o/t M4

Does anyone know whether the old style, black and white non reflective plates can be effectively captured by these new systems?

(I ask as I have a three litre cortina on a K plate I can start using again)

MrCheerful

Isn't this as much bollocks as it was when I read it on uk.t/uk.r.d?

See Thames Valley Plod site for details of what these new signs actually are.

cheers, clive

Dunno Clive,had it sent me earlier just thought i'd pass it on,If its not cameras then great news for all that drive the M4.. Only a matter of time before there is something like them on Motorways though...

Steev

This system will almost certainly read your non-reflective plate and I sicerely hope that it does if you're speeding. Would not the simple soution be to avoid exceeding the speed limit in the first place? It may give you a cheap thrill but is does cost lives. What I most object to are motorists exceeding the 30mph limit and motorcyclists in particular, 90% of whom seem to travel at 50mph+ in 30mph limits without being pulled - are speed cameras incapable of recognising motor bikes or do they have some sort of special relationship with the police? Sit back and reflect for a few moments - how would you feel for the rest of your life if you were responsible for killing somebody?

Terry D.

the question surely has to be, will your cortina's MAKE the required 78 mph to recive the speeding tickects :)

The 'three litre bit' is a bit of a giveaway about how quick it is. Have you ever driven a 'Savage' Cortina? They are dangerously fast, especially with Cortina suspension and brakes. Good for a laugh though. And about 130 flat out. (would do more if I could source a 2.3 diff) Most fun I had was when I first built it, there was the diff from a 1.3 in it, I welded it up so the diff was locked, the fun you could have with the tail out at every roundabout, side turning, parking manouevre etc.

MrCheerful

The problem is not one of 70, 78 or 80 mph or even 150, but whether the speed is excessive for the conditions at the time.

MrCheerful

Are you so utterly helpless, that you need to be told what a safe speed is every step of the way. It's obvious that any fixed speed limit will be set for the most dangerous time of day, on days routine usage. There will therefore be many periods, when these limit are entirely innappropriate, and are simply function, to raise revenue.

I was passed today, by three complete lunatics, who overtook a queue of cars waiting patiently to enter Brighton, and they have no more chance of being picked up, than your average driver, many of whom have driven for decades, without being involved in any sort of accident, and now find their livelihoods threatened.

Wouldn't it be refreshing, if all this new hi-tech equipment, could be used to impose appropriate limits, according to times and conditions, and then the vast majority of drivers would respect and observe them, instead of seeing them as an odious imposition.

Andy Pandy To e-mail, address hopefully, self-explanatory !

Same details I recieved in an email a while back - except the date has change to a more recent one. Thames Valley police have said on their website that there are no Speed Cameras on the new signs being put up.

They DONT say however, that the SPECs camers dont exist. A careful distinction between the two.

-- Andy Jenkins UK Broadband Usergroup :

true mind you, i was overtaken by some looney today as i stopped for the traffic lights at one of them contraflow things wasn't it satisfiying to see that he was pulled over by plod who were waiting at the end of the roadworks :)

my cousin had one :) and yes, they tend to be slightly scary :) especially with the suspension and tyres from what semed to be a caravan bolted to them :)

Sorry but from what I've heard motorcyclists seem to get pulled over out of all proportion to the number speeding. Mainly (I suspect) because they don't have front plates so that these plate recognition cameras don't work half the time.

-- Malc

It's my war wound. I got it in Nam.

Cheltenham

But that would imply either some non existent motor cyclists get pulled over or less than 100% speed :-)

I think you'll find it's a tiny minority of bikers that exceed the 30 and 40mph limits. I'd certainly say that a greater proportion of car drivers do, anyway.

We tend to have an unwritten rule on our rideouts that 30 and 40 limits should not be exceeded, but anything else is fair game, IYSWIM.

What relevance does this have to speeding on the M4? Doing 10mph more than the limit in a 30 is a stupid thing to do. Often in 30 limits you should be doing more like 20. Doing 100 on a clear bit of motorway is a lot less likely to harm someone than 30 on residential road with cars parked on one or both sides.

It's very difficult to kill somebody on a motorway by accident. The best way is to drift out of your lane or change lanes without checking IMO.

Depends how you define bikers. If you take it as riders of powered two wheeled vehicles then it's about 95% round here. And the smaller the bike, the faster they try to go.

The real trick is not to hit anything. Excessive speed just makes this worse if you do, and more likely to hit if you haven't enough field of vision to cover your stopping distance.

I'm not fond of speeding, but you types who insist on the letter of the law are anally fixated and should get therapy.

I not sure what you mean, SPECs camera technology is a reality yes.... However Thames valley police do clearly say SPEC's cameras are NOT in these new M4 signs.

"There are NO speed cameras and NO SPECS cameras in the signs!"

It was bollocks. You have now been usefully informed about something that doesn't exist.

clive