This is important info for anyone who uses the A13 from the M25 towards central London or back out again along this road. If you use this road for business or ‘pleasure’ please take careful note.<o:p></o:p>
I’m sure you are aware that this road is mainly 3 lanes in either direction but is subject to a pointless 40mph limit. This 40mph limit was put in place by Ken Livingstone and it has taken a good few years to change it. On Friday 28th January it will (all going well) change to a 50mph limit.<o:p></o:p>
However, as with everything in life, there is a catch!<o:p></o:p>
If you use this road you will have seen a huge number of cameras (84 I think!!) and roadworks going on. On the 28th The new average speed camera system will go live. The 50mph limit will be enforce from the eastern end of the Canning Town flyover all the way to the Lodge Avenue flyover. The bit after the Canning Town flyover towards London will remain a 30mph and the Lodge Avenue flyover will remain a 40 mph limit. The reason for this is the Canning Town flyover is a cheap bit of bridge stuck to an old bridge and it can’t take the stress of a faster limit and Lodge Avenue flyover is due to be replaced by a new one which, unlike the current one, should prevent head-on collisions! <o:p></o:p>
The Traffic Regulation Order increasing the speed limit will take effect from 00.01on Friday 28th January, at which time the four nights work to change over all the signs should be complete. As this work will be taking place overnight from Monday 24th, both 40 and 50 signs will be visible during that week. <o:p></o:p>
The average speed camera enforcement will also officially commence from the 28th. In reality it is likely that enforcement will not begin for a week or so, owing to training needs and further software checks. The threshold at which prosecutions will start has yet to be decided. For the purposes of enforcement this section of road is divided in four zones, and these are effectively continuous, with no gaps between them.
The cameras will use the standard average speed calculations of v = s x t and they are all linked in a complexed way. Basically it WILL record your FRONT number plate and time you between the cameras or any combination of fixed points, if you exceed the allowed time you WILL receive a speeding ticket, there is NO human interface to argue your point other than the court system. If you are under the allowed time your image and number plate will be deleted. <o:p></o:p>
The enforcement camera system is DfT approved to record / prosecute drivers entering a section in one lane and leaving it in another, so swapping lanes within a zone will not help. The cameras are forward facing ONLY and the definition from the test images so far, is clear enough to see drivers faces and those using mobile phones. Only images of vehicles exceeding the enforcement threshold will be retained however, all others being immediately deleted<o:p></o:p>
This will be the longest continuous section of average speed camera enforcement in the country, and some software problems are bound to crop up. There may of course be times when some zones are inactive. Police can still of course stop and report drivers for high speeds in addition to these cameras. When this system is viewed as a success, and it will be, I’m sure we will all see this system popping up country wide. It is anticipated that a large volume of drivers will be caught at the start of the system going live and then a tail off as drivers slow as word spreads. It is anticipated that drivers will continue to be caught in the lower speed limits at either end!<o:p></o:p>
Surfing the cameras and swapping lanes WILL NOT PREVENT capture. This is an AVERAGE speed system.<o:p></o:p>
We all have our own views on this type of speed detection and we all know that foreign vehicles and vehicles that are unregistered will continue to get away with activating the system, and the honest UK driver who makes a slight error in judgement will continue to get hammered. This information is being released in the press I submit it to you all hoping that nobody becomes a victim of it.
