So as I was driving my car from Plymouth to Manchester and back yesterday, I was surprised at how many vehicles were overtaking me at +55 mph (especially HGVs) through all the glorious roadworks the M5 and M6 has to offer…
I was sat in Lane 1 with cruise control at 51 mph.
I appreciate there has to be a tolerance to cater for various speedos etc, but what is this, if any? Or are some drivers in the know if the cameras are operating or not?
Surely all these proffessional drivers aren’t chancing receiving a speeding ticket through these average speed checks.
I felt a bit of a slow Joe in lane one, whilst these trucks were shooting by.
Sorry if this has been touched upon before, but I couldn’t see anything in a search and I had to ask.
(BTW, I’m going for my Class C in the New Year,. So any tricks of the trade would be greatly received)
You won’t see me speeding through roadworks. A few drivers have told me the cameras don’t work and are just a mere deterant but I’m not about to test them that’s for sure…
There’s always a few who don’t seem to care but I’d say the vast majority seem to obey the 50 these days, in fact sometimes you struggle getting past 45, if you are meaning at night then the night time derogation kicks in between the hours of 20.00 - 05.30
51mph in your car probably translates to closer to 46mph in the real world due to manufacturers deliberately setting car speedos to read fast. Trucks appearing to do 55mph would probably be closer to an actual 50-52mph due to the way the human brain translates information regarding large objects in motion.
Many a time I have been catching a lorry whilst driving my car and thinking “Jeez, this guy isn’t hanging about”, only to find out he’s actually doing 56mph once I finally catch up to him.
In my Passat if the speedo reads 55mph then the sat nav reads 52 but if in my 530D Bmw if the speedo reads 55 then obviously I aint goin fast enough so whoooooooossssshhhhhhhhh
I was talking to a guy who is involved in a lot of motorway works and he stated that only the top 10% of the speeders actually get prosecuted as the company doing the works (overall in charge) has to pay a portion of the costs. Presumably they get these back, but the road works average cameras are installed for their protection not for public safety. Wouldn’t want to test this mind you.
Btw, they do work as I also know someone who was caught by one, although he was doing 90 at the time (in a car obviously).
Easy way to defeat the cameras - have a polish plate on the tractor and a UK plate on the trailer. Not sure how legal that is, but saw it today.
the maoster:
51mph in your car probably translates to closer to 46mph in the real world due to manufacturers deliberately setting car speedos to read fast. Trucks appearing to do 55mph would probably be closer to an actual 50-52mph due to the way the human brain translates information regarding large objects in motion.
Many a time I have been catching a lorry whilst driving my car and thinking “Jeez, this guy isn’t hanging about”, only to find out he’s actually doing 56mph once I finally catch up to him.
Fair shout. Car has built in sat nav which doesn’t show speed. I’ll put a portable one in and compare speeds I think.
I never take a risk on the A30 at Bodmin there’s average speed cameras so I always set the cruise control to 40mph, if it means I’m slower than others than so be it, I don’t fancy a ticket and anyone behind me isn’t going to get one either! I know they work as pretty much any of my work mates that have been through that stretch have received tickets (about 6 in total) don’t see the point in chancing it and hoping for the best!
