M25 speed cameras... WT*?

[er-minio]

Since I love driving through traffic jams and dodging people enclosed in tin cans on four wheels... I lately find myself driving a lot on the M25 for various reasons, especially the part between Heatrow and the A3 (Guilford) when heading out of London (one of my bike-mates lives near Guilford, we usually meet there).

Now, since it's always jammed it's quite "easy" to drive below the speed limit, when the backlit signs on the "bridges" (sorry, don't know the term in english) signal 60 or, worse, 40mph limit.

Now last week there was little or no traffic, the variable speed limit panels where off, going back home I was driving slightly below the limit (-5mph), safe on the left lane, since after every single one of the "bridges" there are the horizontal road markings, sign of speed cameras (not to mention the giant speed camera icon)...
I noticed that a lot of cars zipped through without bothering too much, clearly over the limit or, at least, over the 79mph limit that triggers the camera. Now: do the cameras work only when the variable speed limit is indicated on the backlit panels?

Or they just didn't give a...

tnx

 

[Fanum]

Not all of the gantries have the cameras on, but all of them are marked up underneath with the white lines as if they do.

You'll probably find that it was people who know which ones do and which don't have them on

 

[er-minio]

"Gantries": good to know

You'll probably find that it was people who know which ones do and which don't have them on

Cool, I'll follow next time
Thanks Fanum!

 

[Fanum]

About one gantry in five has the facility to take live equipment, and the boxes on the other gantries are dummies. On live gantries they have mounted one radar per lane, but only one camera per gantry which is swapped from lane to lane periodically. When the speed limit changes so will the set speed that the Gatso will trap you at.

More info here

I'm pretty sure there's a map with which ones can have the cameras on them as well somewhere....It certainly used to come up on my old Valentine1 radar unit

 

[er-minio]

Thanks.

Yep, on the car, my TomTom One warned me at some specific gantries... not all of them, but I blamed it to outdated speedcamera POIs.

Anyway I'm almost always below the limit on the M25, I was more curious than worried about any tickets

 

[Gruffalo]

apparently ( i have relaiable(ish) sources) that the cameras only activate when the speed restrictions are on
when they arent on you can speed to your hearts content!

been up the m25 many a time on the way to oxford and to go towards the m3 and never had a ticket (yet!)

 

[Greg Masters]

apparently ( i have relaiable(ish) sources) that the cameras only activate when the speed restrictions are on
when they arent on

That was certainly the case when they were first installed. At the time I worked for Serco who had the contract for their design and installation and I personally spoke with the Project Manager on that specific point.

That was about a dozen years ago. I can't say what has happened since.

Greg

 

[Keith Chapman]

apparently ( i have relaiable(ish) sources) that the cameras only activate when the speed restrictions are on
when they arent on you can speed to your hearts content!

But reading the link that Fanum posted it appears that is no longer the case.

 

[MayaMonkey]

I ride that stretch of the M25 every day on the way to work in Guildford. I've regularly been through the cameras at "camera trigger" speed and above and never had any problems.

The only one's I know to go off regularly are the second from last gantry before the A3 exit (I think it's marked as the 1 mile to exit) when going southbound and the second from last gantry before you exit for the M3 on the northbound stretch.

Then again though, I've been flashed by both before and never had any problems...

 

[shready]

Until 2 months ago I spent 5 years traveling from J6 to J14 every workday, on my GS or RT.

Had a couple of the cameras trigger loads of times but never had a ticket.

 

[LiquidLAN]

I to fall into the didnt think they operate when they aren't running the variable speed limit camp, but reading Fanum's link it talks about they collecting cards and cameras getting filled up... I thought I'd heard they'd changed the cameras over for one that transmitted the pictures back to a central location to get around that problem?

I'm pretty sure I'd heard that those variable speed cameras just got filled up when they were first set up... as said above it was a long time ago, but I was working down in Reading at the time and had to cover the south for consultancy.

Got to be honest I've never really tested my thoughts out, you seem able to do 75-80 through that section when the cameras are off and it's not a massive section

 

[GS Rider]

Old speed cameras where set at 90mph and controlled by Surrey Police and are now controled by the Met, as from 2000.

From 15 of Feb 2008 the new digital ones from jct 10 to 15, Heathrow, will be set lower, ( this is not to catch more speeders but to promote safer driving )

They are now set at normal + 10% +2mph and would think the variable speed limit would be much the same.( when applied )

The new type can take up to 80,000 pictures a day, but all pictures and plates have to be check by a human by law.

Also the M25 is under disscussion over who will control the cameras and will be either the met , Thames valley, or Surrey.or all 3.

For all drivers every where.

I would ask as a fellow driver, that you drive at a speed which is safe to stop in, and leave a gap to do it, and not tail gate as many of you do.

Leave in plenty of time to get there, and above all know where your going, make sure your vehicle is in good working condition Like tyre pressure, oil, screen wash, and all lights including FOG are working and are using a blue tooth head set.


AND dont Rubber Neck

 

[jtw000]

It's best practice to treat cameras like firearms and assume they're loaded at all times.

 

[STUBBS]

It's best practice to treat cameras like firearms and assume they're loaded at all times.

or have a number plate malfunction

 

[growler46]

M25 Anti Clockwise Near A3

Let me recount a friends experience. Firstly he's not a habitual speeder but he'll admit to having his moments - a few weeks ago being just such a case in point.

8 pm - and he was running late and deep joy got stuck behind a Merc SLK in the fast lane travelling at 60 mph. The inside lane was clear but they didn't move over so he used the overtaking indicator (as favoured by the continentals) and moved a little closer - no joy. He flashed his intent to overtake - nope this guy wasn't going to budge and the other road users behind him then started undertaking both cars. They went on like this for maybe a couple of miles before the SLK finally moved aside to reveal an open road and he gunned the motor and the car shot forward only to be flashed in short order by the camera approaching the A3 on the anti-clockwise section of the M25.

Now what's interesting is that :-

1) no speed limit had been posted but then again his car could have been travelling fast.... and
2) three weeks of bricking it everytime the postman called and he still has not heard anything and yes he's the registered keeper.

Seems like he's been extremely lucky - lets hope it continues to be the case

 

[er-minio]

Not sure this is the case, but due to the way the speed is the detected and the photo is taken, in Italy if they get more than one veichle on the frame (ie one is overtaking) the fine is void.
You got the lines and they take two pics on the tarmac here in UK, so it shouldn't apply here.

Btw, after months driving on the M25 I finally discovered that is quite easy to spot if the cameras are installed on the gantries you are approaching or not.

Stated that, I still dry (most of the times ) on or under the limit and, most important, keeping a safe distance. Still there are cars zipping really fast and cameras not flashing. That's life

 

[Greg Masters]

Not sure this is the case, but due to the way the speed is the detected and the photo is taken, in Italy if they get more than one veichle on the frame (ie one is overtaking) the fine is void.
You got the lines and they take two pics on the tarmac here in UK, so it shouldn't apply here.

What all speeding convictions require is corroborated evidence.

The primary evidence comes from the radar device; the two photographs showing the distance travelled in a specified time period should corroborate the radar.

If there are two cars in the pictures it cannot be said with any certainty which car triggered the radar. Therefore there is no corroboration.

Greg

 

[er-minio]

If there are two cars in the pictures it cannot be said with any certainty which car triggered the radar. Therefore there is no corroboration.

Ah, ok.
I always thought the lines were there exactly to avoid the "multiple car" problem, since they can act as a reference to roughly calculate the speed analizing the car's offset in the two frames against a fixed point.

tnx for the explanation

 

[tonkatoy]

A guy I know who, let's say, should be well informed, tells me that the cameras do now trap when the GLF/NSL sign is displayed. As mentioned previously this didn't used to be the case but it has been activated in the last year or two (he was not explicit about exactly when). I believe the trigger is 10% + 2, but of course this doesn't mean to say that every flash is a ticket because although the radar exists in some gantries this doesn't mean that the camera is active on the lane that a car is in.