Speed camera flashed - but I wasn't speeding!

[KittyLane1]

Last night I was driving on the Bodmin A30 duel carriageway, national speed limit road (70 - yes??) And I had my cruise control set to 68.
I went passed a speed camera and it flashed, pretty sure I was the only one on the road.

Has this happened to anyone else ? Any ideas what it could be? Anyone know the road?

olenna

There won't be a defence. If I have accidently speeded then I will accept it without a murmur.

However, I thought I had taken sensible precautions to avoid speeding.

National speed limit is 60 i thought

Let us know when you pass your test.

If you had gone past the roundabout (Carland Cross) it is single carriageway with cameras and varying speed limits (I think some is 50 but don’t use that bit often) until another roundabout (Chiverton). Then dual carriageway/70mph again until past Camborne.

So the national speed limit sign (white circle with a black diagonal line) means 60 mph on a dual carriageway way with no central reservation barrier and 70 mph on a dual carriageway where a central barrier is present

Actually, reading that statement again, it's not quite correct. You do not need a central reservation barrier (ie little wall or fence type arrangement) to define a dual carriageway, only a strip of non carriageway, such as a grass verge.

There is a section of the A1 in the south/midlands (can't remember where exactly) that is, or was a dual carriageway, without a barrier, with a limit of 70 MPH . It also has the scary cross carriageway turns shock] and roundabouts. Thankfully most of the A1 that I use regularly, further north, is all motorway standard these days, with proper slip roads, barriers and no roundabouts. Much safer and a lot quicker than it used to be.

A different road I know but the speed camera near my house has been flashing everyone today They've just come to repair it. Nothing you can do now but if you don't get a letter within a week or two you'll know that you were fine.

So the national speed limit sign (white circle with a black diagonal line)

Is actually indicating "no light network" - meaning this stretch of road can be treated as unlit for the purposes of speed limits. The actual speed limit itself is then determined by the class of road.

Fascinating and informative as my SAC was, I have no intention of taking another

I would assume that a dual carriageway was 60 TBH. The one I regularly drive on is 60 mph and I'd expect most of them to be.

Have looked at a copy of the Highway Code, it doesn't seem to mention an actual barrier, just a central reservation which separates the carriageway. If there are just lines then this is a single carriageway even if there is more than one lane going in the same direction.

OP, could you 'drive' along the offending bit of road using Streetview to see if there is any signage?

^ As in what most people assume to be a dual carriageway. When I go and see my brother there is a dual carriageway which starts off as a single carriageway and people would always treat it as a dual carriageway until they built houses and put a roundabout in.

The only signs along that stretch of road are white circles with a black line to indicate national speed.

There were 50 zones long before it, and I adjusted my speed accordingly.

I am pretty positive it was a 70 zone, so my question really is why would it flash me?

Do speed cameras needed two shots to calculate the speed so they would flash twice if you were speeding (the one on the M25 certainly did the other night to two motorists in quick succession)?

Was there a car on the other side of the road speeding? Some speed cameras have been set off by birds?!?

I was taught this about dual carriageways. “The number of lanes in each direction is irrelevant. A dual carriageway is a road where opposing traffic flows are separated by a physical barrier whether it's a metal crash barrier, a concrete strip or just a mound of earth with trees on it (For example, anything that would stop a ball rolling from one side of the road to the other). There are single lane dual carriageways and there are multi lane single carriageways.”

I’ve been driving for nearly 30 years and have never had a speeding ticket so I must have taught been correctly.

A three lane, dual carriageway near me is actually 50mph but has regular repeaters as well as roundels on the road surface.

I was also taught the 'ball' test (by a former traffic policeman).

I’m loving the revised question. Was it definitely a speed camera flashing? If you were on Bodmin Moor, could it have been a flash of the Beast’s eyes?!

Sometimes speed cameras are set 10 miles lower to catch lorries. Lorries have a lower speed limit on dual carriageways, so this is the only way to catch them. I had this happen to me on a motorway. The speed camera place just discard the car photos.

If there wasn't a proper central barrier then it's 60. Sometimes when they go off you don't get a ticket. It might have been calibrated a bit low and you weren't actually speeding or sometimes they flash but don't have film in them. Just wait and see.

I always thought that speed limit was 70 in motorways and 60 on carriageways (unless signed for 50 or 40) and that's what I stick to.
I'm in NI though and our lack of carriageways and motorways is shocking.

If I have accidentally speeded

A lot of the SAC I attended was devoted to removing any idea you can "accidentally" speed. They pointed out all the cues you can use to determine what the speed limit is (with a video quiz).

I was caught on local-ish road which was 30/40/30/40/30/40/30/40/30/40/ for about 10 miles. I was adjusting my speed limiter from 40 to 30 and clipped the camera at 33 . On similar roads now, I just stick at 30.

Worrying amount of people "thinking" about speed limits, rather than knowing Unless they're not drivers, which is fair enough.

Surely people know what a dual carriageway is? I am surprised at how much this is being discussed.

I was taught this about dual carriageways. “The number of lanes in each direction is irrelevant. A dual carriageway is a road where opposing traffic flows are separated by a physical barrier whether it's a metal crash barrier, a concrete strip or just a mound of earth with trees on it (For example, anything that would stop a ball rolling from one side of the road to the other). There are single lane dual carriageways and there are multi lane single carriageways.”

I’ve been driving for nearly 30 years and have never had a speeding ticket so I must have taught been correctly

You've remembered that word for word for 30 years? Really? Who drives around reciting that in their head every time they can't see a speed limit sign?

Not having has a speeding ticket doesn't prove anything about whether you were taught correctly, it means you haven't been caught speeding, I don't believe there is any driver who has never once gone over the speed limit in 30 years

Surely people know what a dual carriageway is? I am surprised at how much this is being discussed.

(Remembers yesterdays drive ..)

I'm not ....

I don't believe there is any driver who has never once gone over the speed limit in 30 years

I certainly have (more when younger, doing 140+ on the M40 ). And every time I have, I knew I was, so it would have been fair cop.

Which is why it stung that I was snapped in the process of adhering to the limit ... cosmic justice I guess.