Speed cameras on the M1 set to 72mph…fake news?

Car speedos are not allowed to under read your speed for obvious reasons which is defined in EU Regulation 39.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedometer

So if you have the right tyres on and they are at the correct pressure etc etc then if your speedo reads 70 you are almost certainly doing less than 70. In my car its closer to 65 true speed.

One police chief was in the news last year when he commented on police budgets, saying tongue in cheek, “think how much money we’d bring in if the M1 speed cameras were always on.”

Quite some outrage from people who think it’s acceptable to speed on motorways greeted his comments, and the impression I got was that it wasn’t a viable option owing to the number of people involved.

The police have given up on enforcing 20 limits, so they probably think that enforcing a 70 is 3.5 times more difficult. Also, the people charging up and down in Range Rovers with private plates probably have a fair amount of pull in the area of lawmaking.

Be wary of assuming your speedo over reads by 10% in a modern car: last two 2018 reg hire cars I drove over read by exactly 2mph at all speeds.

think how much money we’d bring in if the M1 speed cameras were always on

Aye it should be donated to charity or the nhs

think how much money we’d bring in if the M1 speed cameras were always on

A bit like the A9 then….

Surrey stretch of M25 cameras are active and can trigger on 70+ if variable speed is not in effect. Don’t know what speed triggers them. They’re not on all gantries despite marks on the road, although don’t just look for GATSO types on the gantry, there are HADECS at the side popping up now.

Also M3 smart motorway section cameras are live and can catch 70+ as I understand it.

M1 cameras used to do nothing but with the smart sections they might now.

So… is anyone able to say for certaintity that the smart motorway cameras are on and set to record anyone travelling at over 70mph when there is no speed limit displayed on the gantries?

Afterall, who stays within the 70mph limit on the motorway? it’s accepted that around 80 is acceptable in the 3rd overtaking lane. (cue loads of sunday school teachers saying I stay under 70… LIARS!!)

I just assumed tyre size/wear would throw the speedo out by a small amount, assuming it’s absolutely spot-on in the first place.

From my experience they only flash you if you’re doing silly speeds (i.e over 80 ish).

Just last night I saw a blue light police car get flashed on the opposite side of the M1, and he was chugging along.

I’ve even seen cars getting flashed for going through a closed Red Cross lane, which is great as they’re idiots.

No idea if it’s been said but the same story flashed up on my Facebook feed and someone pointed out that the same story did the rounds last year around the same time.

I know for a fact that the speedo (digital figures and analogue style clock) on the wife’s Evoque reads well over, even at low speeds.

There’s loads of those digital speed read out boards near us and an indicated 34 on hers always shows up as 28, to be fair it’s not the only bizarre thing about that car.

Afterall, who stays within the 70mph limit on the motorway? it’s accepted that around 80 is acceptable in the 3rd overtaking lane.

The vast majority of UK Drivers. Not all of them a Sunday School Teachers, and your reference that everyone Speeds and calling them liars if they don’t is frankly rather distasteful and rong.

HTHs

Speeding isn’t confined to Range Rover drivers, plenty of Passat Estate wannabes flooring it down this way.

I’m not that draconian in stating all Speed Cameras should be on and set to the exact speed of that road, nope I’m more in favour of people respecting other road users abilities and not using thier vehicles as either a weapon or vehicle of intimidation.

Plenty of people drive the way I do, you’ll see us, we’re the ones you lot overtake 😜

There’s loads of those digital speed read out boards near us and an indicated 34 on hers always shows up as 28,

I’d take the reading from those boards with a pinch of salt. I cycle past a couple on my commute which regularly show me as passing them at 24-25mph. I can assure you that it’s nothing like that speed at the end of a 17 mile commute 🙂

70 on my speedo is 67mph going by GPS. 30mph shows up as 28mph going by the speed warning signs. If I was to do 72mph actual, my speed would read at least 75mph. Given the limit is 70mph it isn’t really an issue to give fines for doing 72mph.

I travel up and down the M1 between Leeds and junction 29 where my folks live quite often. On the 4 lane smart motorway sections my experience is that most people travel at around 70 with only the odd car traveling significantly quicker. This is true even when there is less traffic and no HGVs (most recently Boxing Day) where there would be plenty of opportunity to speed. Where non-smart more people travel faster – but traffic flows less well esp in lane 3.

My reading of this is that people assume the cameras are turned on all the time and always have done. Also noticed yellow cameras by side of motorway not on overhead gantries in last year or so – not average speed ones like in roadworks.

The smart motorway around jnct 29 and up to Sheffield has really helped with traffic flow – it was common for traffic to come to a standstill at least a couple of times just through weight of vehicles in any given journey – extra lane and speed control really helps in my view.

So… is anyone able to say for certaintity that the smart motorway cameras are on and set to record anyone travelling at over 70mph when there is no speed limit displayed on the gantries?

I can’t say they are ALWAYS on, but I got caught early morning on the M5 by Bristol by a gantry camera when the gantry was not showing a limit. No excuses, totally my own fault and I sucked the penalty up without protest.

Oh and I was doing a bit more than 72mph at the time.

Be wary of assuming your speedo over reads by 10% in a modern car: last two 2018 reg hire cars I drove over read by exactly 2mph at all speeds.

It’s unlikely that your speedo is going to be out by 10%. It might in exceptional circumstances be as high as that, but for most people it’s going to be a much smaller margin.

There’s loads of those digital speed read out boards near us and an indicated 34 on hers always shows up as 28, to be fair it’s not the only bizarre thing about that car.

Those digital readouts are wildly inaccurate in my experience (each one I pass reads differently). Run GPS in your car and you’ll get a good idea of what the true speed is. Mine’s around 67-68 at an indicated 70mph.

there are HADECS at the side popping up now.

I got pinged by one of those in a variable limit, as the gantry changed from 60 to 50 as I was passing under it, I’d seen the camera tucked off to my left, and thought “I wonder how much over 60 I need to be to trigger it” as I had the speed limiter set on my car. Then the gantry changed “****!” flashflash! “**** **** ****”

So I can safely say that 60 in a 50 pings at least some of them. But I didn’t get a ticket as apparently they have a grace peroid of a few seconds after the limit change to cover for that scenario – the camera comes on instantly though.

So I’m alone in setting my cruise to 70 on GPS.

The average camera have made the a9 and the a90 much more plesent places to drive.

I’m pro average camera.

Average speed camera’s cause huge congestion travelling on A1 south of Grantham at rush hour. There were no traffic problems prior to their installation.
I for one find myself spending far too much time checking I’m not 2mph over the limit instead of making observations, as many others obviously do judging by the standard of overtaking manoeuvres I see.

Average speed camera’s cause huge congestion travelling on A1 south of Grantham at rush hour. There were no traffic problems prior to their installation.

Is that a bit like guns killing people ? Ie inanimate objects do not cause anything.

How does all the vehicles traveling at the same speed cause congestion.

You’ll likely find that they have eased congestion further down the line at bottle necks which is what we found. Instead of every car that left Dundee for Aberdeen between 6 and 6.45 arriving at 7.30am you get. Steady stream arrivals so there was rarely major traffic at bridge of Dee after they were live.

I got flashed by a Smart Motorway camera on the M62 back in September late at night. The variable limit was not in force so I just assumed they were now switched on all the time.

I was doing 88 so fair enough, but I never actually got a ticket.

Can’t see how they could enforce this based on present standards of in car speed measurement.

I can. But more to the point, I would LOVE to see you trying to argue your way out of a ticket in court using the “parallax effect” as your defence 😂

trail_rat

Member
So I’m alone in setting my cruise to 70 on GPS.

The average camera have made the a9 and the a90 much more plesent places to drive.

I’m pro average camera.

Posted 2 hours ago

Thats what I do.

Was in a cluster of cars going way over the limit on a stretch of motorway that had pissed us all off by showing inappropriate speed limits when there was clearly FA going on.

The cameras went off like a photoshoot but nothing came of it.

I did a speed more than 70mph up the M1 in August from junction 28 to 37, when I arrived I was told they enforeced 70MPH but never had anything through. A google and facebook seach did suggest 70MPH was being enforced.

I dont drive often but when I do I do not exceed speed limits in towns or on main roads.

A google and facebook seach did suggest 70MPH was being enforced.

They sound like credible sources.

No way, no how is 70mph being enforced on a motorway (in so far as 71 or 72 will get you a NIP). If it were, it’d break the prosecution system overnight from the sheer volume of tickets.

I can confirm they trigger on the M62 at 128mph*

*Just to give this thread the kick-start it needs.

Personal experience Bear? lol.

I can confirm they trigger on the M62 at 128mph*
*Just to give this thread the kick-start it needs.

That’s nearly fast enough to trigger the camera and not be in the picture. Nearly.