New speed cameras on the A40

ruddin1

Funnily enough I don't think I driven through an average speed check camera section before. My brain probably saw it as normal speed camera 

user1977

Frozen_up_north said:

The best aid to avoiding being caught out is by using Waze, a free satnav app for a smartphone, which beeps and flashes if you exceed the speed limit.

But in this case the OP already knew they were breaking the limit, they just thought they wouldn't get caught.

flaneurs_lobster

Frozen_up_north said:

 Users can input speed camera locations, speed limit errors, etc. the temporary police cameras appear instantly, changes to speed limits take perhaps a couple of weeks.

The residents on my street (a bit of a rat-run) are very conscientious about updating Waze to include the speed cameras at either end of the road.

They do, of course, not exist.

ontheroad1970

ruddin1 said:

Funnily enough I don't think I driven through an average speed check camera section before. My brain probably saw it as normal speed camera 

They exist on just about every motorway in the UK!

Mildly_Miffed

Frozen_up_north said:

Unfortunately speed limit changes are often at the whim of councils. Where I live there is a 30 mph through a village, which was extended for around half a mile past fields (the cynic in me thinks it was due to a councillor hosting a gymkhana in one of the fields once a year).

Cynicism fails to take account of legal reality, which is that there is a very long, expensive, and complicated process to get a Traffic Regulation Order in place (with a consultation period).

The simple fact is that reduced urban limits often start just outside the edge of the housing because people treat the 30 sign as "I'll start slowing now" rather than "I need to be down to 30 now because the new limit STARTS here".

The speed limit then increases to 50 where there are quite a lot of houses, then drops to 40 at the next village!
Non of these 30/50/40 speed limit changes make any sense

Sorry? Reduce speed limit through village. Increase between villages. Reduce for next village.
And that doesn't make sense to you? You think that's a cynical money-maker?

Our parish council has tried to get the limit reduced from NSL to 30 through our village. They can't, because there isn't sufficient density of properties.
Actually, let me rephrase that - the county council won't support or fund it. The parish council could try, but would have to foot the entire cost, which would be about 20 years worth of the total parish council funds.

Car_54

Frozen_up_north said:

Non of these 30/50/40 speed limit changes make any sense, but are a lucrative source of employment for the speed camera operators who are even there after dark!

Why would they not be? Does everyone in your area automatically stop speeding just  as night falls?

MattMattMattUK

There are some very odd speed limit changes on one of my routes into work. In the space of 180 meters the speed limit goes from 40mph (which it is for the previous three miles), up to 60mph for around 100 meters, down to 30mph for 20 meters then back to 40mph (which it is then for the next mile). There is also a route to a friends where the road is national speed limit (60mph), drops to 40mph through a village, but then 30mph for 100 meters outside the village, which just so happens to be where the head of the council lives, then back to 60mph again after that. When that happened they claimed that there were accidents which lead to needing a reduced speed limit, two of those accidents were the council leader falling off of his bike with no other vehicles involved.

Regardless of how little sense those limit changes make, the rules still have to be obeyed, the one near work the police are never there, it is a dead straight road with clear wide side areas so it would be obvious if there was a police presence there and no one who was not totally stupid would get caught. The one outside the council leader's house has a police presence several times a month, not sure it ever catches anyone as again it is dead straight and very obvious when they are there. 

Frozen_up_north

The 30/50/40 speed limit I mentioned has been the subject of a parish council complaint to the district council, which fell on deaf ears. Maybe the speed limits relate to the number of accidents? Who knows, but plenty around here cannot understand the reasoning behind a 50 limit where there are houses and 30 where just fields exist for around half a mile. The road is fairly straight too. Still at least it is correctly signed and Waze knows the change of speed limit to within a few feet.

Mildly_Miffed

MattMattMattUK said:

There are some very odd speed limit changes on one of my routes into work. In the space of 180 meters the speed limit goes from 40mph (which it is for the previous three miles), up to 60mph for around 100 meters, down to 30mph for 20 meters then back to 40mph (which it is then for the next mile).

Streetview link?

Goudy

Average speed cameras are in pairs and speeding through each pair would be a separate offence. 

There have been plenty of similar reports of drivers receiving multiple speeding fines on this very stretch of road.
In fact it's been repeatedly reported by the Evening Standard as London's most prolific "speed trap" and seems to generate over 50 million a year.

These types of average speed system appear to work better on roads like this than individual cameras because drivers speed up and slow down for those and often cause further chaos slowing down at the last second.

I believe there was a lot of drag racing going on on this stretch of road and the local MP and councillors campaigned the mayor long and hard to help prevent it.
It seems to have moved these people on to elsewhere, there was another recent crackdown in London last week.

These average cameras should be set to the NPCC guidelines of 10%+2mph, but I am led to believe they could have some more variance than that, either way. After all, it's only a guideline.

As already mentioned, you should be offered a speed awareness course for the first offence but if it looks like you could tot up to a ban, you might want to think about having a day in court with a solicitor (do not do this alone).

If a ban truly leaves you in hardship and the court agrees, then you might get lucky.

There is a bit of a loop hole that you could ask for it to be considered as one offence if you could provide evidence showing the journey and distance travelled was one driving incident. 
This might be difficult if you were caught in both directions, it just looks like you weren't paying attention at best.