Has anyone ever been flashed by a Gatso when they were absolutely positive they were not speeding??
I was travelling North on the A1 and got flashed by the last camera before the Edinburgh Bypass turn off last Saturday evening. My cruise control was set to 80 kph and I checked my speedo as I approached the camera and am sure it was bang on 50 mph but it still flashed. The driver who was following me was doing 53mph and wasn’t flashed.
Can anybody throw some light onto this?? and what to do IF a penalty drops on my doormat??
the maoster:
I’d be very surprised if a penalty dropped on your mat, after all no offence was comitted according to your post.
I wouldn’t worry about it. I often see that one at Cockburnspath going off when no vehicle are near it. Rise of the machines maybe?
I hope you’re right. I really could do without the 3 points or the hassle of having to travel to Edinburgh to fight it!!
As an aside, if you do happen to be travelling downhill and you’re over=running and are using the exhaust brake to control the over-run but get caught by a camera, could you legitimately fight the ticket?? After all, you are not guilty of speeding, merely managing a momentary increase in speed caused by a weight versus downhill incline?
If your going faster then the legally allowed speed , just how are you not guilty of speeding?
If you managing the over running then you should be managing it to keep you under the limit not allowing an over run
In the real world we all know overruns happen but speed tickets are not issued in the real world, your either over or not
Happened to me one night
I was creeping out of Harriow one Saturday morning about 03:00
There were limits to when HGV’s could move but I figured no one would be around at that time
Car coming the other way triggered the Gatso (and the front of my wagon) and I got a letter informing me I’d been a bad boy.
Had to write a grovelling letter back to try and get off it.
I just dont unserstand how because at one split second when the camera flashes when someone might have been travelling a little faster than the prescribed limit for any one of a multitude of reasons they can be slammed with a penalty, even if there was no intent to be over the limit, and was a natural occurence due to gravity.
Even the Police in the motorway cars have to track you for a period to establish ‘speeding’ before they pull and ticket you!
coreysboys:
I just dont unserstand how because at one split second when the camera flashes when someone might have been travelling a little faster than the prescribed limit for any one of a multitude of reasons they can be slammed with a penalty, even if there was no intent to be over the limit, and was a natural occurence due to gravity.
Even the Police in the motorway cars have to track you for a period to establish ‘speeding’ before they pull and ticket you!
Because speeding is an absolute offence. You either are or you aren’t. Doesn’t matter for how long, or why.
Unless you are suffering brake failure, then there is no reason why an over run cannot be managed, even if you are caught out by a hill on an unknown route. Gravity and the vehicle do not make the decision to stay over the limit, you as the driver do.
the maoster:
I’d be very surprised if a penalty dropped on your mat, after all no offence was comitted according to your post.
I wouldn’t worry about it. I often see that one at Cockburnspath going off when no vehicle are near it. Rise of the machines maybe?
I hope you’re right. I really could do without the 3 points or the hassle of having to travel to Edinburgh to fight it!!
As an aside, if you do happen to be travelling downhill and you’re over=running and are using the exhaust brake to control the over-run but get caught by a camera, could you legitimately fight the ticket?? After all, you are not guilty of speeding, merely managing a momentary increase in speed caused by a weight versus downhill incline?
beware of the cameras on the a1, especialy the ones on the single carriageway sections as the camera people sometimes play about with max speed you can go through, they have been known too flash trucks at 44 mph one day then 49 mph the next.
i wouldnt think that using the retarder/ enginebrake/ exhaust brake would be seen as a defence too fight a speeding ticket as at the end of the day you could have used the service brake or just driven at the speed limit as you were doing.
There used to be a camera on the old road between the A50 at Meir and the A34 at Trentham in S-O-T that would regularly flash even when you were doing 20 mph in a 30 limit, never got a letter through the door though!
You won’t get done if you weren’t doing anything. I believe static speed cameras are prone to these phantom events. I have been flashed many times with no result, once whilst stopped in a snowstorm! Only once might I actually have been speeding; at the end of the M32 the limit is an urban 30MPH; I presume it had run out of film. This was a while ago. I would never speed there now, even unintentionally, as the current set-up looks ever vigilant.
Snudger:
You won’t get done if you weren’t doing anything. I believe static speed cameras are prone to these phantom events. I have been flashed many times with no result, once whilst stopped in a snowstorm! Only once might I actually have been speeding; at the end of the M32 the limit is an urban 30MPH; I presume it had run out of film. This was a while ago. I would never speed there now, even unintentionally, as the current set-up looks ever vigilant.
There are no speed cameras on the M32, only red lighters at the very end, and even those should be part of the switch off at the moment (still wouldn’t risk a red light run anyhow). There are spike cameras, but we have these all over Bristol and are not currently approved for speed tracing.
One of the cameras at Mottram (sheffield bound) next to the old bank & ped crossing used to flash like a disco strobe light for no reason, you could be sat stationary in the queue waiting to move and it would still flash
peirre:
One of the cameras at Mottram (sheffield bound) next to the old bank & ped crossing used to flash like a disco strobe light for no reason, you could be sat stationary in the queue waiting to move and it would still flash
That’s not a speed camera though, that’s 1 of those council cameras, they can’t touch ya anyway
