Discussion
Would like to find out if anyone has experience with the Gatso's on the M25 variable speed section. During off-peak times when the lights are off ie. national speed limit, do the gatsos work? I know they are meant to work at times of variable speed restric. but I am keen to know if they work outside these times. Would make my journey a wee bit quicker up through Surrey towards the M4.
JonRB said:
There was a guy on here a good while back who was heavily involved with the scheme - as far as I can remember, he mentioned something about them going off at 90mph regardless
I have it on VERY solid authority that the gatsos that are there now go off at only
*slightly* above acpo NSL limits.
I *always* stick to 75 through there if no lower limit is shown...
>> Edited by princeperch on Saturday 24th December 19:06
princeperch said:That's as maybe. I was disputing that the system enforced at 90mph regardless as I can assure you that it is fully capable of enforcing 7 different thresholds. Ok, an operator could set all 7 to 90mph but that seems unlikely in the extreme.
There was a guy on here a good while back who was heavily involved with the scheme - as far as I can remember, he mentioned something about them going off at 90mph regardless
I have it on VERY solid authority that the gatsos that are there now go off at only
*slightly* above acpo NSL limits.
I *always* stick to 75 through there if no lower limit is shown...
Anyone with a radar detector go through this section regularly??
I certainly have once travelling from A3 to M3 junctions.. I only found a single gantry active (via my V1) on both sides of the carridgeway when the system was not showing a variable limit!! To be honest I haven't used the section passed the A3 junction for ages due to the widening work so I don't know if its std practise to do this.
Anyone have any definative info on this??
I certainly have once travelling from A3 to M3 junctions.. I only found a single gantry active (via my V1) on both sides of the carridgeway when the system was not showing a variable limit!! To be honest I haven't used the section passed the A3 junction for ages due to the widening work so I don't know if its std practise to do this.
Anyone have any definative info on this??
dcb said:
[quote=princeperch]
In practice, the folks who process the gatsos would have too much
work to do if they set them too low.
seeing as the film is changed on a regular basis and it holds a normal amount of exposures, (700/350 detected offences?) its no more work than a normal operating GATSO camera on a street neaer you...and given the fact that only a very small number of gantries have installed cameras, its no skin off their nose if a roll of film gets filled up sharpish...
It is fairly likely given the number of persons flashed on a daily basis, that the cams go into dummy mode when their finished...
Its all a game innit really...
princeperch said:Yes, the cameras do go into dummy mode when out of film.
seeing as the film is changed on a regular basis and it holds a normal amount of exposures, (700/350 detected offences?) its no more work than a normal operating GATSO camera on a street neaer you...and given the fact that only a very small number of gantries have installed cameras, its no skin off their nose if a roll of film gets filled up sharpish...
It is fairly likely given the number of persons flashed on a daily basis, that the cams go into dummy mode when their finished...
From memory, the system uses an 800-shot bulk roll of 35mm photographic film. Whenever the system is started up or the speed limit changes it takes a single test photo, so the nominal yield is 399 offences (so you were close).
The only difference on changing the film is that the operator has to climb up onto the gantry and then crawl down the gantry to the camera in order to change the film rather than standing on the roadside and having the camera come down the pole.
princeperch said:
seeing as the film is changed on a regular basis and it holds a
normal amount of exposures, (700/350 detected offences?) its no more
work than a normal operating GATSO camera on a street neaer
you...and given the fact that only a very small number of gantries
have installed cameras, its no skin off their nose if a roll of film
gets filled up sharpish...
Fair enough - but let's not forget that the M25 section between
M3 and M4 is one of the busiest in Europe.
I think there are a couple of roads that are busier in USA
[ Orange County, CA, USA springs to mind], but basically
the cameras will run out of film very quickly.
sjtscott said:
Anyone with a radar detector go through this section regularly??
I certainly have once travelling from A3 to M3 junctions.. I only found a single gantry active (via my V1) on both sides of the carridgeway when the system was not showing a variable limit!! To be honest I haven't used the section passed the A3 junction for ages due to the widening work so I don't know if its std practise to do this.
Anyone have any definative info on this??
There do seem to be very few cameras in the gantries..
Sean
We were following a slightly erratically driven Mondeo on the M25 the other night. He was doing 75ish, and drifting around in his lane. When he reached the first overhead gantry in the VSL stretch, going anticlockwise, he suddenly jammed on his anchors and swerved into Lane 3 from Lane 4, right in front of another car that had to brake sharply.
As we passed him, I could see he had a PDA satnav on his windscreen, which presumably had just given him a camera alert as he approached the gantry.
I had thought that camera warning systems were a universal boon - now I'm not so sure. Nothing is numpty-proof...
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