Driving through a Red X

I knew there had been a big education campaign recently about changing lane when a red X is displayed for a lane closure and I totally agree with it, it’s obviously displayed for a reason. So I came back to the yard today & walked into the office & there’s a fella filling in his details for driving in a lane with a red X displayed, I had a chat with him and he’s showed me the letter and I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes, it states that he went under a gantry 1.9 seconds after a red X had been displayed, it was on the A10 in Cambridgeshire.

I’m not familiar with that stretch so I don’t know the road layout but I find it harsh the way he’s been treated.

PS, it not me :laughing:

Saw quite a few do it on the M25 last night, was praying for the flashes to go off but they didn’t.

I’d be going to court if I had what your colleague had.

A.

I always wondered about variable speed limit signs on gantries, as I passed under one just as it changed from 60 to 40. I was fully expecting a letter…
However my research indicated that there is something in the region of a 60 second delay from the sign changing to the cameras activating.

Did it actually say the time on the letter, Or is the guy just BSing.
If it says the time, then yes, contend it til the end.

109LWB:
I always wondered about variable speed limit signs on gantries, as I passed under one just as it changed from 60 to 40. I was fully expecting a letter…
However my research indicated that there is something in the region of a 60 second delay from the sign changing to the cameras activating.

Did it actually say the time on the letter, Or is the guy just BSing.
If it says the time, then yes, contend it til the end.

He’s not BSing, I actually had the letter in my hand, I didn’t read it thoroughly but I asked him to show me where it said he went under the gantry which was displaying the Red X 1.9 seconds after it was displayed, I was shocked & just handed it back to him.

I totally get the reasoning behind it, but with some of the stuff you see on the road Day in& day out, I find it all a bit OTT, I hope he gets a course but will have to wait until he’s returned the letter

Adonis.:
Saw quite a few do it on the M25 last night, was praying for the flashes to go off but they didn’t.

I’d be going to court if I had what your colleague had.

A.

He was talking about appealing but he also said that if found guilty the punishment could be doubled, 6 points & £200 fine, it’s all a scare tactic to get you to roll over & take the punishment

selby newcomer:

Adonis.:
Saw quite a few do it on the M25 last night, was praying for the flashes to go off but they didn’t.

I’d be going to court if I had what your colleague had.

A.

He was talking about appealing but he also said that if found guilty the punishment could be doubled, 6 points & £200 fine, it’s all a scare tactic to get you to roll over & take the punishment

If the letter says he was caught 1.9 seconds after it changed, any solicitor who couldn’t get him off with that shouldn’t be in a job.

A.

selby newcomer:
it’s all a scare tactic to get you to roll over & take the punishment

Or… To get you to move over well before a red X. :wink:

I thought we prided ourselves on forward planning and interpreting situations quickly so as to react in a safe and timely fashion, must be a different industry sector I’m thinking of then… :neutral_face:

Reef:

selby newcomer:
it’s all a scare tactic to get you to roll over & take the punishment

Or… To get you to move over well before a red X. :wink:

I thought we prided ourselves on forward planning and interpreting situations quickly so as to react in a safe and timely fashion, must be a different industry sector I’m thinking of then… :neutral_face:

If I’ve read it right they expect the driver of a large vehicle to check the mirrors,make sure there is a safe gap,then change lanes safely,or make the decision to abort the lane change and stop all within 2 seconds of a red X being switched on ahead ?.

Reef:

selby newcomer:
it’s all a scare tactic to get you to roll over & take the punishment

Or… To get you to move over well before a red X. :wink:

I thought we prided ourselves on forward planning and interpreting situations quickly so as to react in a safe and timely fashion, must be a different industry sector I’m thinking of then… :neutral_face:

Maybe he did react to his surroundings & had to wait to move out of the lane, maybe had passing traffic beside him, bit hard to say unless in the position at that time

selby newcomer:
Maybe he did react to his surroundings & had to wait to move out of the lane, maybe had passing traffic beside him, bit hard to say unless in the position at that time

So you agree he didn’t interpret and react to the situation well enough then :slight_smile:

I’m not looking for an argument, it’s just I just can’t think of many situations where you could accidentally through no fault of your own not react to the overhead gantries in time, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there always a build up of warnings prior to the actual final closed X ?

Reef:

selby newcomer:
Maybe he did react to his surroundings & had to wait to move out of the lane, maybe had passing traffic beside him, bit hard to say unless in the position at that time

So you agree he didn’t interpret and react to the situation well enough then :slight_smile:

I’m not looking for an argument, it’s just I just can’t think of many situations where you could accidentally through no fault of your own not react to the overhead gantries in time, correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t there always a build up of warnings prior to the actual final closed X ?

Lol no, I’m not agreeing to anything, I wasn’t there so I can’t comment on the details of 1.9 seconds previous to going past the Red X sign.

I don’t think anyone is here to argue, just a good old discussion, I agree that there’s normally previous info of possible incident ahead, I didn’t chat too much about the finer details so I can’t confirm either way

Where abouts on the A10 is there a gantry like those on the Motorway.Used that road a fair bit all the way to the M11.Don’t recall there being one.

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daftvader:
Where abouts on the A10 is there a gantry like those on the Motorway.Used that road a fair bit all the way to the M11.Don’t recall there being one.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Not got a clue, I’m not familiar with the road, I asked what got him & he said camera so can only assume there’s a gantry somewhere

Like the M25…there normally quite a few of them, but i cant help noticing how drivers tend to wait until the last minute.like until they see the queue to move over…and this is after passing around 3 flashing X`s…its not only truckers but mostly all vehicles…maybe your pal had past one before the next one with the camera, and moving at a speed, thats why it clocked him at 1.9 seconds…who knows…who cares…but we all could have been caught at some time or other.more so with the cameras on the gantries and the fast speed change notices…

I wonder if the 1.9 seconds is the time elapse before the vehicle was photographed after passing the sign, not referring to how long since the redX lit up?

Don’t know this works, hoping to not to find out the hard way.

Juddian:
I wonder if the 1.9 seconds is the time elapse before the vehicle was photographed after passing the sign, not referring to how long since the redX lit up?

Don’t know this works, hoping to not to find out the hard way.

I didn’t realise cameras enforced this, learn something new every day, I’m also curious how the 1.9 sec is brought into it.

Not a red X , However concerning overhead gantries on smart motorways. M4/M5 interchange, travelling south west recently at night and was joining the M5 from the M4 on inside lane. Previous two gantries stated 50mph over roughly 3/4 0f a mile , as I rounded the slip road to join M5 south the next gantry read 20mph . Only just managed to slow in time and luckily nothing behind me at the time. The very next gantry read 50mph again and this got me wondering if this was a mistake on the gantry programmers part or just a way of making money from drivers? . 20mph gantry is around a long bend so couldn’t be seen until you round the bend so couldn’t forward plan for the 30mph speed difference.

I got a summons for ignoring a Red lane closed sign going over spaghetti.
It was for a middle lane breakdown between 6-7,as we all know no car wants a wagon to get in front of him /her and are reluctant to let you in but that didn`t stop the law clocking my number.
I contested the summons in court and explained the circumstances and that I was not intentionally ignoring the lane closure, fortunately the Clerk understood the situation perfectly and recommended the Magistrate dropped the charge.

If a photograph is taken, and APNR gets the vehicle reg from that - then surely that same gantry camera is going to time-stamp that photo, and there should be some record of “Red X turned on at 01:22.33” which an actual person might then realize would be a bit stiff if this 1.9 seconds thing really was the case, and was recorded thus.

The danger with more and more automation is that to a computer unhindered by human hands once set running - 1.9 seconds after the gantry was switched on is no different than 1.9 hours. It’s a binary thing. You either drove through red ‘x’ or you didn’t. A miss is as good as a mile, but a hit is first past the post. :unamused:

lolipop:
I got a summons for ignoring a Red lane closed sign going over spaghetti.
It was for a middle lane breakdown between 6-7,as we all know no car wants a wagon to get in front of him /her and are reluctant to let you in but that didn`t stop the law clocking my number.
I contested the summons in court and explained the circumstances and that I was not intentionally ignoring the lane closure, fortunately the Clerk understood the situation perfectly and recommended the Magistrate dropped the charge.

I wonder what would happen if one of us in a LGV decided to pull up and come to a full stop, indicator on, because no bugger driving a car would let us in… If awareness increases that truckers are going to get hammered for this lane thing - then we’re going to take matters into our own hands to avoid even more money being nicked off us - right?
…I was thinking about the fatalities caused by last months driver pulling up in a live lane… is it ever right to do such a move on a motorway with that in mind? :confused: