Signs that show your speed.

Crabman

There's one of these in Birmingham on the A456 near the M5 (J3) roundabout. It doesn't display your speed but does light up and flash when you're above 40mph.

I drive down that road several times a week and am yet to see anyone who is speeding slow down after the sign lights up.

I think they should have a hidden speed camera cited a short distance after the electronic warning sign, so that those who fail to take heed of the speed warning can receive 3 points, a £60 fine and higher insurance premiums for a few years

sarahg1969

I hate the fact that you sometimes see them outside schools, and they "smile" at people doing exactly the speed limit - 30 or 40 - while there are loads of children and parents' cars and buses around.

Johnmcl7

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

I don't see why they bother with those things. Why not just install a speed camera instead?

I think it's reasonable to assume the speed display devices are substantially cheaper with much less paperwork to put up and also much cheaper to maintain compared to a speed camera.

I do have my doubts about their usefulness as I do see some people slow down a bit for them but they're generally not going that fast and plenty of people ignore them including those who are going quite a bit more over the limit.

John

Mobeer

worried_jim wrote: »

Not so good for all the chavs who spend all Saturday night who can post the fastest speed.
I remember years ago when they had the first one on the M1 in the road works in Nottinghamshire and they had to take it down as all the local bikers were whizzing through to see who cold post the fastest time and to calibrate their speedos.

On a local 30 mph limit road near my old place there were both bikers and car drivers who tried to get the sign to light up 00 by driving at 100 mph, over the speed bumps. The sign was altered later to have a extra digit to show numbers over 99, but that was all the action taken.

prowla

I think of them as a reminder to check my speedo.

adamc260

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Very informative signs, my speedo seems to be under-recording.

They're meant to

If you do 30 your car is really doing something like 28. It's for safety and to prevent you 'breaking the law'. So if you get a speeding fine your clearly going way over the limit.

art_for_arts_sake

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Very informative signs, my speedo seems to be under-recording.

I don't know how accurate they are, but I know they aren't allowed to be used as evidence of speeding. Car speedos are allowed +/- 10%, if I remember correctly, so if it said say 33 mph in a 30 mph zone you'd still be in the clear.

Dave_C_2

Thanks for your replies

My point in the OP is that I think it's better to pro-actively attempt to slow down a driver with the use of a speed activated sign rather than let the driver speed and them punish them for doing so.
The driver is still speeding after going past a camera.

I like the idea of a speed-activated warning sign followed by a camera to catch the stupid.

On holiday in Portugal they had a fixed speed detector gun followed by a set of lights for a pedestrian crossing. If a driver broke the speed limit going past the gun then the pedestrian crossing would change to red or stop on red longer, making the offending driver wait for a minute or so. I understand that they had red light cameras on the crossing.

Being the continent peer pressure (blasting horns) from other cars being held up made this arrangement effective!

Dave

Sharon87

I was in a car yesterday as a passenger, the driver got told off as we call it by the sign, she slowed down. The speedo on that car is very not accurate. We used the iPhone satnav to calculate the speed and compared it to the car speedo on a very old Corsa. When we were going 70 according to the phone, the speedo said about 85pmh. It says 10mph when the car's not moving!

Mr_Thrifty

Sharon87 wrote: »

I was in a car yesterday as a passenger, the driver got told off as we call it by the sign, she slowed down. The speedo on that car is very not accurate. We used the iPhone satnav to calculate the speed and compared it to the car speedo on a very old Corsa. When we were going 70 according to the phone, the speedo said about 85pmh. It says 10mph when the car's not moving!

The driver must really have been tanking it, according to the speedo, then.