Speed cameras on the M1

Why on earth are people driving at 100+ under the gantrees? Where can you be going that is so important that you'd risk getting in such huge trouble for it?

I regularly drive at well over 100 on clear motorways without cameras, but you need your head examined if you're doing it under gantrees just because your mate told you the cameras aren't switched on or something like that.
 
I can't for the life of me figure out why people would go over 80mph with camera signs about. Yes it's crap but start going over 100mph anywhere in this country get caught you are in the brown stuff - it just isn't worth it.

Spend the money you would have spent in fines over a couple of years and head to Deutschland for a couple of days at 150 mph.

And as for those that go through 50 mph average at 70 wtf :confused:
 
PMKeates said:
but if you know you aren't going to get caught...
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But you can't possibly know that though. There's plenty of people currently going through the courts in Kent who thought they weren't going to get caught on the M25 cameras, until they suddenly got turned on, leaving them having to consider life without a driving licence for rather a long time. Equally, there's plenty of people who still blast through at 100+ and haven't got anything - it seems to be totally random.

I know that if I do those speeds on the M40 at 3am, there's still a chance that I'll get caught, but the chance is fairly remote. By doing it under a gantree that may or may not have just been turned on you're significantly increasing those chances to the point that it's surely not worth the risk.
 
geekman said:
But you can't possibly know that though. There's plenty of people currently going through the courts in Kent who thought they weren't going to get caught on the M25 cameras, until they suddenly got turned on, leaving them having to consider life without a driving licence for rather a long time. Equally, there's plenty of people who still blast through at 100+ and haven't got anything - it seems to be totally random.

I know that if I do those speeds on the M40 at 3am, there's still a chance that I'll get caught, but the chance is fairly remote. By doing it under a gantree that may or may not have just been turned on you're significantly increasing those chances to the point that it's surely not worth the risk.
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You can be reasonably sure if you are careful. In areas where I drive regularly - e.g. Kent M25 - I know the speed camera situation very well. Despite being called 'sealthy' or 'hidden', the new cameras were blatantly obvious. Change implies caution, so one can slow down and observe. In the case of the Kent M25 they were clearly triggering - and were triggering days if not weeks before they were active.

The current 'license safety' rules for the M25 are:

1. Slow down to the speed limit + 10% through gantries where a red circle is around a speed, if it's not the first time you've gone under a gantry with this limit
2. Slow down to limit + 10% when going past the new grey cameras, red circle or not
3. Otherwise do as you please

You won't get flashed and ticketed following those.
 
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PMKeates said:
You can be reasonably sure if you are careful. In areas where I drive regularly - e.g. Kent M25 - I know the speed camera situation very well. Despite being called 'sealthy' or 'hidden', the new cameras were blatantly obvious. Change implies caution, so one can slow down and observe. In the case of the Kent M25 they were clearly triggering - and were triggering days if not weeks before they were active.

The current 'license safety' rules for the M25 are:

1. Slow down to the speed limit + 10% through gantries where a red circle is around a speed, if it's not the first time you've gone under a gantry with this limit
2. Slow down to limit + 10% when going past the new grey cameras, red circle or not
3. Otherwise do as you please

You won't get flashed and ticketed following those.
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I agree the side mounted ones are pretty obvious, but a small amount of the gantree ones mounted behind the displays also issue tickets - I know the one at the Swanley junction does for example.

Granted, almost all of the overhead ones are empty boxes, and you can learn pretty quickly which ones are active and which ones aren't but there's always a chance they could have moved the camera units to a different gantree since the last time you drove down there.

I can understand doing 80/90 under a gantree as the worst you're going to get is 3 points, but I don't fancy doing something that will result in a court appearance under something which has been constructed to produce court appearances :p
 
geekman said:
Why on earth are people driving at 100+ under the gantrees? Where can you be going that is so important that you'd risk getting in such huge trouble for it?

I regularly drive at well over 100 on clear motorways without cameras, but you need your head examined if you're doing it under gantrees just because your mate told you the cameras aren't switched on or something like that.
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Kind of ironic post when you just got caught speeding at 110+ on a foreign motorway. :D :p
 
Blackhawk47 said:
Kind of ironic post when you just got caught speeding at 110+ on a foreign motorway. :D :p
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Well no, not really. The whole point I was making is that I enjoy driving fast on motorways, but don't do it under gantrees/in places I'm highly likely to be caught because the consequences are very severe.

In France, the consequences are not at all severe for a UK driver, and as a fellow premium marque owner I'm sure you'll agree that the occasional €90 fine is almost meaningless :p
 
[TW]Fox;27951639 said:
Oh wow, the thrilling experience of doing 100mph on a Motorway. Thats well worth the risk, that is.
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I think you need to read the post I responded to, for context. Not for the experience...:)
 
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