Smart Motorway Cameras? Do they work?

Did a bit of trunking on the M1,M6 and seen these new cameras for the first time but a lot of drivers don’t seem to pay much attention to them…
Or maybe they just don’t care.

Going past one with a 40 sign up and a truck sped past me on the limiter and it flashed but he didn’t slow down. He was in a truck with a euro plate though… He wasn’t the only one must of seen over two dozen flashes.
Do they work on euro trucks? I know a lot of people ignore the 50s because of the tolerance they give but assumed when it dropped to 40mph people would slow down.

Yes the cameras do work and tickets are issued. The authorities probably can’t be bothered chasing the Eastern Europeans though, not sure…

For about a year we have been in a reciprocal agreement, whereby the UK and many EU countries can pursue traffic offenders in each other’s countries.
I don’t know how much it’s being done though?
With most EU traffic running through Kent a system linking offenders to an ANPR camera would surely nab offenders before they even leave the country? Easier to get a fixed penalty there’n’then rather than later by post. Pay for itself in a few hours!

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When on the coaches they put average cameras in along the E40 between Bruges and Brussels basically.

Now the limit for a coach is 90km/h but most of the drivers from my firm still went through st 100km/h which obviously generated tickets.

One by one the police would pull the vehicles by reg number and issue all outstanding fines to be paid in cash before being let go. Now they were only €50 each but some had up to fines per vehicle.

Perhaps as Franglais says something like that over here would pay for itself.

Don’t think the authorities chase foreign trucks or cars even.
to much hassle for them. Yet am sure if you was to drive abroad you’d get a ticket through the post.

Generally nothing happens if you are on foreign plates. DVLA are happy to sell your information to all and sundry yet other countries seem to be a bit more careful as to who they give their citizens information to. As an example go through the M50 toll in Dublin in UK registered vehicle without paying and you will get a bill through the post, go through a speed camera in the UK in an Irish registered vehicle and nothing will happen.

On the 1st morning when they switched on the ones on the M62 around Leeds, they where flashing like a disco strobe :laughing:

I see countless people flying through them when everyone else is doing 60, and often wondered if they got caught. Trouble now is the fixed penalty based on earnings, its just not worth risking.

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stuwozere1:
I see countless people flying through them when everyone else is doing 60, and often wondered if they got caught. Trouble now is the fixed penalty based on earnings, its just not worth risking.

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Fixed penalty based on earnings?
Great:
I should be in line for a nice rebate, given my wage level !
:smiley:

Yes they work. I got caught doing 50 in a 40 on the M62 on my way to work at 3.30 a.m.
Got offered a speed awareness course because I was within the limits allowed.
According to the guy running the course there is a national agreement that allows you
10% + 2mph before they will summons you (i.e. in a 40 they will only summons you at 46, in a 50 - 57, etc). So you could go through on the limiter in an hgv in a 50 zone.
They will offer a Motorway Awareness Course if you reply promptly and you were doing less than 10% + 9mph (40= 54, 50= 64, 60= 74, 70=86)
It is not the same as a speed awareness course as it deals with other offences such as using hard shoulder when it is not active, going through a Red Cross, etc.
Obviously you have to pay for the course but means you don’t get points for a first time offender or after 3 years. Cost of course varies depending on where you choose to take it.

stuwozere1:
I see countless people flying through them when everyone else is doing 60, and often wondered if they got caught. Trouble now is the fixed penalty based on earnings, it’s just not worth risking.

You are misunderstanding the rules. A fixed penalty is just that - fixed. (£100 fine and 3 penalty points for speeding). The earnings-related bit only applies if you end up in court.

Santa:

stuwozere1:
I see countless people flying through them when everyone else is doing 60, and often wondered if they got caught. Trouble now is the fixed penalty based on earnings, it’s just not worth risking.

You are misunderstanding the rules. A fixed penalty is just that - fixed. (£100 fine and 3 penalty points for speeding). The earnings-related bit only applies if you end up in court.

Ahhh, that makes sense. I wouldn’t know as I’ve never been caught speeding. It took a lot of money to get my licence so don’t want to be careless and lose it so soon after getting it.

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The non UK registered motors that trip the cameras go onto a data base which the police and dvsa have access to,if the truck pings the database when passing, it comes up as unpaid fine outstanding, driver is pulled, and the rest is up to the powers that be.

Yes they work, our office in Bulgaria has loads of them in the bin. :smiley: but i try and slow down to the speed showing anyway…others dont.

peirre:
On the 1st morning when they switched on the ones on the M62 around Leeds, they where flashing like a disco strobe :laughing:

The old HADECS2 ones above the lanes are long dead on the M62 around Leeds and haven’t worked for years. The new HADECS3 ones (the ones sat on a tray at the side of the gantry) do work and have a ~10% tolerance including enforcing NSL if no temporary limit shown :astonished: . But there are only 5 sets on the M62 (3 westbound, 2 eastbound) and once you know they are you can blitz through them at any speed of your choosing, regardless of what temporary limit may be set on the gantries in between. :smiley: I speak from experience that you’re safe to go past the HADECS3 ones at an indicated 80mph (probably an actual speed of around 75) if no temp limit is shown and the gantries where there aren’t any HADECS3 ones you can do any speed you like past them without fear of a ticket, temp limit or no temp limit :smiley: .

The 5 sets on the M62 are :

Westbound :

Eastbound :

The M1 around Wakefield has them attached to the single matrix display boards as well (northbound just before J41).

Side ones are easiest to spot by lookong out gor the cameras just before them, usually a bank of 3. No idea what they do but always seem to accompany these yellow side cameras.

They also need to turn down the flash on the side ones or angle it better as its way too bright at night for the traffic on the other carriageway. Gave me a shock in truck other day when speeding car passed me and there was a flash behind me (I was doing 50 with no temp limit).

Wouldnt rely on the above lane ones not working on the M1 - seen them flash a few times in past couple of years when temp limits are on, but not always.

edd1974:
Don’t think the authorities chase foreign trucks or cars even.
to much hassle for them. Yet am sure if you was to drive abroad you’d get a ticket through the post.

They don’t,.I just used to ignore them, along with parking charges, and all that prohibition crap that goes on in London.
Had to discipline myself and remember when back on UK stuff though…eventually.

trevHCS:
Side ones are easiest to spot by lookong out gor the cameras just before them, usually a bank of 3. No idea what they do but always seem to accompany these yellow side cameras.

They also need to turn down the flash on the side ones or angle it better as its way too bright at night for the traffic on the other carriageway. Gave me a shock in truck other day when speeding car passed me and there was a flash behind me (I was doing 50 with no temp limit).

Wouldnt rely on the above lane ones not working on the M1 - seen them flash a few times in past couple of years when temp limits are on, but not always.

The 3 cams about 200 yards before them are synchronised with the cameras that nab you for speeding. They take a photo of the gantry and the speed limit displayed so that you can’t argue it was displaying a different limit. There is (iirc) a 30 second delay from when a temporary limit is first displayed until the speed enforcement commences. I read it somewhere in the camera system specs I found online - possibly Siemens but could be mistaken, but there is a delay before they start enforcing the limit, I know that much. :smiley:

Kinda amusing when you get to the 50s and you have all the trucks in the right hand lane overtaking the cars.

I am on the FTA Northwest Council.

We are told that when the Smart M/Ways that have not charged to speed limits, the cameras still work on the Smart M/Ways if you go over the limits, they are the yellow ones you see on the new gantries like the ones on the M62.
This was confirmed by a highways guy that gave us a presention in regards to the Smart M/Ways.They pass the over speeders number plates over to the Police.
Cheers Welly