforseen if you're tempted to floor it above these limits. The controllers will always have a reason why they have actuated the signs.
I do agree they could be managed better. But it has to be a joint effort from them and the road user for it to work as designed.
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