Just WHO thought it was a bright idea to put bright white lights just before the speed cameras on the M1 roadworks between J15-J18■■
I’m almost blinded every time I drive down the flipping motorway at night now…
GRRRRR!!!
Have these people NO SENSE whatsoever?
I seem to remember they did this on the M62 a year or so back. Very bright indeed - I had to avert my eyes for a second or 2 when approaching them.
E-mail a complaint in. Nothing sorted if you don’t ask
Average speed cameras? It’s so ‘they’ can see the White mark on the road to measure your speed between the fixed points/cameras
Actrosman:
Average speed cameras? It’s so ‘they’ can see the White mark on the road to measure your speed between the fixed points/cameras
Average speed cams don’t use marks on the road… And the average speed cam lights are pointing up putting some light out so the camera can read the number plate. They use low light night vision.
nick2008:
Actrosman:
Average speed cameras? It’s so ‘they’ can see the White mark on the road to measure your speed between the fixed points/camerasAverage speed cams don’t use marks on the road… And the average speed cam lights are pointing up putting some light out so the camera can read the number plate. They use low light night vision.
I emailed the Highways about this when they were doing the M1 near Luton back in 2007. As Nick says, it’s for the cameras to be able to read your number plate when it’s dark.
Just another complaint that will fall on deaf ears.
m1cks:
Just another complaint that will fall on deaf ears.
Until it’s claimed as a contributing factor to a fatal crash.
ezydriver:
m1cks:
Just another complaint that will fall on deaf ears.Until it’s claimed as a contributing factor to a fatal crash.
That’s a bit of a weak argument when the light is no brighter than a car coming towards you with main beams on. Doesn’t mean I agree with it but it’s hardly going to cause a crash to an alert driver. It is an annoyance for your eyes though. Maybe they could install 2-3 street lights on the verge approaching them so there’s a bit of ambient light and the effect is not so sudden.
I shield my eyes as i go past them, the flash of intense light from the wrong direction destroys what little night vision you might have left among the sea of lights out there.
I think they are also there to illuminate the driver if photos are disputed in the event of a nick.
nick2008:
Actrosman:
Average speed cameras? It’s so ‘they’ can see the White mark on the road to measure your speed between the fixed points/camerasAverage speed cams don’t use marks on the road… And the average speed cam lights are pointing up putting some light out so the camera can read the number plate. They use low light night vision.
yes they do 
there’s three little white marks on the carriageway and that’s how exactly you can tell the EXACT cameras THEY’RE using 
if you drive nights, make a mental note EXACTLY which ones, so on your way back in daylight/ early hours you don’t get caught SPEEDING! 
if you look close enough the other scaremongering cameras are DUMMIES/ not live as they DON’T even point at the carriageway 
nick2008:
Actrosman:
Average speed cameras? It’s so ‘they’ can see the White mark on the road to measure your speed between the fixed points/camerasAverage speed cams don’t use marks on the road… And the average speed cam lights are pointing up putting some light out so the camera can read the number plate. They use low light night vision.
Those along the M4 13-14 don’t have the IR (afaik) just a white splodge of paint with the cams pointing towards it, with the surrounding county lit up by the lights. I’ll have another butchers later, when I’m sat behind someone who’s scared of hitting 45!
To add…found this concerning the White markings (C&P’d) VASCAR is an acronym for Visual Average Speed Computer And Recorder. This is little more than a glorified stopwatch. It is a simple timing based enforcement technique whereby a vehicle is timed over a set distance [for example, between two painted white markings on the road surface or two motorway bridges,] from which an average speed is then automatically calculated. Vascar is operated by a qualified traffic policeman and is unfortunately at the mercy of ‘human error’. No radio waves or beams of light are emitted… therefore, Vascar is unable to be detected by any type of radar/laser or GPS based detectors.
VASCAR is not used for the enforcement of temporary limits in road works etc. I’m not sure that any police forces use it at all these days. It cannot be used in an unmanned/automated situation.
Ok… I’ll bite 
I got caught out by these zb lights late at night the other week. On the A34 Milton Park it’s 50 average speed check limit. Plodding along at 50 and these lights come up. I miss the 40 signs put up just before the floodlights and kept going at 50.
They put the 2 live specs cameras 300 yards apart, before the works and we’re set up to deliberately catch people in the first short section of the 40 limit.
I have dash cam footage but the camera is low light and picks up a lot more than the mk1 eyeball.
I’m waiting for a NIP and an invitation to contribute to the police man’s ball.
I may have been lucky but nobody else saw the signs and kept going at 50,so if the cameras were working… They got LOADS of customers.
Dirty zb.
trubster:
Ok… I’ll biteI got caught out by these zb lights late at night the other week. On the A34 Milton Park it’s 50 average speed check limit. Plodding along at 50 and these lights come up. I miss the 40 signs put up just before the floodlights and kept going at 50.
They put the 2 live specs cameras 300 yards apart, before the works and we’re set up to deliberately catch people in the first short section of the 40 limit.
I have dash cam footage but the camera is low light and picks up a lot more than the mk1 eyeball.
I’m waiting for a NIP and an invitation to contribute to the police man’s ball.
I may have been lucky but nobody else saw the signs and kept going at 50,so if the cameras were working… They got LOADS of customers.
Dirty zb.
If you’re still waiting for the NIP >14 days after the incident, you’re pretty much safe (unless the owner of the vehicle you were driving is particularly tardy in processing such things).
The average speed cameras have infra-red lighting to read number plates in darkness - those are the additional boxes with each camera on the gantries (two per camera on the older ones and one on the newer systems).
I think the additional floodlighting used at road works is just to get a usable image of the vehicle and driver - so drivers can’t “do a Chris Huhne”.
The permanent average speed cameras on the A9 have infra-red floodlights to get night-time photos (the extra poles either side of each camera).
Roymondo:
trubster:
Ok… I’ll biteI got caught out by these zb lights late at night the other week. On the A34 Milton Park it’s 50 average speed check limit. Plodding along at 50 and these lights come up. I miss the 40 signs put up just before the floodlights and kept going at 50.
They put the 2 live specs cameras 300 yards apart, before the works and we’re set up to deliberately catch people in the first short section of the 40 limit.
I have dash cam footage but the camera is low light and picks up a lot more than the mk1 eyeball.
I’m waiting for a NIP and an invitation to contribute to the police man’s ball.
I may have been lucky but nobody else saw the signs and kept going at 50,so if the cameras were working… They got LOADS of customers.
Dirty zb.
If you’re still waiting for the NIP >14 days after the incident, you’re pretty much safe (unless the owner of the vehicle you were driving is particularly tardy in processing such things).
Sadly it wasn’t in my car. So it’s down to how fast the fleet company and transport company is in responding.
Roymondo:
VASCAR is not used for the enforcement of temporary limits in road works etc. I’m not sure that any police forces use it at all these days. It cannot be used in an unmanned/automated situation.
So although entering the R/W’s with signs saying ‘Average Speed Check’ and these older style/unmanned camera setup, does that mean they are there purely as a visual deterrent with no risk of getting nabbed?
I think they ALL work, otherwise what’s the point, they are in it for the money aren’t they!? Fake/dummy cameras don’t make any money…
Pimpdaddy:
I think they ALL work, otherwise what’s the point, they are in it for the money aren’t they!? Fake/dummy cameras don’t make any money…
They don’t ALL work.
Looking at my dash cam, the 50 limit on the A34 isn’t enforced, but the 40 limit is (only the part before the works)
The spotlight has been put so close to the limit change it must catch hundreds out a day… Sorry Night.
The average speed cameras are paired with another camera. Only 2 or 3 pairs actually work in the 20 mile section on the m1 by crick. Cameras can see infared light, the mark 1 eyeballs can’t.
m1cks:
ezydriver:
m1cks:
Just another complaint that will fall on deaf ears.Until it’s claimed as a contributing factor to a fatal crash.
That’s a bit of a weak argument when the light is no brighter than a car coming towards you with main beams on. Doesn’t mean I agree with it but it’s hardly going to cause a crash to an alert driver. It is an annoyance for your eyes though. Maybe they could install 2-3 street lights on the verge approaching them so there’s a bit of ambient light and the effect is not so sudden.
Now sit down, and think about what you just said.
