Speed cameras

[RussBird82]

Think I just got caught by a mobile radar camera. I was doing 68 (max) in a 60, does the 10% + 2 rule still apply? Or are they much stricter now...

[nuster100]

Wait upto 2 weeks, see if you get a NIP through the door.

Jay

[andydckent]

I would imagine that you are OK given car speedos usually slightly over read anyway.

[karr1981]

last time i got done they told me 10% plus 2 was the start of unacceptable, that 10% +1 was actually the cutoff point :-S

fingers crossed for ya mate

[nuster100]

Indicated 68 is probably more like 62, so you *should* be ok.

Go out with a sat nav, and see what your speedo underreads by, will give you an indication of what you were clocked at.

Jay

[carlos-1975]

i got caught on a mobile camera doing 81 on the motorway they offered me a speed awarness course instead of the points which i did the other day woo hoo no points
carl

[AderC]

I got caught in July on the way to Thoresby, 67 in a 50. Have had the fixed penalty notice and ignored it (the 28 day deadline was today in fact). Now waiting to see if they're pig-headed enough take me to court.

Reason - the NIP gave a location that doesn't exist, so they haven't fulfilled the requirements of s1 of the Road Traffice Offenders Act as the NIP has to specify the location in order to secure a conviction.

[d3x]

I got caught in July on the way to Thoresby, 67 in a 50. Have had the fixed penalty notice and ignored it (the 28 day deadline was today in fact). Now waiting to see if they're pig-headed enough take me to court.

Reason - the NIP gave a location that doesn't exist, so they haven't fulfilled the requirements of s1 of the Road Traffice Offenders Act as the NIP has to specify the location in order to secure a conviction.

The ten percent rule normally only applies to fixed camera's as they have been programmed to give a little leeway. Mobile one though are man operated most of the time so it's down to their discretion..

Any error in the paper work means they can't do anything... This has happened soooo many times before. Alas never to me though.

[AderC]

Any error in the paper work means they can't do anything... This has happened soooo many times before. Alas never to me though.

Doesn't stop them trying it on though. They rely on people being in fear of going to court and most just pay up for an easy life. Not me!

The NIP says "A623 Stoney Middleton to Peak Forest, Lay Nr Potlu". Despite much searching I couldn't find a place or road called Potlu so I wrote to them for clarification. They wrote back saying it should have said "Potluck House", which is shown only on OS maps. The road between Stoney Middleton and Peak Forest is ~8 miles which isn't specific enough.

In the correspondence so far, I've not mentioned another potential flaw in the location, which I'm keeping back for any potential court hearing. Anyone else spot it?

[foxdie]

In the correspondence so far, I've not mentioned another potential flaw in the location, which I'm keeping back for any potential court hearing. Anyone else spot it?

"Lay" instead of "Layby"? Between jurisdictions?

[AderC]

You're along the right lines with lay-by. I'm pretty sure when I get the pics (if they take it to court) that they'll show the car on the road, not in a lay-by...

The NIP should specify the location of the offence, not the location from which the offence was observed ;)

[I-S]

Direction was wrong. You were on your way to thoresby, thus travelling FROM peak forest TO stoney middleton, not vice versa.

[AderC]

Direction was wrong. You were on your way to thoresby, thus travelling FROM peak forest TO stoney middleton, not vice versa.

There is that inaccuracy as well, but this in itself wouldn't invalidate the NIP. Only way it could mislead is if it actually said westbound rather than eastbound.

I'd love to know how may people they got that day and have just paid up. I've been back out to look where it was and it's one of those perfect overtaking stretches of road, and I can remember overtaking slower traffic doing ~40 in the 50 limit. Must have been an unmarked van in the lay-by.

[Dom B]

My speedo indicates 65 when the gps is reading 60 so if you went by the car speedo it is unlikely that you were actually speeding. If you were doing a gps 62 which is a speedo 68 then you can still argue the 10% speedo error as they don't know how accurate your car speedo is. I cruise at 77mph everywhere as it isn't worth risking on roads i don't know, but my speedo reads about 85.

[I-S]

A word of caution on the 10% thing...

10% is the MAXIMUM that the speedo is allowed to over-read. It is much more likely to be less than this.

On very worn tyres my Accord over-read by 4%. On new tyres it's less than that.

Note that tyre wear and tyre pressure have an impact on the level of over-read. It will vary between different examples of the same make.

Check your own car. Do not rely on someone else's figure.

[RussBird82]

Thanks for the advice guys. My speedo is reads bang on 30 when I go past one of those LED camera warning signs. Not sure about higher speeds, when I'm doing 100mph on the motorway I don't feel like I'm overtaking slow traffic doing 70 by a full 30mph.

With regard to the accuracy, on the Dorset Police Website for this month it gives the camera location as "A37 Holywell Cross" but only shows as "Holywell" on the road map. Would this make a difference? If you look on a map it's a long stretch of road with plenty of room for 'safe' overtaking (not that I was at the time)

[AderC]

A quick Google shows that Holywell Cross is the name of the junction near Holywell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_road_junctions_in_the_United_Kingdom:_H

It would be the location specified on any NIP you might get that would be important, not what's on the rozzers website. Either Holywell or Holywell Cross would be valid.

[Soggy Llama]

There are some speed camera information sites, along with advice on how to get out of them.

Try here, i found it invaluable
http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=28584

[AlanDITD]

IS makes a very good point, my mums astra is awful, 90mph indicated on speedo is 79mph on the gps, i wondered why it was taking so long to get to the end of my private test track yesterday.