Couple of speeding questions..

Idiophreak

Hi All,

I might post on pepipoo regarding this soon, but thought I'd give people here the first shot at beating me up

I'll start by explaining what happened - was driving a long (235 miles) journey yesterday morning...Had to put my foot down a bit for a couple of reasons...anyway, probably 20 miles into the journey I looked down to find myself halfway along a fixed camera (halfway along the markings on the road, anyway) - I checked the rear view mirror, but didn't see a flash...Was probably doing 90/70 at the time. The journey then went really well, really quiet, no trafffic to speak of, until around 5 miles from the end, when I looked up this time and saw a copper with a speed gun on the bridge in front of me, doing the same speed...braked sharpish, but probably not in time...

Anyway...I have two main questions:

1) Would I definitely have seen the (fixed) camera flash if it had done? Hoping as I didn't see it, it didn't go off...Do they always flash, even? It was early morning light (around 8:30) with a little mist...

2) I've read a couple of times about some "single offence" loophole thing, where you can argue that two tickets are for the same crime, effectively...firstly, has this ever actually stood up, has anyone got out of a ticket because of it? If so, secondly, is there a maximum time/distance it applies? I'm fairly sure the times would show that my average speed between both points was above the limit and I can't honestly remember having to slow down between times (as I said, it was a good/quiet journey...) - so I may well have only exceeded the limit once. Finally, by trying that argument, is it possible I could make things worse for myself?

Obviously this is somewhat hypothetical at present, with any luck I'll have had a lucky day and missed both...and anyway, if I have to take the 6 points, it's not the end of the world I guess (I did "do the crime", afterall - I have a clean license at the mo, so would be a little gutting to lose half my points because I needed to get back quick on one journey, but that's life), just thought i'd see what you guys thought...

MX5huggy

I think you would have noticed the camera flash, but then again I think you would have noticed the large yellow box that the camera is housed in as well before it was in your rear view mirror!!

bargepole

Idiophreak wrote: »

1) Would I definitely have seen the (fixed) camera flash if it had done? Hoping as I didn't see it, it didn't go off...Do they always flash, even? It was early morning light (around 8:30) with a little mist...

A Gatso fixed camera will flash twice, to take two photos. The distance travelled between the fixed time interval (some are 0.5secs and some are 0.7) as measured by the gridlines, provides corroboration of the camera's radar reading.

Idiophreak wrote: »

2) I've read a couple of times about some "single offence" loophole thing, where you can argue that two tickets are for the same crime, effectively...firstly, has this ever actually stood up, has anyone got out of a ticket because of it? If so, secondly, is there a maximum time/distance it applies? I'm fairly sure the times would show that my average speed between both points was above the limit and I can't honestly remember having to slow down between times (as I said, it was a good/quiet journey...) - so I may well have only exceeded the limit once. Finally, by trying that argument, is it possible I could make things worse for myself?

As there was a 200 mile interval between the two, the tickets (if any) will be issued by different Constabularies, and dealt with by different Courts, so this won't work. It's generally accepted that two offences can only be counted as one if they occur "on the same stretch of road".

Your best bet is to wait and see if you get a NIP for either or both of these, then go to pepipoo and do the NIP wizard, and see what the advice is - but don't worry about it until and unless it happens.

Idiophreak

MX5huggy wrote: »

I think you would have noticed the camera flash, but then again I think you would have noticed the large yellow box that the camera is housed in as well before it was in your rear view mirror!!

You'd have thought, wouldn't you...but when you get a couple of HGVs drafting eachother, you can't always see a lot to the left of them...

on the subject, something I've never understood - surely if there's a big lorry between the camera and you, it's kinda hard for the camera to get you? How does that work?

System

Idiophreak wrote: »

Hi All,

I might post on pepipoo regarding this soon, but thought I'd give people here the first shot at beating me up

I'll start by explaining what happened - was driving a long (235 miles) journey yesterday morning...Had to put my foot down a bit for a couple of reasons.../quote]

no one HAS to speed !!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

anewman

This sort of speeding???

vikingaero

With regard to the speed camera it depends on whether the camera is a true Gatsometer or whether it was a Truvelo turned the other way. A Gatso normally flashes and the Truvelo relies on embedded wires and does not flash. A lot of Truvelos still have the graduated markings in both directions on the road.

Idiophreak

CHRISSYG wrote: »

no one HAS to speed !!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Nobody ever *has* to do anything, if you want to be like that...what's your point?

Oh, you don't have one, do you. Thanks for the [strike]moronicism[/strike] contribution, anyway...

CHR15

Having been flashed once in the past (twice for the pedants lol), I can assure you, you will have noticed. Even in broad daylight, the interior of your car lights up a treat.

Assuming the worse, if you have been caught twice, you may be lucky and get a speed awareness course for one of them (but not both) so you could (if you are lucky) only end up with 3 points and not 6. This would be dependant upon how much over the limit you were, I doubt anything over 80mph would qualify.

Mine was 35 in a 30, the form I had stated a course could be offered for 35-39mph in a 30. Stretching that out, it may be 75-79

pompeyrich

I have recently purchased a sat-nav unit and the speed on it is way out from that of my speedo, speedo reads 80, sat nav 70-71, so you might be lucky. No wonder those trucks were almost in my boot when I thought I was doing 50 through some camera controlled roadworks recently !!

Conor_3

Yeah...cars can legally overread up to 10% whereas lorries have to be accurate to 2.5% and they're tested for calibration every 2 years.

To the OP:
If you only checked your mirrors once you were halfway up the markings on the road, it's quite probable you didn't notice the flashes.

Either way, in two weeks you'll know whether you were caught or not. Depending on the accuracy of the speedo and the relevent Police Forces' policy on ACPO guidelines, it's possible you were only doing 81MPH in reality which might be low enough for you to get off.