When I was younger, and in the US, and frequently traveling between states I did manage to rack up a significant number of speeding tickets. There were all, to use a UK term, a fair cop: I was speeding and I was caught by an officer of the law patrolling the roads who stopped me and gave me a ticket in person.
Getting them in the mail several days after the fact, without ever knowing you were speeding in the first place is a) confusing, b) not great for immediate enforcement and safety concerns.
Disagree. The one UK speeding ticket I have was for being over 30mph in a 30 zone. The limit is set to 30 in those zones because of Science™ about braking distance and impact with human bodies that appear suddenly.
If I'm being careless and/or distracted in one of those zones, I want to know about it immediately, not up to 14 days later after I've already plowed through a bunch of schoolchildren.
I got a ticket for not making a full stop before turning at a red light (this was in Long Island). The mail came with URL to a video of my infraction. It was fun giving to other people to watch..
In my experience driving in the U.K, most of the major roads (motorways/dual carraigeways)have average speed cameras liberally placed on the road. I don't know what the threshold for a ticket is on the road, but I would guess you're more likely to be noticed doing 75MPH over a 5 mile stretch of road than by a cop in a bush with a speed camera.
> In my experience driving in the U.K, most of the major roads (motorways/dual carriageways)have average speed cameras liberally placed on the road.
Most major roads definitely do _not_ have average speed cameras placed liberally along them. The only average speed cameras I can recall encountering are at roadworks sites (a move I 100% support) and along a couple of more scenic A-roads that are particularly enjoyable to drive along at high speed.
There are plans to introduce more average speed cameras on the new managed motorways, but I feel it is incorrect to claim they are liberally placed along most major roads.
I'm in Scotland, and drove from South of Glasgow up as far as Fort William, across to Aviemore, and back down to Edinburgh about 3 weeks ago. Almost all of the A roads (exception of Stirling back to Edinburgh) had average speed cameras
I really don't think that's true - the Highland council apparently doesn't have any fixed cameras let alone average speed ones, with the exception of the A9:
That doesn't match my experience. Perhaps the cameras are very new because I can only remember encountering average speed cameras once or twice ever in the 15 years I've driven in Scotland.
> I feel it is incorrect to claim they are liberally placed along most major roads.
You may feel this. However, it does not match with my driving experience. I would suggest that as (in my experience) variable speed camera zones tend to come-and-go we may just have different experiences due to driving different roads or even driving the same roads on different dates.
If most motorway/a-road network have "average speed cameras liberally placed" along them as you and maccard claim, then presumably us driving different roads on different days would make no difference? Of course we might just have very different definitions of liberally!
I drove from Stoke-on-Trent to South Wales a couple of weeks back and there are still average speed cameras plotted through from the M6 down to Birmingham, the M5 and the M4 - essentially all the way.
I'm all for them if there are roadworks, but the problem is, is that for 90% of it, there is no damned reason for them!
On top of that, it's hard to stay aware of what speed you should be doing when it goes through: 70, 50, 30, 40, 70, 60, 50, 30, 50 (no lies) every few miles. It's a bloody farce.
> I'm all for them if there are roadworks, but the problem is, is that for 90% of it, there is no damned reason for them!
From my observations (which are limited and unsystematic) some of these 'roadworks' are not roadworks but an excuse to put out an average speed check.
> On top of that, it's hard to stay aware of what speed you should be doing when it goes through: 70, 50, 30, 40, 70, 60, 50, 30, 50 (no lies) every few miles. It's a bloody farce.
This could easily be technologically solved. Why can't the highways agency publish these speedlimits in real time (with a sensible API) and allow our GPS devices (or even our cruise control) to tell us the speed limit.
Actually this "attentive meatbag driving module" would rather focus on actually important stuff like other cars and potentially whatever else (debris, people, animals etc) rather than checking the speedo and remembering what the last arbitrary speed limit sign said at all times.
I'm not saying speed limits aren't important. I basically never speed. However, there are things one could better use one's attention on whilst driving.
Facts: My friend just gone done for 48 in a 40. They told him the law in that county was 10% + 3 which would have come to 47. Off to a speeding course he goes.
Made up: I thought the 10% came from the rules the speedometer is calibrated against which are +10% -0% i.e. Your speed will be 30mph but you could be doing 27. You will never be doing 31.
I guess the plus number is whatever the council have chosen to enforce. Another person from the country thinks it's 10%+2
I think it's 10% + 2mph? So on a motorway or dual carriageway the limit is really 79.
It used to be generally accepted that you were safe doing 80 mph but with the proliferation of average speed cameras people are a bit more conservative.
10 years ago it wasn't unusual to see people doing 90 - 100 on a motorway - now it's rare.
> So on a motorway or dual carriageway the limit is really 79.
Nope. The limit is really 70, however to take into account possible inaccuracy in your speedometer or the traffic camera, there's some leeway in place. If you start assuming the limit is 79 then if nothing else, you no longer have the benefit of that leeway. How sure are you that both your speedometer and the camera are 100% accurate?
