I think SPECS cameras are possibly the hardest to see (no stripes etc) and also the most difficult to trick, since they work on average speed - however, they're definitely visible during the day. I've also heard of a possible way of tricking them: just drive through them on different lanes :D

edit: the most irritating cameras as far as I'm concerned are the ones on the M25. Annoying sh!tboxes which slow down traffic on an already busy motorway, doing nothing but generating free money. Grr.

Nope, the most annoying ones are those average speed ones that they setup along roadworks on motorways, when it seems that there's no-one bloody working there at all, certainly on the days/times that I drive past them.

that's the SPECS ones yes. Still often narrower lanes I guess though. I have heard that they fixed the lane-change trick but that could be LIES to slow us down. Always makes me laugh when I see people speeding between them misunderstanding what average means.

They're the ones Serge just mentioned.

 

And yeah, the average speed cameras are most definitely the most annoying. I've seen 40 and 50 mph average speed cameras on free flowing motorways that could easily be moving along at 70 or 80 mph.

That trick never worked. Think it was more down to the fact that the initial ones were just shit.
Top Gear had the best solution, drive 140mph up to the second camera then stop and a have a cup of tea whilst your average goes down.

Don't know if there's any paperwork involved but the ambulances round here have a blue 'running' light on the rear number plate that comes on when the blues are turned on.

 

I thought it was so the camera people could see the vehicle was on an emergency call, but are'nt gatso photos in black and white ?

 

My other theory was that the blue light somehow makes the number plate invisible to the camera because it's at a certain wavelength or something, and that it's all a big secret otherwise everyone would fit them !

The best way to do it would be to have a row of very bright IR LEDs. Invisible to the human eye but would possibly mask the plate. Might try that actually!

Slightly off topic, but I had this thought the other day about parking tickets (while watching the third car that day get ticketed outside one of my shops).

 

If you just put a old parking ticket sticker thing on your windscreen when you parked up do you think you'd get away with not getting a proper ticket because traffic wardens would think you'd already been done?

Good idea but I'm sure I've seen someone be ticketed twice, or maybe a stack of them. I guess if there's only one person for that patch of road then they'll know it's a day old or whatever and stick another on.

I once saw a woman in a big ass 4x4 park up totally illegally (all squint, straight on on a double yellow with the arse of the car sticking right out into the road), get out of the car and put an old ticket envelope under the windscreen wiper before going into a pub.

 

A warden walked round the corner about 2minutes later and promptly gave her a ticket.

 

I lol'd.

:')

Similar to the autostrada in Italy, where your average speed is calculated by the times you pass the tolls. So people have a cuppa en route.

No, because [see my post].

 

I think it's just another blue light.

I've seen a couple of cars with multiple tickets - one with about 10, and one in a motorway services with probably about 30 tickets - I think that one had a note on the dashboard saying "Broken down" or something. The windscreen was completely covered with tickets anyway.

 

One thing that used to work for someone at our venue was to drive onto the kerb, switch on his hazard lights and leave his boot wide open all evening. Because nobody would do that if they weren't making a real delivery.

 

I've been pulled for speeding once, in France, but the points never made it over the channel.

Seems a bit pointless then. It's the rear number plate light, only comes on when the 'blues' are lit, otherwise it's a normal white number plate light.

There's already flashing strobes on the roof and rear of the vehicle and it's quite obvious to anyone following that the ambulance's on an emergency so why put a small blue light in the number plate ? Must be a reason, if not for the cameras then something else. Why would the plate need to be illuminated in blue ?

I think you're over analysing it.

I don't know about ambulances but I've certainly heard on the radio police cars that are responding to calls at speed shout in in whenever they believe they've activated a speed camera/red light camera etc. Never been in a car etc when any camera has been set off though. They're logged as having happened which makes it easier when the paperwork comes through.

Well, the ANPR cameras in use on the motorways for traffic flow monitoring have always been based on site (group of cameras), rather than individual cameras. I remember that much from my work on the travel time road signs. I'd be surprised if the SPECS cameras didn't use the same technology.

We noticed our first set of SPECS cameras recently on the A1 near the Angel of the North, apparently they've been installed to enforce a 40MPH limit through a contraflow that will be in operation while a bridge is rebuilt, there's no mention if the cameras will stay once the roadworks are complete. Personally I'd like to see them reused between junctions 62 and 63; it's a 5 mile stretch with no exits and routinely has people doing a ton. Maybe it's just me, but I hate speeders.

I ride a motorbike in Canada - yesterday coming back from a ride, heading South in a 60km/h stretch, into a 50km/h more residential stretch, I was doing 65, so slowed to about 55, so the car that was behind me moved out into the "slow" lane and started accelerating. Now this was pointless, because although my bike probably has a lower top speed than the car, in a residential section you'd be an idiot to go there and it can accelerate fast.

As it tried to pass me I just opened up the throttle and prevented it from getting ahead. After a bit it slowed down again and so did I. Not much further up the road from there I've seen police step out in front of (or at least right next to) vehicles with a second cop with a speed gun and I just have no interest in getting into any trouble with the law.

At least on the highway, the speed limit is 100 and the bike won't do much more than 120 (with a lot of people doing a lot more than that, so my chances of getting pulled over for speeding on the highway are slim).

is that 100kph? seems remarkably slow (62mph)