Hi guys,

Just a quick question for those in the know!

I just went under a bridge on the M40 with a police van doing speed checks, I was definitely going over the limit (no fault but my own).

But my question is, do they check both sides of the motorway? The van was over the opposite side of the motorway on the furthest side of the bridge. However I could clearly see the blacked out window from where I was.

(Had a merc up my backside, thought I'd quickly speed up and pass the car on my left to let him through, then looked up to see the police van...)

Cheers for the help,

Dan

I can't see how one van could cover 6 lanes of motorway, so i'd guess they would be checking the 3 lanes on the other side.

That's what I was hoping, but then they only really need to look at the 2 fast lanes.

To get an accurate speed reading they need clear line of sight and the window would be lowered.

I think you're lucky this time but hopefully learnt a lesson?

normally speed cameras can only do a couple of lanes at a time. No other vehicles can be in the frame at the same time

Personally I think they're just a cash-grab, it's not the people doing 80/90 that are the issue, it's the piddle butts doing 50 in the middle lane that need dragging off >_>

Werent they on about increasing the motorway speed limit to 80mph anyway?

Yeah but they scrapped the idea >_>

If you were to read the statistics concerning road fatalities and the contributing speeds you'd see that that extra 10mph would make a drastic difference.

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/knowledge/speed/speed_is_a_central_issue_in_road_safety/speed_and_accident_risk.htm

Some news links with valid points for and against-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/29/speed-limit-raised-80mph

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15116064

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2043444/UK-motorway-speed-limit-increased-80mph.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/30/speed-limit-rise-deaths-pollution

In my humble personal opinion, and in principle I agree with the idea of the speed increase, but must concede that with the average drivers general tendency to drive at 10% - 20% above the legal limits anyway and current poor condition of roads due to lack of maintenance and funding, there would likely be a situation when motorway users would be knocking on a 100mph+ which would be beyond the general safe level for existing roads and possibly beyond competency of many drivers abilities.

I have attended many RTC's (quite a few of them involving fatalities) where excessive speed was a contributing factor and the fatality statistics in relation to speeds from 70mph and above are a very sharp increase from 70mph and below.

I think there should be an allowance for overtaking ie in the outer lane cars are allowed to go to 80mph for the purpose of overtaking like the original poster said there is times when theres someone right up your backside and you feel pressured to speed up untill you can get into the other lane out their way

I think there should be an allowance for overtaking ie in the outer lane cars are allowed to go to 80mph for the purpose of overtaking like the original poster said there is times when theres someone right up your backside and you feel pressured to speed up untill you can get into the other lane out their way

Then you slow down, speeding up and letting tailgaters pass just lets them know that what they are doing is perfectly OK when it is highly unsafe.

It's still a cash grab really, and honestly people are likely to slam on their brakes with them silly things sprouted about.

I do usually but there comes a time when they're clinging that closely to your backside they're putting you at risk aswell. Regardless of the outcome of any insurance claim for being rear ended itd still drive my premium right up and for a 23 year old guy its already high enough. If he wants to zoom off ahead and crash im quite happy to let him do that rather than wreck my pride n joy

I must admit speed cameras cause you to focus more on your Speedo than the road ahead. Its the same as car parks that charge you if you've been their more than 3 hours, they wonder why more people are turning to online shopping when if they go out round a shoppibg center they get hit with a £50 fine for being ten minutes late back to their motor