M1 Lane Expansion Warning - SPECS Cameras

[PsychoCannon]

http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/newsreleases/12747899

Anyone that does or will be using the M1 during the Road Widening (starting March 21st) there will be speeding restrictions of 40mph.

However, if you speed up between the speed cameras you will get a ticket as the new cameras calculate your speed between the cameras as well.

You have been warned!
(although as has been pointed out, getting over 20mph in rush hour is a
miracle)

[tricky]

Didn't they have those on the roadworks on the M6 ?

As speed cameras go, at least you don't get done if your speed creeps over the limit for a few seconds.

[Anonymous]

Yup.

Its the same on the M62 from Leeds towards Manchester.

The overhead gantries which give warnings such as "tiredness kills - take a break" etc, have SPECS cameras in them. You go under one, it takes your plate. You go under the next, it reads your plate again - works out the distance and time - gives your speed - if over the average speed limit - you get done.

Take care folks.

[mac608]

The overhead gantries which give warnings such as "tiredness kills - take a break" etc, have SPECS cameras in them. You go under one, it takes your plate. You go under the next, it reads your plate again - works out the distance and time - gives your speed - if over the average speed limit - you get done.


How long has that been in place? Or is it another urban myth?

SPECS are all forward facing ( at least the ones I've come across) so it won't work on bikes - no front number plate .

[embee]

Am I alone in feeling a temptation to clone a vehicle and co-ordinate going through these SPECS cameras to see what maximum speed you could record (someone did it in Australia I recall). Over 10,000mph anyone?? :twisted:

[Captain Nemo]

Yup.

Its the same on the M62 from Leeds towards Manchester.

The overhead gantries which give warnings such as "tiredness kills - take a break" etc, have SPECS cameras in them. You go under one, it takes your plate. You go under the next, it reads your plate again - works out the distance and time - gives your speed - if over the average speed limit - you get done.

Take care folks.

no you dont. well not always :wink:

i work as an engineer for the agency that manages motorway and trunk roads in west yorkshire, all otyher areas of the country work to roughly the same guidlines, someareas trial ideqas before they get rolled out to the uk network. specs cameras as far as i know will never display your speed then prosecute, they just prosecute.

most of the cameras on bridges and gantrys are either for us to check traffic flow for incident management or trafficmaster or other such subscription services.

we do use specs a specs type system to monitor traffic speeds in road works sites, but this is more to raise public awareness of their speed and the danger that excessive speed can present to workers within that site.

in reality the police are pretty much anable to monitor traffic within traffic management because of the restrictions and lack of obs platforms, specs makes it easier to monitor, we sometimes use gatsos, but this is often difficult as traffic management is usually fluid and alters to suit requirements as works are completed and new area opened up.

there is currently a big push regarding speeding in traffic management , the company i work for IIRC, lost 4 or 5 men last year in accidents where drivers failed to negotiate traffic management, all tragically lost because many drivers dont think that speed limits in TM means them................

[Anonymous]

Yup.

Its the same on the M62 from Leeds towards Manchester.

The overhead gantries which give warnings such as "tiredness kills - take a break" etc, have SPECS cameras in them. You go under one, it takes your plate. You go under the next, it reads your plate again - works out the distance and time - gives your speed - if over the average speed limit - you get done.

Take care folks.

no you dont. well not always :wink:

i work as an engineer for the agency that manages motorway and trunk roads in west yorkshire, all otyher areas of the country work to roughly the same guidlines, someareas trial ideqas before they get rolled out to the uk network. specs cameras as far as i know will never display your speed then prosecute, they just prosecute.

most of the cameras on bridges and gantrys are either for us to check traffic flow for incident management or trafficmaster or other such subscription services.

we do use specs a specs type system to monitor traffic speeds in road works sites, but this is more to raise public awareness of their speed and the danger that excessive speed can present to workers within that site.

in reality the police are pretty much anable to monitor traffic within traffic management because of the restrictions and lack of obs platforms, specs makes it easier to monitor, we sometimes use gatsos, but this is often difficult as traffic management is usually fluid and alters to suit requirements as works are completed and new area opened up.

there is currently a big push regarding speeding in traffic management , the company i work for IIRC, lost 4 or 5 men last year in accidents where drivers failed to negotiate traffic management, all tragically lost because many drivers dont think that speed limits in TM means them................

Perhaps the police are trying to get this system in place. I cant remember where i read it (wasnt the main stream media) it was some police publication about speeders and the offences on our motorways etc, but they said that the gantries had the devices in. Im not going to take the risk in case they are telling the truth. :lol:

[Viney]

Am I alone in feeling a temptation to clone a vehicle and co-ordinate going through these SPECS cameras to see what maximum speed you could record (someone did it in Australia I recall). Over 10,000mph anyone?? :twisted:

I have had the same thought about getting 100 plates made up with the same number, then co-ordinating around the country a mass ride by of gatsos!

[Gnan]

no gantries are used for speed enforcement. the only type-approved fixed device is SPECS for average speed measurement and GATSO/Peek/Truvelo/Redspeed for fixed one off measurements.

the cameras you sometimes see on the bottom of gantries are traffic master cameras which use ANPR to measure traffic density

[Gnan]

h regarding speeding in traffic management , the company i work for IIRC, lost 4 or 5 men last year in accidents where drivers failed to negotiate traffic management, all tragically lost because many drivers dont think that speed limits in TM means them................

but the highways agency released a report saying that 1% of accidents in roadworks was caused by speeding and that speed cameras (particularly GATSOs which cause panic braking which is lethal on a motorway) made it worse!

[rwoodcock01]

Joy of joys :roll:

Cheers for the heads up, I do from junction 14 down into London, this should mke the journy fun.

Looks like I might be taking the A1 and not the M1 now.

Ho hum

Rich

[Ping]

Joy of joys :roll:

Cheers for the heads up, I do from junction 14 down into London, this should mke the journy fun.

Looks like I might be taking the A1 and not the M1 now.

Ho hum

Rich
Er.. I think there's a section on the A1 with roadworks that's got the specs cameras... We went through them a couple of weeks ago. :?

Edit: 40mph. :S Doesn't take too long tho.

[northwind]

I thought SPECS were front-facing though?

[rwoodcock01]

Joy of joys :roll:

Cheers for the heads up, I do from junction 14 down into London, this should mke the journy fun.

Looks like I might be taking the A1 and not the M1 now.

Ho hum

Rich
Er.. I think there's a section on the A1 with roadworks that's got the specs cameras... We went through them a couple of weeks ago. :?

Edit: 40mph. :S Doesn't take too long tho.

Ping,

is that round the black cat roundabout area? I know there is work going on there and I know there is a speed limit, but I don't use the A1 much so I might be wrong.

Cheers

Rich

[Biker Biggles]

Got them on the M1 near Leicester as well.I do think that concentrating too heavily on keeping to 40 mph can distract drivers from looking where they are going.Of course silly speeds are out of order in road works but a bit of common sense never goes amiss.

[PsychoCannon]

The heads up came from someone I used to work with in KPMG who is doing some work with the local council at the moment and the link is Bedfordshire councils web page so I don't know whey they would start an urban legend :)

It's a warning to get drivers to slow down for, as someone said above, the saftey of the workers on the road.

Specs should be forward facing but these are mobile gantries and I have no idea how they will be set up, if they will have road vehicle backups down the road to catch bikes or iffy plates, they have promised to issue fixed penalties though and I don't see why they would lie about that.

Don't ask me about the legal stuff though I have no idea =/
Just wanted to share the heads up =p

[northwind]

Got them on the M1 near Leicester as well.I do think that concentrating too heavily on keeping to 40 mph can distract drivers from looking where they are going.Of course silly speeds are out of order in road works but a bit of common sense never goes amiss.

I think that people that can't control their speed without checking their speedo every 10 seconds shouldn't be on the road, personally. The problem is that people try to use the limit as the target- if you ride at 40mph all teh time, it's very easy to creep over by a few mph. But if you ride at 37, give or take, you're much less likely to be caught out- and you're not going to get there much slower

[Biker Biggles]

Most drivers can judge speed pretty well and can judge a safe speed too,but my point is slightly different.If you stand to get heavily fined and points on your license,ultimately leading to loss of same plus job home and everything else,then it is understandable that some drivers spend too much time obsessed with the speedo.Under that sort of regime it is wise to ensure that your 40 is the same as Herr Gatso's 40.

[Ed]

Ther've been specs on the M42 for ages, they seem to've become a permanent feature.

[Rog]

Well Im a bit biaised on this one. Having worked on many major road work schemes I have consequently seen quite a few people taken out by speeding drivers. IMHO It is not so much of an inconvinience to travel at 40mph through road works. I think the point is that anyone can loose control or panic and take avoiding action and go into the coned off area no matter what the speed. Its just that being hit by car doing 60mph is a little different from a car doing say 30mph.

A classic case in point was 10 years ago when I was working on the M42 putting up new gantries and lighting. It was at night and we had taken it down to one lane with 50mph limit signs up (obviously no averages then) the amout of people still coming through at well above 70mph was incredible. When you are only a few metres away it can be very hairy. One particular night a car lost control came through the cones skidded towards us and stopped about thirty feet away, where we had been working less than 1/2hour earlier. The police were called and from the skids they estimated his speed to be between 80 and 90mph. If we had been anywhere near where he had come through the cones in the first place he would have killed or seriously injured all of us.

I suppose my point is you should always drive to the conditions. Its 30mph in a town because pedestrians are so close to the traffic, why shouldnt it be the same for workers in the highway. after all dont they deserve similar protection.

[northwind]

Most drivers can judge speed pretty well and can judge a safe speed too,but my point is slightly different.If you stand to get heavily fined and points on your license,ultimately leading to loss of same plus job home and everything else,then it is understandable that some drivers spend too much time obsessed with the speedo.Under that sort of regime it is wise to ensure that your 40 is the same as Herr Gatso's 40.

This is what I can't understand... If people are so terrified of getting fines and points, why do they drive at 40 and put half their effort into not going one spot over, when they can drive at 35, put a tiny amount of effort into not exceeding forty, and get through the roadworks 30 seconds later? it's the same mindset that has people crawling all over your bumper when you stay within the limit on a fast road, or when you slow down for a hazard someone behind you hasn't seen/is ignoring.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a limit-lover ;) How I have a clean license is something of a mystery, considering the proportion of my riding time that's spent above the posted limit...

[Biker Biggles]

I think you answered your own question there.If you don't keep up to what seems to be an "acceptable" speed your rear bumper comes in for close scutiny.Safer to keep up than get rear ended especially on two wheels.
I imply criticism of speedo obsessed drivers but it's only human nature and I catch myself doing it as I pass a gatso on my way to work-----every time.Reason?Lose my license and I'm out of work permanently.

[Ward8124]

BTW peeps they have these on the M11 now aswell but the thing is that the cameras are pointing toward oncoming taffice so we nice bikers that we are have no need to worry as we dont have plates on the front :D ......I hope otherwise im gonna go bankrupt and licenseless very soon!

[beefcake]

Does anyone know whether the Upper Thames Street SPECS cameras are also forward facing?

[timwilky]

Instead of concentrating on speed in roadworks, isn't it about time the highways agency concentrated on the speed of roadworks. Why do we pass so many coned off stretches of road where there is nobody working?, why can these roadworks not also take place at nights and weekends?.

Does nobody in authority over these ,comprehend that they cause senseless delays that cost, drivers can get harrassed and do stupid things simply because they are stuck in the same queue day after day with no obvious end in sight.

[AlanSv]

SPECS still only faces towards the vehicle

see

http://www.speedcheck.co.uk/FAQs.htm