General Observations on drivers in speed camera zones

[PHAndrewW]

I use the M3 in the section between J2 and J4a quite a lot and even though there are Specs cameras monitoring the lanes there appear to be a lot of people who either don’t care or know better than me, as I always appear to be the slowest car.

The speed limit is 50 in that zone, so I set the cruise control to 50 and cruse though. But I always seem to the slowest vehicle. I know my vehicle has its speedo set near the bottom end of the tolerance ( as do a number of other vehicles I have been in so I guess its industry standard) i.e. the speedo says 50 but the sat nav shows 45 so 10% under.
Given that the official guidance issued to police forces is 10% + 2 before prosecution I imagine to get a ticket my speedo would need to show just over 63, as my speedo shows about 10% less than actual?

Are people really driving that close to the limit and don't care / notice ? or are the cameras actually set higher and everyone but me knows…. And I still see the occasional person braking just before the cameras, even I know that’s pointless.

Many thanks
Andrew

[edc]

I drive the same piece of road and set my cruise to 54/55 90% of the time, I will have to turn the cruise off as i approach traffic so that will also slow down the average speed. There are also some longer stretches between cameras so as it is an average speed camera you can enter/leave one part significantly over/under the limit and with traffic still average out at 50.

[Bennet]

Most people won't have the nouse or interest to work all that out so if you are consistently the slowest car, I'd say your speedo under reads more than most people's.

The difference between my speedo and satnav at 50 ish is about 3 mph. Certainly not as much as 10%.

I've often wondered about working out the maximum actual speed I think I could get away with (55ish, I suspect) and then traveling at that speed as indicated on the satnav, which, as you say, would probably be getting on for an indicated 60. Seems a bit of a piss take on everyone else though, so I tend to go for an indicated 52, 53 ish.

[PHAndrewW]

The only trouble with trying to move up to 55mpg at the risk of a fine and 3 points, is this will only will only save just over a minute over then entire length of the 13.6 mile section..

[Cliftonite]

PHAndrewW said:

The only trouble with trying to move up to 55mpg at the risk of a fine and 3 points, is this will only will only save just over a minute over then entire length of the 13.6 mile section..

My car never averages more than 33mpg.

[mybrainhurts]

All tickets I've heard of have been over 57mph. I set cruise at 57, true speed 55. Regular journeys.

Just recently, the gantries on the M1 between 16 and 19 have carried the message KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING, but the number of tools planted in lanes 2 or 3 remains the same.

[g3org3y]

50 ave speed zone A13 in/out of London - I aim for a speedo indicated 55.

I expect in reality I'm only doing 53. Not had a ticket yet.

[Kinky]

Thread already running here(ish)

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Oh, and welcome to PH