To wonder if people who speed through motorway cameras just don't care about a fine?

[5toMidnight]

I am regularly on a motorway with variable speed limits and active cameras/painted speed lines positioned behind every gantry. Every single time it seems I am the only person who sticks to whatever the speed limit is. Others seem to be doing at least 5 and sometimes 10 mph more than I am.

Actually I also see this a lot on regular roads. If I stick to the limit then I inevitably create a tailback. This morning I ended up doing 35 in a 30, I created a tailback and at one point the bloke behind me actually overtook me.

So. AIBU to think that I am the only person who is worried about speeding any more?

[5toMidnight]

To clarify - on the motorway, people speed while actually driving over the painted speed camera lines on the road.

[ajandjjmum]

Variable speed limits work - it's good for the traffic to keep flowing, albeit at a slower speed.

[megletthesecond]

I think they're paying so little attention that they haven't noticed.

[Bogeyface]

Well I dont speed. I have kept my license clean for 17 years and as a result my insurance is a hell of a lot cheaper than some friends of mine who seem to see the speed limit as the bare minimum! One friend in particular was gobsmacked when I moaned that my insurance had gone over £200 when hers was nearly £800 for a similar car. Turned out that she had 6 points and had only just got rid of of 3 so at one point she had 9. Wasnt her fault though, it was down to nit picky speed cameras...

My BIL's dad had a right rant once when he got clobbered for speeding. He said "What am I supposed to do? Keep looking at the speedo when I am driving?!" And was told by BIL and DSis, yes thats exactly what you are supposed to do :o

[wasonthelist]

The vast majority of car speedos over-read, by as much as 10%. You're allowed 10% (on top of the real speed) as a margin of error and many police forces add a fixed 2mph to that - so people who seem to be doing 55mph may in fact be doing less than an actual 50 and in any case are in no danger of being fined.

A lot of regular users know this.

[J0kersSmile]

Speed cameras work with a ten percent margin plus two miles pH (I think but it's something like that).

I do speed, I don't speed past speeding cameras but I do keep up with the cars in front of me. I expect I'll be the only person to admit that on here!

[Bogeyface]

And to answer, I think that yes, a lot of them dont actually care. I know my ex speeded (sped?) a lot but only got done 5 times over about 10 years, despite speeding almost all the time. So they probably dont worry about it until they actually get done, which seems to be a slim chance.

[Bluesrunthegame]

This seems to happen to me a lot on motorways. The speed limit is up in lights, there are cameras, I do the speed limit and people pass me like I'm standing still. How is this possible? What do they know that I don't know? The only time speed limits seem to work, it seems to me, is in those average speed areas, then people stick to the limit. I've often wondered about this, can anyone enlighten?

[wasonthelist]

As for your question -

AIBU to think that I am the only person who is worried about speeding any more?

No, but a lot of people do it. I am regularly taligated whilst travelling at and above the legal speed limit, although I'm not sure how much of that is just poor driving rather than a desire to be going any faster.

There is virtually zero enforcement apart from by camera, so once you know where the cameras are, and the regular haunts of the mobile ones (they even print each weeks sites in our local rag), you can (if you wish) speed with almost zero chance of getting caught.

[PersianCatLady]

The vast majority of car speedos over-read, by as much as 10%
Most police forces don't issue speeding fines when you are less than 10% over the limit as well.

So in a 30mph zone you can do 33mph before any worries and in a 70mph you can do 77mph.

In addition to this there is also the car speedo issue mentioned above.

[NicknameUsed]

"The vast majority of car speedos over-read, by as much as 10%"

If I am using the sat nav it always reads lower than the speedometer. OH says it is because speedometers aren't precision instruments.

I regularly drive along a stretch of the M1 that has a 50 mph speed limit for roadworks and find that a lot of drivers drive faster than I do. I tend to set my cruise control in the roadworks because they have average speed cameras at regular intervals.

[OlennasWimple]

The speed cameras on the M25 weren't switched on for years...

[5toMidnight]

I'm a regular user! and I yes always thought that speed cameras went on your actual speed vs your speedo which does indeed overestimate.

However... we have two cameras by us whereby if you speed, it flashes up your registration number and tells you to slow down! I have been doing 32 and 42 (according to my speedo, so actual speed 30 and 40, i.e. the speed limit), and these cameras have flagged me as speeding and flashed up a warning so it does make me wonder.

[wasonthelist]

Bluesrunthegame

All car speedos (and I mean all)over-read as explained above. Another thing is that not all the gantries on mobile limits have cameras (in fact it's very few) - there's apparently a way to tell, although I prefer to just do the limit.

Also, as evidenced by the tailgating, light-flashing Polish-registered drawbar truck and trailer that tried to collect me whilst he was illegally travelling in L3 of the M42, if you have foreign plates, you won't be getting a fine.

[wasonthelist]

The ones that flash up a warning are optimistic in line with your speedo, since they don't have any power to issue fines. They are also highky dubious - I've passed them at illegal speeds without getting a warning (one said I was doing 17 mph when I bloody wasn't) and at legal speeds where the claimed speed was bollocks.

[raspberrysuicide]

Every time I go on a motorway and there is a 50mph speed limit I seem to be the only one who is actually going that speed!
I assume my speedometer in car is correct it's only 3 years old!

[wasonthelist]

nickname

I've been through those M1 roadworks quite a bit. If I set my cruise at 55 before the start of the speed restriction (perfectly legal as my real speed is then around 50), I pass almost everyone. A lot of people vary their speed a lot and a lot are down in the low 40s or less - no harm to them, but as I'm doing an actual 50, I will pas them unless someone is blocking me.

[wasonthelist]

Raspberry
I guarantee your speedo is inaccurate - it will be over estimating by up to 10% and the age of your car has nothing to do with it.

[Whisky2014]

Yy to 10% contingency. For the 70mph cameras i go through at 78 and they dont go off. Youre speedo may say youre doing 70 but its more like 64mph actually.

[helenlove]

What I don't understand is why they don't put a limit on cars so they can't go over 70!

I wonder how many lives it would save if people couldn't actually drive at 100mph. Because who needs to be going that fast?!


OP I never speed and am always getting overtaken on 30 roads! Madness...

[wasonthelist]

Unlikely to save many lives and a speed limiter at 70 wouldn't stop the arguably more dangerous case of people doing 70 in a 30 area. With a bit of luck, driverless tech will deal with all of this. I find motorway driving both boring and stressful - if I could just set the car to take me to Leeds or wherever and sit back reading the paper it would be bliss

[NicknameUsed]

"Youre speedo may say youre doing 70 but its more like 64mph actually."

When my speedo reads 73 mph my sat nav says 70mph. Although I'm not sure how accurate a sat nav is.

[Veterinari]

If you're driving appropriately you shouldn't be creating queues on a motorway. If you are it's likely because you're sitting in an overtaking lane but not actually going fast enough to overtake and thus blocking all of the lanes to the left of you. I see this SO frequently - people pottering along at 65 or 70mph in the second or third lane, causing an obstruction and either creating an obstruction or forcing undertaking. It's significantly more dangerous than the people driving at 80mph!

[RiverTam]

There's a lot more to safe motorway driving than the speed limit. Agree that unexpectedly slow drivers in any lane, but especially the middle name, are an accident waiting to happen.

[PikachuSayBoo]

I always thought the sat nav was more accurate. If my speedo says 60 the sat nav will say something like 56mph. So people may be going off their sat nav.