Average-speed camera usage doubled in three years

[Darren]

According to research carried out by the BBC, the UK's network of average-speed cameras doubled in the last three years. This data excludes temporary installations used to monitor speed limits through roadworks.

51 stretches of road now have SPECS average-speed camera sections totalling 263 miles of controlled road with the shortest, London's Tower Bridge and the longest, a 99-mile stretch of the A9 in Scotland.

Average speed cameras were first introduced in 2000 but as costs to deploy them have fallen their use has become more widespread. It cost more than £1m per mile when they first appeared but costs have fallen with costs around £100,000 per mile.

The House of Commons Transport Committee has recommended more use of average-speed camera systems as they believe they are better received by motorists. I'd tend to agree although I'm still amazed to see drivers blasting through controlled sections well in excess of the limits, either think the cameras aren't operational, they're immune or they simply have no concept of how these systems work!

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Darren Griffin

[actd]

I've seen vehicles blasting through these as well, I'm sure they don't understand the concept as they often hit the brakes as they approach one of the cameras. I was passed in an average speed zone, at speed, a couple of weeks ago by a large articulated hgv with foreign plates - I don't know how those are handled.

The is an average speed camera in a small village near me, which I've never seen used before - just a small camera at each end of the village, not one of the large specs cameras/posts.

[M8TJT]

[Kremmen]

and the location to see if we've got it covered.
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[JulianH]

I wonder how many HGV's have been caught by Specs camera's as they seem to charge through controlled sections as if the speed limit didn't exist? I have been overtaken by British and foreign HGV's on the M1 whilst I'm doing just under 50mph, so they must have been doing in excess of 60mph, which is in excess of the HGV maximum speed anyway.

Isn't it about time they were hit with fines that made it obvious that a 44 tonne vehicle is going to cause carnage if it hits another vehicle. Maybe the fines should be worked out on the vehicle weight compared with an ordinary car. Foreign vehicles should have the registration details passed onto the Customs computer so that they could be fined before they could leave the UK!

[M8TJT]

If the HGVs are limited to 56MPH (an EU imposed limit of 90KPH regardless of the UK imposed 60MPH), that is still less than the 10%+2MPH ACPO recommendations.

[Kremmen]

I stick cruise control on because, as you say, lorries like to tailgate to get you to speed up.

Surely they must be being issued fines ?
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[iTekweni]

I agree that something has to be done about all the HGV's breaking speed limit because every time I am on a road monitored by these camera's the HGV's try and push you to go faster by driving right on your tail and I do not have the luxury of speed cruise so have to rely on my nerve with these monsters behind being so close and eventually they overtake after flashing me and not getting a response except that I tend to drive slower

[bmuskett]

[Davidwf]

what the hell is wrong with everyone....the speed limit is the MAXIMUM PERMITTED speed in perfect conditions , NOT the minimum speed, not the compulsory speed when it's pouring with rain or icy or when you're in a 40+ ton lorry.... Grrrrr!

[demondaf]

The problem with average speed camera zones and fast trucks is this. CAR speedos can be as much as 10% inaccurate legally and must by law read over not under.
Any calibrated tachograph as fitted to any vehicle over 3.5 tonnes gross weight can only be 2% off and in many cases are spot on.
Therefore a car following a truck at a genuine 50mph can actually show 55mph on it's speedo quite legally.
Try checking your speedo against a GPS device to see how much error there is.

[BoltonRed]

Just my two peneth.

You don't have to be Einstein to work out that you're not going to get done at 51mph, the 'aim' of the speed limit in most cases is to make it safer in road works, for me M60 and M6 in Cheshire.

So on that basis, where's the cutoff, 52mph, 55mph or 60mph? I travel alot on the motorways and I guess the lorry drivers have pooled inside knowledge that 55/56mph, possibly 60mph is ok, as they want to catch the idiots at 70mph. I notice that they tend to drive at 55mph, if possible, hence tailgaiting and have decided that 53mph for me must be ok.

I drive through these areas with the limiter on at 53mph and have done so for the last couple of years and never had a ticket. The limiter is so much better/safer than cruise control as you can slow down without having to knock the cruise control off and then forgetting to turn on again if speeds speed up.

I'm as cynical as anyone, speed cameras are there for making money, but in the roadworks, I can see why they are there, they still have deter the d****heads.

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