Motorway speed cameras M4 London

alstemp

HI MoneySavingExperts.  I was flashed by a speed camera tonight on the M4 around Junction 3 or 2.  It was a 40 mph temporary speed limit due to heavy traffic. However another car was right alongside me but further ahead and I think it was them who were doing the speeding and triggered the camera and not me as I was trying not to go over 40.  My questions:
- do you always get a ticket if you are flashed by a speed camera on the motorway?
-  can a speed camera flash 2 cars at the same time?  If so will it differentiate who is doing over the limit and send the ticket to them or will you both get a ticket?
- if we both get a ticket, is it possible to raise an enquiry if I think it was the other car who was speeding?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

DanDare999

alstemp said:

HI MoneySavingExperts.  I was flashed by a speed camera tonight on the M4 around Junction 3 or 2.  It was a 40 mph temporary speed limit due to heavy traffic. However another car was right alongside me but further ahead and I think it was them who were doing the speeding and triggered the camera and not me as I was trying not to go over 40.  My questions:
- do you always get a ticket if you are flashed by a speed camera on the motorway?
-  can a speed camera flash 2 cars at the same time?  If so will it differentiate who is doing over the limit and send the ticket to them or will you both get a ticket?
- if we both get a ticket, is it possible to raise an enquiry if I think it was the other car who was speeding?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

If you're the registered keeper wait 14 days, see what turns up in the post. If you get a NIP/172 post back. 

Car_54

alstemp said:

HI MoneySavingExperts.  I was flashed by a speed camera tonight on the M4 around Junction 3 or 2.  It was a 40 mph temporary speed limit due to heavy traffic. However another car was right alongside me but further ahead and I think it was them who were doing the speeding and triggered the camera and not me as I was trying not to go over 40.  My questions:
- do you always get a ticket if you are flashed by a speed camera on the motorway?
-  can a speed camera flash 2 cars at the same time?  If so will it differentiate who is doing over the limit and send the ticket to them or will you both get a ticket?
- if we both get a ticket, is it possible to raise an enquiry if I think it was the other car who was speeding?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Answers:
- only if you were speeding 
- there is a camera for each lane, so differentiating is easy. It’s possible that what you saw were two simultaneous flashes
- how will you know if the other driver gets a ticket?

alstemp

Hi Car_54 thanks for your comments. Do you mean the camera can flash even if someone is not speeding?  your first comment sounds like that but I may have misunderstood.    I have heard that sometimes on A roads you will get flashed but nothing arrives in the post  so was wondering if that is the same on a motorway.

yes good point, I won't know if the other driver gets a ticket too!  I think what I mean is - if I get a ticket but their vehicle also appears on the photo.  First timer at this so not clued up.

Thanks again.

tripled

Speed cameras will only flash if they detect speeding, although there are occasions when they can be confused. Some modern motorway speed cameras can also detect people going through red X's, and they will flash for that.

Speed cameras used to have film in. When the film ran out they would keep flashing but not take pictures. I wouldn't expect there's many of those left. The police also have to process the tickets, perhaps sometimes they don't get through them all within the 14 days. There was a story about that recently in relation to the lane closures, only a minority of drivers were actually getting tickets when the camera caught them going through the red X, down to police processing manpower.

400ixl

Yes cameras can flash even when no one is speeding.

They take two images and look at the distance the car has travelled between the two images as they know the time that takes to happen and have the reference points to calculate distance and therefore speed (as well as with other sensors depending on the unit). This means they can calculate speeds for different cars in the same frame but different lanes.

If you weren't speeding then it is highly unlikely you will hear anything. You will never know if the other driver was speeding and ticketed or not.