Page 1 of Speed camera in Van question

Wife went through a village yesterday and realised too late that a white van speed camera was parked at the side of the road.

She went through at 34 MPH in a 30 zone, but the camera (in the rear door window of the van) was facing her tail lights as she went by. There was no flash.

Two Questions...

Do these van cameras only detect your speed if you come towards them, or do they work on cars going away from them (as the wifes car did).

Was 34 MPH too fast.

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bandicoot says...
There was no flash.There never is, they don`t take those kind of pictures afaik.
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bandicoot says...
Do these van cameras only detect your speed if you come towards themNope, only a GATSO camera detects a car`s speed from the rear, all other forms of speed recording can be done in either direction of travel.
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bandicoot says...
Was 34 MPH too fast.Yep, you can usually legally argue a 10% variation as to your speedo instrumentation but AFAIK its not a fixed law so depends on the Judge etc. if in court, but also most cameras are set to detect offences if speed +10% + 2 MPH is detected but again this is NOT hard fact and law, just the "usual".

I`d guess she`ll be ok but regardless IIRC they have two weeks to notify you from the date of offence that you were recorded or it`s chucked out the window (document called an NIP (Notice of Intended Prosecution) asking for the details of the driver etc)

There are ways to circumvent and delay but most are now slickly closed by the "Safety Camera Partnership" (AKA robbing b[at]ts@rds).

Fingers crossed nothing will come of it.

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"

Thanks for the quick reply as my wife is on tenderhooks, as she has had a clean licence for 10 years.

She was braking fast when she was alongside the van and recognised it.

Its a totally dead village in th emiddle of nowhere, comprising about 10 houses and 2 tractors, 40 chickens and a farm, so she did not expect a speed camera van. 

Yes, 30 + 3+2 = 35, so, its a bit borderline, we wait and see. 2 week you say.

She will be going nuts waiting, I better steer clear of her way, for a while 

I`m sure one of our regular Plods will be able to verify everything but you say she was braking alongside the van...is she *sure* she was at 34 as she passed it and not managed to get herself down below the posted limit....?
(And kick her ar$e cos if she needed to brake hard she musta known she was going too fast :-P)

Oh, and btw, unless you know already for definite, might be worth a wee trip up that road to check the actual limit as a lot of country village roads are 40 or national speed limit.
If there are no streetlights and no posted limit then National Speed Limit applies, if there is no posted limit but there are streetlights less than 300 yards apart the road is deemed to be a 30 IIRC.

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"

I thought a lot of those vans were numberplate recognition cameras.

Can`t comment on the specific case as i dont know where you are! Generally in many force areas, if it is the first offence in 4 years and the speed is less than 39 mph, then they offer the driver the opportunity to take part on a `speed awareness course`... this costs a little more than the £60EFPN, but you dont get a conviction/points on your licence, therefore does not affect your insurance.

If its a second offence, no such offer can be made! 

PS. when you go out as a passenger in the car with her next time, make sure to hold onto the door tight, and keeps slamming the imaginary break pedal, it will make her feel much better!  

This item was edited on Sunday, 29th January 2012, 08:51

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this costs a little more than the £60EFPNNo, it costs quite a lot more and takes a lot of time and you have to listen to a knob.

I mean, the governmnet is thinking of increasing the max limit from 70 to 80 mph which nearly a 15% increase.

How `safe` is that?

It`s generally bollocks.

and generally these vans are a money making racket.

[Google have marked freeimagehosting.net as a hoster of malware, therefore this link has been removed]

Couldn`t agree more. Got done for the first time in nineteen years the other day, literally just after I turned right out of my road and drove up to the roundabout a little way up. Absolutely no different to any other day for the last ten/eleven years, but I guess it wasn`t my lucky day.

It was about 2:15pm on Sunday and the streets were deserted. As I went to turn right I had to creep out because a couple of vans had parked on the corner. I was about half way out when someone came down at speed so I put my foot down to get out of the way, and as it turns out the last of the parked vans was a mobile camera. Bastard got me from behind as I accelerated. Wouldn`t have had to put my foot down if the vans (including them) weren`t obscuring the view of the oncoming traffic.

No pedestrians in sight - their presence had nothing to do with `safety`. Still, nice bit of money for the people who run the course, at least half a day`s work lost for me and the pain of having to sit through a load of bollocks. Funny how there are never any camera vans around when the coppers from the station up the road speed past.

Anyway, I believe you can do that course more than once if your last points were over three years ago. I think it costs about £80 down my way.

Ironically it`s made me much edgier when driving, which can`t be safe can it? In the old days a copper might have stopped you and had a quiet word, but now we have machines doing their jobs for them there`s no room for shades of grey or common sense.







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This item was edited on Thursday, 2nd February 2012, 21:07

Be nice if they could find a camera that nicks people on bikes at night with no lights.  When did it become o.k to do this??  I did a 4 mile journey to the station and back at 6.30 pm and saw 6 different riders with no lights.

If I can see this why the hell can`t the police do something about it?

And Chris, that really sucks that they are the cause of your ticket. They should have been having a word with the owner of the 1st parked van that was obscuring the view of the road but hey, no money in that eh.

RIP Julie & Maisie

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retrogeezer says...
Be nice if they could find a camera that nicks people on bikes at night with no lights.  When did it become o.k to do this??  I did a 4 mile journey to the station and back at 6.30 pm and saw 6 different riders with no lights.
One of my latest huge bug bears.
Add to that cyclists with no lights coming TOWARDS you on one way streets! 
(Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow near North Street at the taxi rank, one of the worst places for it and near suicidal for the cylists)
OR the jumping red lights cos they don`t want to wait.
AND the addition of dedicated cycle lanes to some of our major streets with dedicated islands and bollards to prevent other road traffic crossing into them, wouldn`t mind that so much except WHAT ABOUT THE EFFIN POT HOLES ON THE SAME STRETCHES OF ROAD THAT HAVEN`T BEEN FIXED BECAUSE THERE`S APPARENTLY NO EFFIN MONEY?!?!

Soz.. rant over but ya got me started there Retro :D any word from the OP on a NIP yet?

Jimbo : oÞ

"There`s that word again... is there a problem with the Earth`s gravitational pull in the future?"