Speed on Green Gatso Camera

General Discussion Forums Car Talk
2

Hi Girls n Boys,

Just seen this in the Liverpool Echo as a result of research after receiving a letter from Plod alleging that i went past the camera faster than 30. This traffic light camera has been in place for nearly 15 years and all the locals (and former locals like me) know about it. Seems pretty sneaky to me. And before all you do gooders jump on the “serves you right” band wagon I think the idea should be to prevent speeding not catch speeding, so maybe a ”Speed on Green” notice before the camera would be appropriate. If the locals know about the camera then they won’t get caught out by it, whereas non locals will be adding to Merseyside’s revenue stream in their thousands, not fair!

 https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/speed-green-camera-caught-most-15936784

 

Cheers, Russ

3

So, as I read that, this is new technology. This type of stuff was not available 15 years ago and so a camera may have been in place on the junction for 15 years but not this one. 

As I also read, the number of speeding offences fell significantly after the first week when “locals” actually realised they needed to cross the lights at less speed than they had been used to for (probably) the last 15 years. You could surmise then that the previous camera was ineffective. 

There was a TV road safety program a few years back where they put drivers into "virtual’ cars after they observed their real life driving habits. Issues at traffic lights was one of the major issues for some drivers.

When Rockingham was still operational we had an initiative with Northampton police. On the his course drivers were asked to drive through a speed trap at 30 without being able to see the instruments. Most failed, the highest recorded speed we had from someone who “thought I was doing 30” was 47mph.

The technology is here, like it or not. Most people get upset when they get a speeding letter. 

4

Russ you confuse me here.

Are you saying that you travel at more than the speed limit when you feel you can but you should only be charged with speeding if you have been given a warning that your speed will be checked in that area?

Therefore, it is OK for you to exceed speed limit that is in place if there is no warning that your speed will be checked in that area.

That basically means you are not prepared to stick to speed limits if it does not suit you at that time unless you are warned you may be caught.

 

5

There is a camera on the traffic lights on the A580 East Lancashire Road at a crossroads just inbound from the junction where the M61 slip road joins. As well as catching red light offenders it turns out that it also does speed across the junction.

Knowing about the red light camera means that often if the light goes yellow as you enter the crossroad area you tend to floor it to ensure you are through before the camera is triggered. That’s why I have a speed awareness course booked next month…

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Enough said…

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If you have the option go for the speed awareness course. Did one four years ago. Educational, eye opening, thought provoking, entertaining and enjoyable. Not just about slowing you down, more about hazard awareness. Personally I’ve enjoyed my driving more since doing the course. Not getting points is just the icing on the case.

 

8

 

I get what he’s meaning, near where I live there’s a mobile camera van pops up every so often, just where the A82 goes from 60mph to 40mph. All the locals know it’s usually there, especially on bank holidays & weekends - the road takes you along to loch Lomond and is a gateway up the west coast of Scotland - so the vast marjority of people caught are either stupid or tourists - they never or very rarely catch a local or a heavy user of the road.

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Drumtochty, tell me that you have never ever driven at more than the speed limit, however inadvertently, and then you can biblically cast the first stone. 

 

Russ

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The point is, the 30mph speed limit has been in place for well more than 15 years. To say that it is sneaky to be caught and moan about it is, well what people do when they get caught. 

The police’s job is to prevent laws being broken. While there is immeasurable amounts that can be said about that, it is hardly sneaky for them to do so.

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Granted Nick, but I bet you’ll view all traffic light cameras with new found respect from now on, which was the original intention of my post. For what it’s worth…

Russ

12

So we get to the bottom of it. The issue here is not the “respect” for speed cameras but the respect for the 30 mile limit. In gaining and holding a licence to drive and control a car we have convinced the examiner that we can exercise both observation and judgment in our control over the vehicle. In that judgment should be the understanding of why 30 limits exist. If you chose to exercise poor judgment then the police, via new technologies, will send you a incentive to exercise better judgment. 

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No, I am accusing you of being a “Moaning Minnie”. You are not prepared to admit you have decided to break the speed limit when it suits you and you consider the speed limit optional but you scream like a pig, if you or people like you get caught for speeding.

You are behaving like a big girl’s blouse!!!

Is that a clear enough message to you?

 

14

This must be a record for this forum - only twelve posts into it, and the nastiness has started already !  I think I’ll send a PM to the administrators to request they close this one down before it gets really dirty !  The forum could do without this bickering and backstabbing.

Speeding always seems to be a contentious subject doesn’t it ?  I’m sure very few drivers go out to intentionally break the speed limit, and if/when it happens, I’m also sure that it is normally a result of a momentary lapse in concentration, which we all suffer from from time to time - we are only human after all.

I read somewhere recently, that speed cameras tend to be set to allow a 10% plus 3 mph leeway before they go off on motorists - this information is a result of some professional body requesting it from the various police forces around the country - some two-thirds of which replied to the survey.  If this is correct, then a driver should not be prosecuted unless he or she exceeds 36 mph in a 30 zone, or 80 mph on a dual-carriageway or motorway.

I have never (yet !) been caught speeding, but I know a number of people who have been ‘done’ for doing 33 mph in a 30 zone, so it seems to me that this info is not strictly correct for the whole of the UK.

Worse still, if the cameras in some parts of the country are set to go off immediately the 30 mph limit is breached, then this I find rather unfair, because if memory from when I was a motor mechanic and MoT tester myself is correct, then car manufacturers are allowed a 10% leeway in the accuracy of the speedometers in their cars.

Getting back to the nastiness already generated on this particular thread, I would suggest members think twice about admitting they have been caught speeding, because they should know by now that the pious ‘I-never-break-the-speed-limit-under-any-circumstance’ brigade will soon have a go at them.

Come on guys, we are all only human, with human flaws, and a little tolerance is not too much to ask for is it ?

15

Thank you Chris, it does seem that I am being pilloried for a lapse of concentration, that I’m quite happy to admit too. I’m also quite happy to “take the medicine” in what ever form it is likely to take, the letter indicates a speed awareness course… I just felt it was worth pointing out to other members that this new technology was being tested, is obviously effective, is likely to become adopted and is something else we should be aware of. I feel like the messenger has been summarily executed… So I’m signing off on this one and you can all think what the hell you like.

 

Russ