IMHO, all speed cameras distract drivers from actual driving and are therefore a bad thing.

After my second SP30 offence, I decided it was probably me at fault not 'the man' and so now observe speed limits. It's a pain in the arse and driving would be much more fun if I could drive as fast as I feel is safe but that's just not how it happens.

Now when I see a camera I can sail through whilst only checking my speed, rather than the half second of panic as I quickly check my speed, decide what the limit is and brake before hitting the stripy road.

Sorry for getting all sanctimonious!

See your point, but only the same as two gatsos on the same road 1/5 a mile apart with no change in speed limit between (seen on a daily basis). It's essentially proof that you were driving fast all the way, rather than just took a while to slow down.

Yeah but average speed cameras do not work independently – they work together to get the average speed. You have to think of them as one camera but spaced out over a stretch of road.

Anyone know how long it gernerally takes to send a fine/ticket through post?

Yeah but average speed cameras do not work independently – they work together to get the average speed. You have to think of them as one camera but spaced out over a stretch of road.

I never said they did. What I said was that getting twice in one set of cameras (i.e. got by cams 1 and 2 and then 5 and 6 in the same set) is the same. Maybe I mis-read the original intent.

Yeah I know what you mean – I guess I assumed they only work as a set from 1 to 6 (in your example) not in sub-sets.

As others have said, I always stick the car on cruise to avoid any issues anyway.

Does anyone know of anybody who's been caught in the cameras in south Wales between Newport and Cardiff?

AFAIK it's a section of about 11 miles and I personally reckon it's now more dangerous with the way people in cars get 'pushed' by wagon drivers who want to keep trucking at 56mph on the downhills so they don't slow so much on the hilly bits.

And as for the **** that batter along at about 80 and then hit the anchors hard before accelerating again…….surely they should have lost their licences by now if any of those cameras are live.

If they aren't "live" (and there seems to be a lot of activity with cables and purple conduit) surely somebody is bending the rules allowing people to belive they are working already.

A lot of the people I work with travel into South Wales daily and pretty much all of them believe that junction 24 through to junction 28 is now way more difficult to drive through and demands a much higher level of concentration than before.

And who the hell decided a permanent 50mph on a section of motorway without roadworks on was a good idea in the first place?

Grrrrr

I came across a FOI request for the ones on the M27 near Southampton, I forget the exact figures, but it was something like 110,000 vehicles/day, cameras in place for 9 months and they did 33 people for speeding! ie they were not very 'sensitive' at all!

The Wales ones could be the same!

That 50mph section of the M4 in South Wales is a complete cluster **** that deserves it's own thread. Who the **** turns a 3-lane motorway into a 50mph zone? Fair enough the road works sections but they've done the whole lot as a permanent 50mph.

Is it because there is residential properties around the road? It is like that(well was the last time I went up that way) on the A1 north of Newcastle too.

The M4's not the only section of Mway with a permanent 50 limit, the M8 through Glasgow is too, until you get out to the west when its 60, no its 70, no it 40, no, now its 60 again. Is it 50 now? I'm not sure.

If you've got a quick succession of sliproads you'll find the traffic flows better when all the traffic is travelling slower. Thats what the experimental limits around the M25 were/are all about, slowing all the traffic to the lowest common denominator to prevent those standing wave traffic jams.

Yeah, it's even better now with the 50 speed restriction for the people not working on the section before j24 although the bit fro j29 to j32 isn't quite so bad.

I think it's about 16 miles in total. It's horrendous and although I'm no angel I do stick to limits in roadworks and average speed sections. I drive 30k miles a year in a Transit for work but really don't like driving a car through that lot.