Is this a camera...

[jimothy]

In Farnborough, they've placed some new signs.
When driving along a 30mph road, a sign lights up showing the speed limit (very distracting). However, I've also seen another light underneath that shows the speed camera logo.

Has anyone seen these before? Does the speed camera logo mean that you've been caught speeding? I went through it at about 30 (32 I think) when the logo came on.

Nice to see Farnborough are spending money on these rather than on roads - Cody road is so knackered theres even grass growing in the cracks in the road...

[gilbertd]

No not a camera, just a sign to alert you to the fact that you are speeding. We've got them springing up all over the place here as they've found that they are actually more effective than speed cameras and don't get vandalised either.

[gshughes]

And a lot cheaper too I'll wager. A good idea, although it does annoy me when the radar isn't set quite right, and they flash up before you have even entered the 30 zone.

[MooSchmoo]

Any ideas how these things gauge your speed?

[Pigeon]

Doppler radar, I think.

[Peter Ward]

gshughes said:

And a lot cheaper too I'll wager. A good idea, although it does annoy me when the radar isn't set quite right, and they flash up before you have even entered the 30 zone.

There's one in Barford, south of Warwick, that is placed outside the 30 limit yet flashes up a 30 sign.

There used to be a convention that countdown markers to speed limits had signs with black borders rather than red, because otherwise they could be mistaken for speed limit signs. In more recently erected countdown markers this convention seems to have gone and we see red circles.

Both these symptoms seem negative to me, potentially blurring the point at which the limit starts rather than clarifying it.

[Smartie]

I think these signs are a good idea but the one's I've seen have been set too low, some evn flash up at under 30 mph!

Surely they cease to work if they flash every time?

[streaky]

Smartie said:

Surely they cease to work if they flash every time?

I think the technology is quite robust. Unlike Belisha Beacons, which seem to be broken half the time - Streaky

[smartwombat]

Like matrix signs - people only pay attention to them if they are consistently correct.

Same goes for the speed limits on the motorway posted on the Fog signs in the reservation. I nearly got mown down by a lorry, while observing a 50 speed limit that proved to be set for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

The signs will of course continue to light up for ages, the LEDs have a long service life.
But till they WORK by reducing people's speeds, if set to under 30?
No they won't. They will just get ignored.

[trax]

They will never replace speed cameras.

Whilst they have been proven to reduce speed and accidents, unlike safety vans, they do not raise any money.

[Rude-boy]

I don't mind these at all, what does bug me is the "Slow Down" ones that flash at you when you are going under the speed limit, like the one in Sillystone village