Variable Speed Camera - think I was caught?

[Samara26]

Do u always get a ticket if u speed under the metal bridge that has the latest reduced driving speed you are meant to be doing?

I lost concentration and noticed all the cars behind me had slowed but I had already gone under the bridge type alert barrier, with the notification saying 50 and I was doing around 70 still on the m25.

I just wondered if that means I'll get a ticket by default or if sometimes they miss people?

You are not meant to slow for the camera you are meant to respect the speed limit all the time.

Driving 20mph over the limit and losing your concentration is not good driving.

I hope this is a wake up call for you to improve your driving.

I wonder this as well, on the variable speed limit signs how soon are you expected to follow the new speed limit? If it literally changes as you are about to go under it then it wouldn't be safe to suddenly brake harshly to get under the new limit and you should have a bit of time to reduce your speed safely.

I just wondered if that means I'll get a ticket

Hopefully.

Highly unlikely you will get a ticket OP.

I had the speed change from 70 to 40 literally as I approached the signs on the gantry on the M4 this week. Obviously to whack on my brakes hard at the 69mph I was travelling st would be bloody stupid with traffic right behind me. I took my foot off the accelerator and gently braked. It took a good few seconds and a long way pass the new 40mph sign fir me to reduce to 40mph.

Hopefully I've not been done for speeding as I slowed down slowly. If I get a ticket I'll be mightily pissed off and know that in future an emergency stop procedure on a busy motorway is obviously not deemed suicidal or murderous by the authorities - and perfectly safe!!

I do alot of motorway driving and generally drive at 68/69mph but sometimes yo find if I'm watching the road more than my speedo I sometimes go over the 70mph a little. I obviously slow down the second I realise and to date I've not been done for speeding by variable speed cams.

If you were speeding past a speed camera then you will get a ticket. If you were doing 70 in a 50 then you will get more than just a ticket. You are looking at 100% of your weekly income and 4-6 points, you can even be disqualified for it. And that is if you were at 70, 71+ is worse.

There probably wasn’t even a camera at that point.

The variable speed limit signs must have some leeway. If at 10.01am the sign says 70mpg and 10 seconds later the sign changes to 40moh they must surely allow a few seconds grace for vehicles approaching that variable sign at the original 70mph. Otherwise emergency stops is the only way to avoid speeding how the fuck is that safe?

I'll find out in the next 10 days or so. It's the first time in all my motorway driving days (150 miles 5 days a week) that the variable speed limit sign has changed literally as I approached it.

And there isn’t a speed camera on every bridge / gantry just because it has the signs.

Of course 4 lanes of traffic can’t all screech from 70 to 50 in a few seconds.

I would stop worrying about it, OP.

Very unlikely. I drive a lot of motorway and the variable speed limits seem to be ignored by about 80% of drivers. If it’s showing 60 many simply slow from 85ish down to around 70. I do see cameras flash but not on variable limits, and usually for those doing 80+

@ShingleBeach

And there isn’t a speed camera on every bridge / gantry just because it has the signs.

Of course 4 lanes of traffic can’t all screech from 70 to 50 in a few seconds.

I would stop worrying about it, OP.

I think all cameras are on at every gantry when there is a reduced speed. If it's the national speed limit, they are not active. They only put them on when they ask u to reduce speed

@Lonelycrab

Very unlikely. I drive a lot of motorway and the variable speed limits seem to be ignored by about 80% of drivers. If it’s showing 60 many simply slow from 85ish down to around 70. I do see cameras flash but not on variable limits, and usually for those doing 80+

Not all of them use the flashing cameras, some use infra red etc so u don't see a flash. It does make me wonder, especially towards the Dartford tunnel, how people seem to speed through them like they know something I don't?

@ShingleBeach

There probably wasn’t even a camera at that point.

I really hope your right but m25 is littered with cameras everywhere. I believe there's a one minute leeway but I don't recall when the first notification was. I'm normally very reactive to these but I'm very stressed at the moment and got distracted briefly when it started

I think all cameras are on at every gantry when there is a reduced speed. If it's the national speed limit, they are not active. They only put them on when they ask u to reduce speed

I’d say it’s probably the opposite. Variable limits come on and off all the time- sometimes only for a few minutes. For the cameras to be synchronised to a new temporary limit and then reset to 70 would need an awful lot of networking. Much more likely that they are simply set to trigger at say 80 and never move from there.

I drive hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles of the m25 per month. It is clear that the cast majority of drivers ignore variable limits- including trucks and delivery drivers- ie professionals. I don’t think this would be the case if cameras were triggered by lower variable limits.