cop pointing speedgun on motorway

skivenov

andygb wrote: »

I thought that they usually used this to pinpoint really excessive speeders, and then radio to another car up the road to keep a look out for them (usually sitting up a sliproad out of site - speeding car goes by, and they can then get on its tail) I got followed by a pair of French traffic cops on bikes years ago, and I am sure they used this method.

That's my understanding of it. I've noticed the car is quite often an unmarked one, so whether the copper on the bridge is just there to spot and the unmarked car follows until it's got evidence on the VASCAR (calibrated speedo) could be a possibility.

brat

skivenov wrote: »

That's my understanding of it. I've noticed the car is quite often an unmarked one, so whether the copper on the bridge is just there to spot and the unmarked car follows until it's got evidence on the VASCAR (calibrated speedo) could be a possibility.

That's all a bit labour intensive. An unmarked car patrolling the motorway is all you need. Often you'll see patrol cars on the motorway slips waiting to pounce on the unobservant speeder.
They usually don't work in tandem, no real need to do so.

Notmyrealname

Euphoria1z wrote: »

hi

There was a policeman pointing a handheld device probably a speedgun at on coming traffic on the motorway this morning.

now there would have been alot of cars going past, some speeding, how would the speedgun catch the speeders? would all get caught or only the first one? can the speedgun process more than one at one time?

i.e say theres 10 cars, 5 in each lane, and half are speeding in either of the lanes, so would the first car get caught only or all 5 speeders regardless of their position?

can they convict if your speeding by pointing at you from front or does it have to be from the back or both?

thanks.

It has a viewfinder with a X on and it is pointed at specific vehicles that look like they're going faster than everyone else.

They can convict you pointing at the front, the back.

If you weren't speeding you have nothing to fear.

pendulum

Notmyrealname wrote: »

If you weren't speeding you have nothing to fear.

Equipment never fails?
Mistakes in using the equipment never happen?

brat

pendulum wrote: »

Equipment never fails?
Mistakes in using the equipment never happen?

I hear about it on forums much more often than I've experienced it. Every time I have used it it gives a completely expected reading. Not to say it can never happen, but if the units are used properly (which is not at all difficult) there should be no likelihood of a misread.

harleq1962

they normally do more than one lane by putting a van on the flyover and setting up multiple cameras pointing at the oncoming traffic, by the time you spot them its too late. the cameras are left unmanned so they are hard to spot.

brat

harleq1962 wrote: »

they normally do more than one lane by putting a van on the flyover and setting up multiple cameras pointing at the oncoming traffic, by the time you spot them its too late. the cameras are left unmanned so they are hard to spot.

That's ANPR my friend. Nothing to do with speed detection.

harleq1962

brat wrote: »

That's ANPR my friend. Nothing to do with speed detection.

thanks for clearing that up , i always presumed they were speed traps, you always see everyone braking hard when they see them,

jaydeeuk1

Always thought they played snooker, so who ever is driving the black or red car

thenudeone

daveyjp wrote: »

Police tend to target excessive speeders and those driving without due care, they don't use the gun to hand out a ticket for everyone they see speeding.

On a motorway they will look for the 90mph+ drivers and ensure these are dealt with.

Was it really a hand held gun? Or was it a laser device (with video film) on a tripod being pointed by hand, in which case everyone who has been targeted with the laser and over 10%+2mph over the limit will get a NIP in the post once the video is reviewed (or possibly a speed awareness course offer). It's quite possible to target every car going past - there's usually two seconds between each car - that's enough time to take a reading and move to the next car.