Variable speed camera question m25

[Snapz]

My mate has just driven through the variable speed cameras on the m25 at 90 mph.

I know they work when showing the speed limit on the display but when no speed limited is displayed are they still operational?

Could somebody provide a link so I can scare the Sh*t out of him or put his mind at rest (he drives for his job)

[princeperch]

Snapz said:

My mate has just driven through the variable speed cameras on the m25 at 90 mph.

I know they work when showing the speed limit on the display but when no speed limited is displayed are they still operational?

Could somebody provide a link so I can scare the Sh*t out of him or put his mind at rest (he drives for his job)

Fraid not.

However, unless he specifically knows which gantry the cameras are currently fitted to, he is a very silly chap doing 90 through there.

Doing an indicated 80ish you could possibly get away with, but I dont know why people bother to speed through the monitored parts of the m25.Everyone knows they are there and the ones that are fitted do work, I see them going off like strobes at all times of the day, at NSL...

[flemke]

princeperch said:

Snapz said:

My mate has just driven through the variable speed cameras on the m25 at 90 mph.

I know they work when showing the speed limit on the display but when no speed limited is displayed are they still operational?

Could somebody provide a link so I can scare the Sh*t out of him or put his mind at rest (he drives for his job)

Fraid not.

However, unless he specifically knows which gantry the cameras are currently fitted to, he is a very silly chap doing 90 through there.

Doing an indicated 80ish you could possibly get away with, but I dont know why people bother to speed through the monitored parts of the m25.Everyone knows they are there and the ones that are fitted do work, I see them going off like strobes at all times of the day, at NSL...

The camera threshold will also drop when the matrix speed does.

[Vesuvius 996]

Sorry I think he's busted.

[princeperch]

flemke said:

princeperch said:

Snapz said:

My mate has just driven through the variable speed cameras on the m25 at 90 mph.

I know they work when showing the speed limit on the display but when no speed limited is displayed are they still operational?

Could somebody provide a link so I can scare the Sh*t out of him or put his mind at rest (he drives for his job)

Fraid not.

However, unless he specifically knows which gantry the cameras are currently fitted to, he is a very silly chap doing 90 through there.

Doing an indicated 80ish you could possibly get away with, but I dont know why people bother to speed through the monitored parts of the m25.Everyone knows they are there and the ones that are fitted do work, I see them going off like strobes at all times of the day, at NSL...

The camera threshold will also drop when the matrix speed does.

Indeed it would.

I was replying based on the scenario of the OP's mate doing 90 when it was on NSL mode.

[flemke]

princeperch said:

flemke said:

princeperch said:

Snapz said:

My mate has just driven through the variable speed cameras on the m25 at 90 mph.

I know they work when showing the speed limit on the display but when no speed limited is displayed are they still operational?

Could somebody provide a link so I can scare the Sh*t out of him or put his mind at rest (he drives for his job)

Fraid not.

However, unless he specifically knows which gantry the cameras are currently fitted to, he is a very silly chap doing 90 through there.

Doing an indicated 80ish you could possibly get away with, but I dont know why people bother to speed through the monitored parts of the m25.Everyone knows they are there and the ones that are fitted do work, I see them going off like strobes at all times of the day, at NSL...

The camera threshold will also drop when the matrix speed does.

Indeed it would.

I was replying based on the scenario of the OP's mate doing 90 when it was on NSL mode.

I did not doubt that you were.
I added what I did because, if the OP's friend needed to be told that speed cameras are not confined to only those gantries with illuminated limits, he probably also presumed that the cameras have a constant threshold.

[snapz]

princeperch said:

Snapz said:

My mate has just driven through the variable speed cameras on the m25 at 90 mph.

I know they work when showing the speed limit on the display but when no speed limited is displayed are they still operational?

Could somebody provide a link so I can scare the Sh*t out of him or put his mind at rest (he drives for his job)

Fraid not.

However, unless he specifically knows which gantry the cameras are currently fitted to, he is a very silly chap doing 90 through there.

Doing an indicated 80ish you could possibly get away with, but I dont know why people bother to speed through the monitored parts of the m25.Everyone knows they are there and the ones that are fitted do work, I see them going off like strobes at all times of the day, at NSL...

So they would flash if he set them off?

[mph999]

I believe that when the NSL applies, they are not operational. Heard this from a traffic cop a few years back but it may be

a. bo***cks
b. out-of-date and they now do flash

Martin

[Zod]

They definitely do not work except when the variable speed limits are operational. If they did, I would not have a clean licence or indeed a licence at all (except that if they did work, I would keep to the limit).

Edited by Zod on Friday 5th January 17:37

[edc]

They do flash when no speed limit is applied. I know of a person who has driven at an indicated 90 ish units and been flashed by the anti-clock gantry camera just before junc 11. No ticket, maybe just lucky but always at past midnight.

[princeperch]

Zod said:

They definitely do not work except when the variable speed limits are operational. If they did, I would not have a clean licence or indeed a licence at all (except that if they did work, I would keep to the limit).

Edited by Zod on Friday 5th January 17:37

I have definitely seen them give the double flash when NSL is on.This may well be a dummy flash given what you've posted.

Whether they are operational in giving out tickets when it is NSL is therefore another matter....

[cptsideways]

Don't forget not the all the gantry positions have cameras, only about 1 in 8-16 have them in, as can be seen when looking at those on the other side. Look out for the lens & flash units in the grey boxes.

[beachbum]

For some reason, and I think it was purely to prevent political fallout when they were initially installed, the Cameras are not operational unless a limit is posted that indicates less than the NSL.
You also have 2 gantries from the intial drop in limit before they can begin to use the cameras. i.e. the intial one, then the next do not take photos, the next one does. This also applies should the first drop in limit then be superceeded later on by an even lower limit.

[flemke]

The other thing is that particular stretch of road is one of most tedious, usually congested ones in Britain.
Except in case of a true emergency, there's rarely any point to putting your foot down there.

[outnumbered]

cptsideways said:

Don't forget not the all the gantry positions have cameras, only about 1 in 8-16 have them in, as can be seen when looking at those on the other side. Look out for the lens & flash units in the grey boxes.

In particular I don't think there are currently ANY cameras on the stretch between the M4 and the M3 (the bit that was widened last year). The section between M3 and A3 seems to have plenty though. Evidence for this is a careful look as I went past last weekend, allied to a GPS camera database.

[puggit]

I can tell you that they don't flash at an indicated 90

There is one rogue camera 2 gantries south of the M40, heading south, which flashes sometimes at around 80 - no tickets are sent out.

[JonRB]

Zod said:

They definitely do not work except when the variable speed limits are operational.

The camera system is definitely capable of enforcing the NSL. It is a user-defined value as to whether it does or not, so you'd need to know what the current operator policy is as to whether it is or not.

Flemke is right, BTW. The system has a different threshold for each speed of RX (red 'X'), 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and NSL. The threshold is 0-99 mph and is added onto the speed limit to make an enforcement speed, which is the speed above which the camera enforces.

Of course all this could have changed since I left Serco in 1995. Who knows how they have bastardised my software since then?

[davidra]

I have seen persons unknown going thru the M25 gantry cameras late at night from M20 to M40 CW repeatedly from 1997 to 2005 at 3 figure speeds when no limit shown (inc. not showing NSL inwhite) on many, many occasions and never saw a flash or received anything in the post.

This is now a couple of years out of date though..