Motoring Discussion > Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: smokie Replies: 15
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 Mon 15 Mar 10 16:38 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - smokie
Has anyone ever been nicked, or know first hand of anyone who has, on variable speed cameras (SPECS), particularly those on motorway roadworks?

I ask because I try to be good about travelling through at 50 but quite regularly see people going considerably faster, so I'm wondering if there is something about them I don't know (like they don't work?)
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 Mon 15 Mar 10 19:39 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - VxFan
>> I ask because I try to be good about travelling through at 50

As indicated by your speedo?

My Inforad lets me know if I go over the 50mph speed limit in SPEC areas. When it does alarm my speedo is actually indicating 53 to 54 mph. If other motorists are using their speedo, then that would explain why I am in the next lane overtaking them.
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 Mon 15 Mar 10 19:54 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - rtj70
There's a camera on the M6 at the moment (north of the Lakes I think) that has caught many thousands speeding. It might not be SPECS but surely the idiots caught should have an idea they'd be caught.

I've heard a friend of a friend did get done for little more than the speed limit protected by a SPECS camera. This was a few years ago.
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 Mon 15 Mar 10 20:00 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - smokie
"As indicated by your speedo?"

No, usually just under 55 on the speedo. But I'm not talking about a small speed differential. White van was following a Chrysler 300C estate today through those on the M3 and I bet they were doing around 70.

I'm not sure that my speedo over-reads by much. It's fairly close to what TomTom says.
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 Mon 15 Mar 10 20:49 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - rtj70
I find it amazing how people go past speed cameras at much higher speeds than allowed. Some don't know how SPECS work but I see them drive past other types of cameras too.

I do hope they get caught if doing that much above the limit.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 10:40 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - FocalPoint
Or are their number plates non-legit? I.e. no VED, no insurance etc., so the driver is untraceable.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 10:52 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - oilburner
I wonder what the threshold for these SPECS cameras are? Is it the good old 10% +3mph rule?

In which case, in a 50 zone, you could be travelling as high as 60mph on your speedo and still not get "caught".

I don't see many people going significantly faster than the general flow of traffic in these roadworks. Maybe it's folk how know exactly where the boundary is, and are willing to run right to the edge, with very few really going *that* fast through SPECS.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 10:53 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Fursty Ferret
Yes, my sister - snapped at 62 mph somewhere on the M5.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 11:01 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Bill Payer
There's a recent thread on PistonHeads from someone who just sold a car and then got a ticket for it doing an average 100MPH through the system on the M4 in Wiltshire.
They called the new owner and she had no idea about the average camera system.

I use the M6 quite a bit and that's heavily roadworked from the Midlands to Cheshire and I'm convinced that either the system doesn't work there or the threshold is set very high as it's so widely ignored.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 11:06 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Zero
I thought the good old rule was 10% +2mph

Dont forget specs is an average, you can zip through quite quickly and slow down for the last few hundred yards and still squeak under the limit. Depends on distance of cameras of course.

what gets on my small blue garden birds, is those who stick in the empty overtaking lane at 49mph. "Because that the limit and I can be a policeman"
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 11:08 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - oilburner
Yea, you're right 10mph +2mph. Don't know why I thought 3, probably wishful thinking!
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 11:38 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Fursty Ferret
SPECS warning: on a long set of roadworks there are perhaps 4 sets of cameras. I assume your speed between any pair of these is calculated, so if you judge you're in the clear and boot it in the last 1000 yards your average speed over the whole set might be less than 50mph, but possibly 70mph past the last 2 cameras.

Only time I put my foot down a bit is when the NSL sign is clearly in sight.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 12:01 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Dave_
A former colleague was "done" by the SPECS cameras in the M1 widening works south of Luton 4 years ago, his speed was 65mph in a 50 limit IIRC.

I currently have to use the M1 through the roadworks in Notts every weekend (SPECS cameras, 50mph limit). I've learned exactly where all the cameras are so it gives me the opportunity to hoof it for the last 500 yards before my exit slip road comes up. This increases my options if I'm stuck in a particularly obstructive "block" of traffic leading up to it.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 12:08 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - AshT
I spent a fair bit of time working in South Wales towards the end of the year, which meant driving through the SPECS policed section of the M4 between Newport and Cardiff. I always kept to a steady 50 - traffic permitting - indicated by the satnav, but there was usually a steady stream of traffic going by much quicker.

A colleague told me that the SPECS was only switched on at certain times, and that the cameras were only focused on one lane at a time; I was not prepared however to risk my licence on proving or disproving his theory.

To answer the question in the original post though, yes, I do know someone who was nicked in the roadworks around Taunton last year - can't remember what his fine or speed was but I know he was awarded three points.
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 15:10 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Cockle
>> Only time I put my foot down a bit is when the NSL sign is
>> clearly in sight.
>>

Be careful of that one; on the A12 at Hatfield Peverel there is a final SPECS about 30yds inside the NSL as you leave the 50 zone..........
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 Tue 16 Mar 10 15:19 
 Variable speed cams (SPECS) - anyone been nicked? - Cockle
We've just started seeing prosecutions appearing in the local press for the SPECS enforced 50 limit on the A127 between Basildon and Southend, must be a year since they 'went live'.
May have missed one or two but so far I haven't seen a prosecution for anyone at less than 58mph so that would bear out the 10% + 2mph rule being applied, if that's the case I could probably zip through there at a true (satnav) 56 which is an indicated 60 in the Mondeo and still be safe! Might explain why people seem to pass me at a true 50 with seeming impunity.
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