Police with speed guns on bridges?
Police with speed guns on bridges?
Author
Discussion

tom6195

Original Poster:

114 posts

128 months

Saturday 30th June 2018
quotequote all
Hi everyone,
Was cruising behind heavy traffic on A500 near Olympus engineering earlier and noticed in the distance there was a policeman with a policeman pointing a speed gun in my direction (driving toward the bet365 stadium).

The stretch changes from NSL to 50mph, and both lanes were very congested. I think a lot of drivers saw the plod and slowed down but I can’t remember if I slowed down enough in time!! My gut feeling is I may have been doing about 60 when slowing down and just hit 55 when going under the bridge he was standing on.

Has anyone ever been caught on here? What are the tolerances? Like I said there were many cars on the road this morning and I was going no faster than the other so can they have zapped us all?

agtlaw

7,404 posts

236 months

Saturday 30th June 2018
quotequote all
Driving at 57/50 or above is the usual threshold for a course or £100 fixed penalty with 3 points.

I had a recent case in which North Yorkshire police prosecuted a driver for 52/50 but it was discontinued before it got to trial.

tom6195

Original Poster:

114 posts

128 months

Saturday 30th June 2018
quotequote all
agtlaw said:
Driving at 57/50 or above is the usual threshold for a course or £100 fixed penalty with 3 points.

I had a recent case in which North Yorkshire police prosecuted a driver for 52/50 but it was discontinued before it got to trial.
Even if all the surrounding cars were also going fast? There was only one copper but plenty of cars on the road at this time.

Billyray911

1,086 posts

234 months

Saturday 30th June 2018
quotequote all
CMPG are now operating on the A500.

FurtiveFreddy

8,577 posts

267 months

Saturday 30th June 2018
quotequote all
Oooooh, get them! They've got a new speed camera device.

LosingGrip

8,869 posts

189 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
agtlaw said:
Driving at 57/50 or above is the usual threshold for a course or £100 fixed penalty with 3 points.

I had a recent case in which North Yorkshire police prosecuted a driver for 52/50 but it was discontinued before it got to trial.
I'm surprised it even got that far! I'm sure if I gave a ticket for 52/50 our central ticket office would just cancel it. Did they say why?

Helicopter123

8,831 posts

186 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
tom6195 said:
Hi everyone,
Was cruising behind heavy traffic on A500 near Olympus engineering earlier and noticed in the distance there was a policeman with a policeman pointing a speed gun in my direction (driving toward the bet365 stadium).

The stretch changes from NSL to 50mph, and both lanes were very congested. I think a lot of drivers saw the plod and slowed down but I can’t remember if I slowed down enough in time!! My gut feeling is I may have been doing about 60 when slowing down and just hit 55 when going under the bridge he was standing on.

Has anyone ever been caught on here? What are the tolerances? Like I said there were many cars on the road this morning and I was going no faster than the other so can they have zapped us all?
If the road was very congested I would think standard tolerances would apply.

tom6195

Original Poster:

114 posts

128 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
I’m just going to have to wait and see, one of the worst things to wait for!

Elroy Blue

8,840 posts

222 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
If you didn't get stopped at the time, you'll be ok

Sheepshanks

41,078 posts

149 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
tom6195 said:
... both lanes were very congested. I think a lot of drivers saw the plod and slowed down but I can’t remember if I slowed down enough in time!!
If it was very congested then normally the traffic would be going slowly anyway. And if a lot of drivers slowed down, then all the traffic, including you would have to slow too.


If you drive a little further afield, but still on the A500 on the other side of the M6, I got done by a cop on bridge approaching Nantwich. Summer evening, deserted road, I was bowling along at 85MPH. Cop was off to the left of the bridge with his back to trees and sun behind them, not wearing Hi-Viz.

I've since seen them in centre of the bridge wearing Hi-Viz but oddly the green jacket didn't stand out against the overcast sky, and I've seen them under the bridge in its shadow.

tom6195

Original Poster:

114 posts

128 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Yeah it was congested but the traffic was moving if you know what I mean. Both lanes with cars doing 70 but then having to slow down at the bend where the 50 zone starts. They’ve tweeted that 30 people were caught speeding I guess it’s just a lottery now!

PorkInsider

6,599 posts

171 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Surely they would have stopped you if they were intending to report you.

JNW1

9,485 posts

224 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Elroy Blue said:
If you didn't get stopped at the time, you'll be ok
Why do you say that? If you get pinged by a mobile camera van you're not stopped at the time, the NIP just lands on the door mat a few days later; why would getting caught by one of these "new" devices be any different?

Sheepshanks

41,078 posts

149 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
PorkInsider said:
Surely they would have stopped you if they were intending to report you.
Depends on the set-up but normally they take pics (actually freeze-frames of video). I didn't get stopped, and they're not going to want to chase and stop people where the OP was pinged.

Johnnytheboy

24,499 posts

216 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Elroy Blue said:
If you didn't get stopped at the time, you'll be ok
Seriously?

rfisher

5,064 posts

313 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Johnnytheboy said:
Elroy Blue said:
If you didn't get stopped at the time, you'll be ok
Seriously?
Yeah. They usually get the helicopter to land in front of you so a couple of bike cops can then issue the ticket in your face.

Everyone knows that ffs.

Elroy Blue

8,840 posts

222 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
I might, perhaps, just know what I'm talking about regarding CMPG speed ops. 99% of the time stopping cars are employed. However, the armchair experts know more, so I'll leave it there.


Stoofa

959 posts

198 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Elroy Blue said:
I might, perhaps, just know what I'm talking about regarding CMPG speed ops. 99% of the time stopping cars are employed. However, the armchair experts know more, so I'll leave it there.
So in 99% of cases where the police are stationed on a bridge or other similar vantage point, the stops are done immediately?
I may well just be an armchair viewer on this, but indeed I say that is BS.

ShampooEfficient

4,278 posts

241 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Stoofa said:
So in 99% of cases where the police are stationed on a bridge or other similar vantage point, the stops are done immediately?
I may well just be an armchair viewer on this, but indeed I say that is BS.
Police, not camera vans.

Sheepshanks

41,078 posts

149 months

Sunday 1st July 2018
quotequote all
Stoofa said:
So in 99% of cases where the police are stationed on a bridge or other similar vantage point, the stops are done immediately?
I may well just be an armchair viewer on this, but indeed I say that is BS.
Maybe it's CMPG specific. Certainly not done in Cheshire, whether it's proper cops of safety partnership.

I drove through an odd one in a West Yorks village last week - motorbike cop, but he had a laser/camera unit on a tripod. Maybe it all folds up but it looked too much kit to carry on the bike. I was stuck behind a slow moving artic - years ago I'd have blatted past it but older me realises my passing speed would be far too high in a 30 limit.