Average Speed Checks / Cameras
Posted: April 29th, 2007 | Tags: rant, Technology |I often travel on the M6, at least twice a month. The M6 constantly has roadworks in which they impose a speed limit of 40 mph, and is monitored by average speed checks.
I’m always amazed when I travel through these sections of roadworks by the number of people who do not understand the word “Average”. Loads of drivers acknowledge the speed cameras and slow down for just the section in which the camera is, however the average speed checks do exactly what it says on the tin!
How it works is, CCTV cameras monitoring the traffic recognise your numberplate as your enter the speed check zone and record it along with the time. Further along the route other CCTV cameras repeat this operation producing a list of times for each vehicle at each camera. The computer controlling the CCTV cameras knows the distance between each camera, and therefore can easily calculate your average speed.
So, if you enter the zone at 12.00 and leave the zone at 12.01 and the distance between each point is 1 mile, you have an average speed of 60mph.
A common misconception is that each camera takes your speed and then an average of the two is taken. This is wrong, it doesn’t matter how fast you pass the cameras. For example, you could be going at 60mph as you enter the zone and continue at this speed for 30 seconds, then drive at 20mph for 30 seconds and your average speed would still only be 40mph.
There really is no way of cheating these cameras!
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paulmbain
@paulbain
Got a ticket did ya? :op
Nope! I understand the word average!
i drive the m6 incessantly too, and i’m prepared to admit i do nudge over the limit from time to time. i’ve never got a ticket, and i don’t remember seeing such cameras. any evidence of these average limits being enforced?
Yep, indeed. The average speed cameras are much less complex in theory to the speed cameras which detect instantaneous speed, however the image processing to read the number plate is quite tricky.
The other type of speed camera have more complex maths to do!
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Cameras are all around us, you can even check online to see if you have any impending speeding tickets coming from speed cameras, truvello, specs and gatsos by going here. http://www.i-database.co.uk
hay dose anyone know is the avverage speed cameras take the pics from the front or the back, i have looked at the spec sheet for the cameras and all the pics i have seen are from the front of the car. I am a biker and I think I went threw a area with them quit quick in my deffence i was late for the moto gp and there was no one on the road.
As far as I know, all the average speed cameras on road works take pictures from the front, and all permanent ones like on the M42 near the NEC take them from the rear.
There is a way around it if you change lanes. See this article: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23370879-details/Drivers+can+avoid+speeding+tickets…by+changing+lanes/article.do
Rob
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are u sure about the specs cam? do it take the pic of your actual speed when you pass the cam? or do it just take the average between both the cams? would it say give u a tickit if u went 40 miles an hour in a 50 zone for about half a mile, but right at the end u went 60 for about 50 yards as u pass the cam, and how do u get the information that u quaoted thanx steve
iwent through the first average speed camera on a 40 mph zone at 43 mph then realising my mistake i immediately slowed down to 35 mph until i got to the other average speed camera, does this mean i will get a ticket for the 43 mph offence that i had incurred going through the first camera ?!?!?
do you get fined for speeding in these zones? cheers
I went through an average speed check area which wasn’t signed - just the 50 mile signs on the M62. It was dark, and you couldn’t see the cameras which measure average speed until it was too late. Would this be a legally enforceable infringement if I get a ticket.
@Julie.
I travel along this particular stretch of the M62 twice a day each way. On both carriageways there is atleast 3/4 of a mile after the speed limit comes into effect and the cameras start.
3.4 of a mile before the cameras start is hardly “too late” to get your speed down is it?
Such cameras do not need to be, and rarely are marked as average speed check areas. They are legally enforceable.
I guess these things don’t work in the dark. Unless anybody knows better?
they take the average speed between two points, and most from the front, so myself and other bikers are ok, but dont be silly, if you go too far over the limit, they will get your number plate from the field of view from the other side of the road, so to be really careful, go as fast as you like on an A road, then stop for a fag.
they can register your plate in the dark, happened to me
however, these tickets are quite simple to get out of. Its discrimination against car users, no motorcycles have ever received a ticket from an average speed check, a case was won a while back in cambridge on these grounds, and since then they are just rolling over 
look it up
Your welcome everyone,
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UncegoZenna
The fact that the cameras are there to catch speeding motors, and they do, proves that they are a failure as a deterant. With sat nav, local radio, and local knowledge you can avoid getting caught.
It would be a much better idea to make speeding socially unacceptable, just as drink driving has.
This could be done by :-
charging drivers with murder, not manslaughter,
by more coverage in the media and by
adopting a system used in France. The radar is not linked to a camera, but traffic lights. A car speeding, will cause the lights to go red. so any time gained by speeding will be lost by stopping, you and every one going your way. You will find that lorry drivers are keen to point out your error to you.
I know this would be hard to do on motorways, but on normal roads it would make speeding drivers very unpopular with their fellow drivers. and so be reduced