Change in M25 tolerances?

[lw93aed]

Is there a case for a DIFFERENT COLOUR camera symbol when the camera is known to be digital? As a further warning of the likelihood of prosecution it would be useful, though I take the point that different police forces have different tolerances anyway.

[Privateer]

Hi lw93aed,

to the forum!

The role of the PocketGPSWorld camera database is to warn you of speed camera locations and hence places which the authorities have decided as being black spots. The role of the PGPSW is not to tell you where you can speed nor is it to inform you by how much you can break the speed limit.

I suggest that you treat every site as having a Zero Tolerance and drive past every site at an appropriate speed, dictated by local conditions and the speed limit for the road.

Regards,
_________________
Robert.
iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 14.0.1: iOS CamerAlert v2.0.7
TomTom GO Mobile iOS 2.3.1; TomTom (UK & ROI and Europe) iOS apps v1.29
Garmin Camper 770 LMT-D

[lw93aed]

Your stance is very worthy, and your lawyers probably advise you to take it. I am completely in favour of rigorous observance of the law on dangerous roads. The law is not always on the low side either - I know of several 50 limit stretches that ought to be 40, and many 30 that ought to be 20.

However on motorways rigorous observance of 70mph is not realistic. I'm sure you remember that when new gantries were installed on the M4 Swindon stretch, a false rumour circulated that they contained SPECS cameras. The whole 20-mile stretch became hideously congested and the Highways Agency (at the request of the police) was forced to publicly deny that the cameras were used for speed enforcement - see bold text at http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/1718.aspx . The public was educated and congestion decreased as they went back to their normal speeds slightly above the limit.

Another problem - has anyone tried traversing 6 congested lanes of traffic on the M25 (eg. to leave at the M4 junction?) when the gantries at set to 40 and everyone including the trucks is doing exactly the same speed? It's difficult and dangerous, heightened by the need to concentrate on being within the speed limit at every gantry.

I don't have any solutions, but I feel that getting information out there and educating people to make the safe decisions on their own must be the right approach. I applaud PGPSW for doing that - my suggestion was for a further refinement to the information provided.

[Skippy]

The database does identify the camera type, Monitron, SPECS or Gatso but it seems likely that most warning systems can not use this information unless the data is split into different files. If you could get it to display the camera name then you could see "MONITRONxxxxx@30" or "GATSOxxxx@30" etc.

You could possibly split the speed camera section up manually though it's a bit of a hassle.

As for how people use the database - I think that's up to the individual to decide, it's not something I would pontificate on.
_________________
Gone fishing!

[Andy_P]

[Privateer]

Hi lw93aed

You do not say which SatNav you have, if any. If you wish to make a personal decision on whether a camera is digital or not then I suggest that you get a PDA, a GPS receiver to communicate with your PDA, a vehicle mount for your PDA and a licence for Tchart's excellent GPS Speed Sentry, which when used with the PocketGPSWorld database will show you the camera type as well as the speed limit. This should allow you to make an educated guess.

However please don’t forget that you still have the opportunity to attract the attention of a Police Patrol car if you exceed the speed limit.

Regards,
_________________
Robert.
iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 14.0.1: iOS CamerAlert v2.0.7
TomTom GO Mobile iOS 2.3.1; TomTom (UK & ROI and Europe) iOS apps v1.29
Garmin Camper 770 LMT-D

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