Flashed at 81mph by M25 gantry (NSL in force)
Discussion
A warning to M25 users. I was travelling at the crazy speed of 81mph (speedo indicated) at 12:05 am on the M25 yesterday and went under a gantry near Heathrow side by side with a Merc who was matching my speed pretty much exactly. There was no variable speed limit in force and only two other cars in view on the whole motorway.
One of us got a double flash, but I couldn’t tell whether it was my lane or his lane.
I regularly see people go under the gantries a lot faster than 81 when the limit is NSL, and I figured hovering around the 80 mark would be safe – perhaps not.
Allowing for a little speedo over-read, my true speed may have been a fraction under 80. I will be pretty pi$$ed of if I get a ticket for that at 12:05 in the morning on a near empty motorway!
One of us got a double flash, but I couldn’t tell whether it was my lane or his lane.
I regularly see people go under the gantries a lot faster than 81 when the limit is NSL, and I figured hovering around the 80 mark would be safe – perhaps not.
Allowing for a little speedo over-read, my true speed may have been a fraction under 80. I will be pretty pi$$ed of if I get a ticket for that at 12:05 in the morning on a near empty motorway!
Hopefully they are just flashing people breaking the speed limit to scare them and only photographing those going over 90 or 100. Otherwise unless they have started using digital cameras the film will run out in about 10 minutes and they will never catch anyone breaking the variable limit.
TSS said:
A warning to M25 users. I was travelling at the crazy speed
of 81mph (speedo indicated) at 12:05 am on the M25 yesterday and went
under a gantry near Heathrow side by side with a Merc who was matching
my speed pretty much exactly. There was no variable speed limit in
force and only two other cars in view on the whole motorway.
Don't worry about it - 81 indicated is only upper 70s actual.
The day they start issuing tickets for upper 70s actual
in a 70 limit on the M25 is a long way away.
If your speedo shows 90 mph you might just possibly have something
to worry about for a couple of weeks. If the camera hasn't run out
of film and they can be bothered to do something about it.
Well if its the standard "ten percent plus two" (ie 79mph) then if your car has an accurate speedo you may well have been doing this.
Unfortunately even without the variable speed limits being employed the M25 is riddled with camera signs from Junctions 12 to 18 (as that seems to be where the traffic is thickest).
You'll just have to wait and see I'm afraid...
JJ
Unfortunately even without the variable speed limits being employed the M25 is riddled with camera signs from Junctions 12 to 18 (as that seems to be where the traffic is thickest).
You'll just have to wait and see I'm afraid...
JJ
bmw114 said:Not so, unfortunately. There is one camera per lane and the radar beam is fairly tighly focussed in order to eliminate false positives from adjacent lanes, so it will be pretty obvious to the operator which car triggered which camera.
IMO because the two of you were passing the same camera at the same time they can`t be absolutely sure who triggered it so they won`t charge either of you.
JonRB said:
IMO because the two of you were passing the same camera at the same time they can`t be absolutely sure who triggered it so they won`t charge either of you.
Thanks for pointing that out to TSS i bet he really appreciates it
I have read lot's of posts on here about motorists being flashed around 80mph between Heathrow and the M40.
None of those people to my knowledge have had a NIP in the post, so I don't think too much to worry about.
Also, the films run out very fast, so with a bit of luck you may be OK.
None of those people to my knowledge have had a NIP in the post, so I don't think too much to worry about.
Also, the films run out very fast, so with a bit of luck you may be OK.
elwe said:
Hopefully they are just flashing people breaking the speed limit to scare them and only photographing those going over 90 or 100. Otherwise unless they have started using digital cameras the film will run out in about 10 minutes and they will never catch anyone breaking the variable limit.
They are digital unfortunately!
tonto said:
Hopefully they are just flashing people breaking the speed limit to scare them and only photographing those going over 90 or 100. Otherwise unless they have started using digital cameras the film will run out in about 10 minutes and they will never catch anyone breaking the variable limit.
They are digital unfortunately!
Wrong.
They are just standard Gatsos, so film does run out fast.
Which direction are we talking about here? I was on the M25 yesterday (both ways)from J17 - J8 armed with Road Angel and Mk1 eyeball. Travelling south I noted one gantry flashing everything that went under it in the outside lane (opposite direction from me) and that was about 3 gantries up from J10 going north (clockwise). As far as I am aware there are no active gantries north of Heathrow (i.e. between M4 and M40) but please correct me if I am wrong. Actually, the M25 yesterday was flowing as sweet and clear as I have known it for some while and I could stooge along in the nearside lane at the NSL 
with everything going past outside me!!!
with everything going past outside me!!!Beggarall said:
Can you be a little more precise please?
No, sorry. I was returning from Heathrow and it happened before I reached the M40. Seemed very odd to me that it went off - the variable speed signs on the gantries were completely off (ie no National Speed Limit sign).
The only other possibility is that the people in a BMW that was following and kind of hung around had a camera in the car and took a photo(s).
up-the-dubs said:
Count yourselves lucky in one respect. We went zero tolerance on speeding about two years ago . 120kph means 120kph.
Well, that seems to be working well then.
www.larsoa.org.uk/news_jan06/news01_contrasting_results.htm
Meanwhile north of the border they have some apparent success and they decide to wield an ever bigger stick. No law of diminishing returns there I assume.
BossCerbera said:
It was on the clockwise carriageway between M4 and M40.
Sounds as if it could be the same one. It was clockwise between the M4 and M40. Probably about one mile before the M40 junction. It was in a 4 lane section, I think lane 1 may have been a "turning off lane", I can’t quite remember. I was in lane 3 (of 4) and the Merc was in lane 2.
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