Motorway Variable Speed Limit Signs . How much over can you do ?

[tjamesbo]

My experience relates to the M42 Overhead Speed restrictions (red Circled Speed Limit )
Frequently on the M42 when the limit is 60 I am passed by cars doing about 70 never seen any flashes and the practise is VERY commonplace I know the speedo Over reads as when i have the sat nav i find I can do about 63 / 64 on the speedo and the satnav gives 60 ( and how accurate are they ?????? ) It used to be a belief that you were allowed 10% over but I have read recently that some cameras ( latest new ones ) are doing people on the M1 ? ( I think ) for doing 72 / 73 and some police forces ( North Wales ) are enforcing the limit rigidly and exactly.
I also know that the cameras ( on the M42 ) are not on all the time so my question is
on various motorways just how fast can you go before your in the "get a ticket zone" or how can you tell if the cameras are On?
Its like the others either know something i don't, or they're all oblivious

 

[John Laidlaw]

At one point it was 10% plus 3mph motorway wise, but even then it wasn’t a published figure, just something ‘we all knew’...however I believe now the variables to be the actual limits, therefore is there WAS a camera active then you will be snapped and probably prosecuted. Most speedos over read so I work on the basis of sticking to the gantry display in the variable zones (and everywhere else of course )

 

[00slk]

Put it to the test, fairly certain you wont get a ticket unless you are doing 80+ when the red over speed signs are showing slower speeds or you flash passed a police car who happens to be doing the red speed sign limit

 

[rifiki]

I think all speedo over read for obvious legal reasons and I believe the overhead gantry cameras do not flash. Next thing you know is brown paper envelope crashes through the letter box.

 

[d215yq]

Put it to the test, fairly certain you wont get a ticket unless you are doing 80+ when the red over speed signs are showing slower speeds or you flash passed a police car who happens to be doing the red speed sign limit

A year or so ago on the M25 in Essex/Hertfordhire I was doing 70 and the 50 came on ahead so I just let it slow down naturally and at just over 60 it flashed to my shock. Not sure if they would have prosecuted as I was in my Spanish regd car but as that was the daily commute I did test it and found that the 50 flashed at 61mph and the 60 at 72mph, under that nothing. I never tried the 70mph NSL ones as I don't drive fast enough nor the 40 ones as the traffic was usually going about 40 or less already. All on speedo which I've verified with GPS is 100% accurate (did they used to make them all like this before it was fahsionable to over estimate speed?)

To be fair the reduced limits often come on to (successfully) avoid congestion ahead (allowing all the idiots who don't get this concept can moan that they come on when there is no congestion to make money) so it seems quite fair that they would actually work at 10mph+ over. I was surprised the first time as it had just come on while I was in vision of it but I did have plenty of time to brake so I suppose it couldn't really be argued against.

 

[Wighty]

I always set my cruise at 77 in a 70 which is probably 73 according to my satnav and never had any trouble . Saw 2 of the Specs cameras on the sides of the gantrys go off last week with flashes ...not on me !

 

[LostKiwi]

When the limit changes there is a grace period to allow people to adapt to the new limit.

 

[Rory]

A colleague got 'done' (he accepted a speed awareness course) on the M42 when the speed was set to 40 and he was told he was doing 46.

This was before 7AM and there was no visible reason for the limit. Half of the people on the course he attended had been caught in similar circumstances.

 

[alexanderfoti]

I cant believe they flash at 72 in a 70.

I was caught doing 68 in a 60 variable limit (m25 Clacket Lane) . Was keeping up with traffic. Lucky to get a speed awareness for that one. I can't remember the situation around that one but I'm sure I had some righteous reason.

I apply 8% as a general rule of thumb (actual speed not indicated speed)

 

[Ken_R]

I did read on another forum (somewhere) that on sections of Smart Motorway, even when lower speed limits are not in force, enforcement cameras are still active.

In essence, travelling on the M5 past Bristol at, I can't remember the speed, but sub/around 80mph (ish), he got a letter in the post!

I don't think the 20mph limits are enforced to any great extent. Someone once told me that there are Legislative problems for prosecuting for not complying with a 20mph limit. Something along the lines of the Legislation not having this figure written into it. But I have never bothered to research it.

Many of these 'silly' limits are written into the Software. The Control Room staff stipulate a limit at a certain point and then the Software decides what other gantries display.

For example, early hours of the night/morning, driving an HGV with a box trailer, and the signs on the M42 gradually reduced to 20mph. The road is otherwise clear. I'm not prepared to drop my speed to that level and kept to about 35mph, but I did film that part of the journey.

Should a prosecution have arisen, then I would have argued that it would have been unsafe [for other road users] for myself to have complied with that posted limit.

 

[alexanderfoti]

I did read on another forum (somewhere) that on sections of Smart Motorway, even when lower speed limits are not in force, enforcement cameras are still active.

In essence, travelling on the M5 past Bristol at, I can't remember the speed, but sub/around 80mph (ish), he got a letter in the post!

I don't think the 20mph limits are enforced to any great extent. Someone once told me that there are Legislative problems for prosecuting for not complying with a 20mph limit. Something along the lines of the Legislation not having this figure written into it. But I have never bothered to research it.

Many of these 'silly' limits are written into the Software. The Control Room staff stipulate a limit at a certain point and then the Software decides what other gantries display.

For example, early hours of the night/morning, driving an HGV with a box trailer, and the signs on the M42 gradually reduced to 20mph. The road is otherwise clear. I'm not prepared to drop my speed to that level and kept to about 35mph, but I did film that part of the journey.

Should a prosecution have arisen, then I would have argued that it would have been unsafe [for other road users] for myself to have complied with that posted limit.

I treat the gantry and cameras as if they are on the whole time.

I have the same issue with 20 limits although there a a few 20 mph cameras on my routes (lambeth council). I find it dangerous and antagonistic to do 20 when everyone wants to go faster, it just causes road rage. They may as well not exist if they are unenforced.

Same issue when rolling limits come down to 30 mph on the motorway. When lorries are still going 56mph past you, you must question as to whether its safe to do the posted limit!

 

[Ken_R]

Just a thought. Does SP20 exist in the list of Endorsements?

Going back to the Software and their writers, I suppose they have to keep in mind their Insurers and what their requirements are. With our 'Cash for Crash' culture, they must be between a 'Rock & a Hard Place' in that if they get it wrong, and someone dies, a claim results.

Enforcement, on the other hand, can be more realistic.

 

[alexanderfoti]

It does but the number on the code isn't related to the speed limit.

 

[LostKiwi]

I just play safe. When there are cameras the limit is the limit.

 

[Frontstep]

The youth has a black fitted for insurance purposes and every journey is logged so driving his car certainly makes me adhere to speed limits, some of which defy rationality.
The problem is you are often looking for speed limit signs as they often change on apparently similar stretches of the same road.
Still when we move to self driving cars the income stream will have to be replaced from somewhere.

 

[alexanderfoti]

The youth has a black fitted for insurance purposes and every journey is logged so driving his car certainly makes me adhere to speed limits, some of which defy rationality.
The problem is you are often looking for speed limit signs as they often change on apparently similar stretches of the same road.
Still when we move to self driving cars the income stream will have to be replaced from somewhere.

Yes, and due to 30mph being the standard limit, 20 zones can stop with no signing to indicate that its ended.

 

[Stevedol]

I can tell you for certain that you can be caught by the overhead automatic cameras for doing 73mph in the 60 limit of the variable speed section of the M1 near sheffield. As I found out to my own cost.

 

[eman]

All the over head cameras on the M6 and M42 have been removed all that’s there are the new digital ones on the side of the gantry every so often that are supposedly act as speed cameras when the restricted speeds are off. Also heard that the cameras that were removed are being replaced by average speed cameras which won’t rake in much cash as you can’t do 70 with the traffic unless it’s late at night

 

[bembo449]

the M1 near Sheffield is currently catching so many speeders the system cant cope so its a lottery as to wether you got a fine or not , there was uproar when the rozzers said the specs camera's were on 24/7 and not just when the signs were illuminated , I allow 10% of my actual speedo reading , so 77 in a 70 which will be more like 73/4 , also do this for any average speed camera set up , not had a fine using this method and I drive all over the country

 

[Wighty]

As Bembo says above , Ive done exactly the same for the last few years all over the country with no problems