Gatzos, Radar traps and detectors.

castaway

castaway

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Having notched up quite a collection of tickets in our houshold over the last month or so, and now having 2 'endorsements' on my licence, I am seriously thinking about investing in one of the 'radar' detectors (not the GPS position notifing type).

I'm not a crazy driver, but these days, if one does a high milage, its really just a matter of time before you set one of these new revenue earners off.

Has anyone tried one of these detectors? Do they work?

Thanks and regards

Nick
 
Suggest you slow down and don't give any money to them - oh, and as afterthought, might cut accident rates down as well.
 
Yes they do work, get one of them that has downloadable updates, they have the gatso positions in them etc, the speed averagers are the killers as pointed out but you even things up by buying one, also stop speeding! brunstrom is our chief constable and it is quite interesting to see the brake lights going on when people enter speed limits, his campaign has worked.
 
Loads! But fail to see what that's got to do with it. There's too much speed on the road, it kills !!! It causes accidents slow down and live longer. If you want to speed [--word removed--] off to Germany! Sorry if that offends but after losing my mother and 3 close friends (seperate incidents) because of a "never had an accident" speed merchant, I feel pretty strongly about it.
 
Used a Snooper for a while when I was doing lots of miles and it surprised me how few cameras were active and set the detector off. SOme Gatsos without film still have the radar active and will flash, but you never get a ticket.

The Snooper worked on active cameras, but only gave about 5-10 seconds of warning, if that. It's no good against laser guns you find on mobile cameras now and also in unmarked cars. Teh acquisition time is very quick and even if the unit does detect the Laser, they've got you already before you can slow down. If I got another unit, I'd get a GPS one, which incidentally wil probably still be legal.

As to where I stand on speeding, never more than 35 in a 30, ever. 40s and 50s are normally there for a good reason, but national speed limits are open to interpretation and depend on vehicle, conditions and weight of traffic.
 
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As to where I stand on speeding, never more than 35 in a 30, ever. 40s and 50s are normally there for a good reason, but national speed limits are open to interpretation and depend on vehicle, conditions and weight of traffic.

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Surprised. I would have thought experience and age of driver. Reactions times. Parked cars. Kids. State of mind etc were just as important if not more so. A Merc hitting a kid in a built up area at 35 will do just as much carnage as a corsa and it only takes a solitary car to knock someone down in a built up area

Donald
 
I don't think that the high mileage increases the odds if driven by the book. I generally do approx 28k miles per year, and have, to date, never had a single point/warning - so thats 140k miles so far and nothing - not even an accident (touch wood).

However, I would be extremely surprised to find someone who doesn't speed..... but I do agree with the 30s, most of the time, only down 'ere there are so many you would never get anywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if the national speed limit isn't reduced to 50mph... it seems to be that the Cornish roads are going that way.... well coming up to the season so accident rates will soon start to increase.

The point about cars being better than they used to be - very valid, and was part of the thinking behind increasing speed limits on motorways to 80mph.

Safe/endorsement free driving to you all.
 
I have a Valentine One Laser and Radar detector, it's very good and when working in tandem with the TomTom speed camera add on it gives you a good picture of what's going on camera wise.

What's interesting is the way the gantry Gatsos on the M25 are switched around each week, what were active the week before aren't the week after and so on.

One trick I've noticed the Highways chaps do is set a speed limit of 60mph on one gantry (No camera detected), the next gantry says 50mph and the camera for that gantry is on!

Very easy to get a ticket if you are not watching your surroundings and following someone who is going over the set speed limit - BTW the gantry cameras are also linked to the flashing speed signs you see in the central reservation.

The Valentine One also picks up laser, naturally if you have been blipped there's not much you can do about it as there is no way you can react in time however, at least you know for certain that van on the bridge blipped you and if you were speeding it's a ticket for sure. I've had false returns from the lasers the construction chaps use at the side of the motorways, so I know it works.

The Valentine One also picks up radar/laser behind you as well.

I don't work for Valentine just very pleased with the goods, got it for 300GBP from Ebay.

BTW it's not much good in built up areas as you will get loads of false returns due to garage forecourt sensors for the automatic doors setting it off! However, that's not a problem for me as I always follow the speed limits in built up areas.

If you do a lot of motorway driving then this is the device for you otherwise don't bother.
 
Agree .. I generally do 20ish in built up areas where kids are around (have seen the long term results of a kid hit by a car within the limit in a village) but have no qualms about going ton up when conditions and circumstances allow.
 
I've found with the level of traffic over the past 10 years, that long distances are covered in much the same time doing 65 on Mways and keeping below the 40/50 limits, result is...

Car now does 55 to 60 mpg or in litres 11 or 12 miles/ ltr as opposed to 40mpg....saving £1000.00 a year at least. I get from Plymouth to Chiswick in 4 hours, or Chichester 4 hours. Relaxed, no stress and no tickets. I think it also comes from driving a lot in the past, in Holland and Sweden, where speed limits are strictly enforced with many hidden un marked cameras.

With mobile phones you can phone and say you'll be late, before mobiles I did put my foot down to keep appointments.

Gone are the days when the Mways were really empty (1979 M27 hardly had a car on it!) and I would do Plymouth to Chiswick in 3 hours.

I might open up the Mo bike on bits of road down in Devon/Cornwall sometimes, but they will be completely empty.
 
how does doing alot of miles mean you will end up with a speeding ticket?????? I do more miles than most, its my job. and have never had a speeding ticket in the 20yrs i've been a Professional driver.......SLOW DOWN
 
I have absolute sympathy with anybody who has suffered at the hands of 'speed merchants'.

But I am always upset too at the Mantra that "Speed Kills". This should be "INAPPROPRIATE SPEED KILLS". Trying to force everyone to go unrealistically slowly, simply makes the speed limits something to disregard.

A better solution is to clamp down mega-hard on poor quality driving, not simply 'speeding'. Perhaps a driving test every two/three years? That would make people think more about what they are doing when behind the wheel and in my opinion, that would save more lives and cost less in hospital costs, insurance etc than anything!

I do 25k miles per year and hope I'm aware of what's going on around me. But people who wander along slowly 'rubber-knecking' are often more dangerous because they are not watching the road!
 
>>>
I just find it bizarre that we're still expected to drive as though we had cable operated drum brakes and cross-ply tyres
>>>

Allegedly because that is the standard achieved by many drivers. But I don't drive so what do I know? Also allegedly a survey of drivers found that over 50% rated themselves as "above average" and the general standard of driving as "below average".
 
And your proof that any of these were caused, I repeat caused by speed is ?
I deal with fatal accidents as part of my job and I have never seen an accident caused wholley by excess speed.
 
Well said. I am always struck by people who bang on about law'n'order and yet blatantly ignore speed limits. Not that any Forumites here would do that. The last time I consciously broke the 70 limit, I was fined and picked up three penalty points for being a stupid selfish git.

Normally I consciously keep to the limits, use the inside lane whenever possible (a rarity these days), and really don't mind the tossers who occasionally flash me when they are only a few feet behind.

These people are potential killers. I try not to aggravate them though, because a lot them already have their faces distorted in anger, and drive erratically. I really think a lot of fast angry drivers have several screws loose and should be professionally looked after in secure institutions.
 
If there had been a greater respect for speed limits in the past then there would never have been any cameras. We all speed, if its doing 80 on a motorway or 38 in a 30, to us its Ok, cos 'we decided its Ok'.

Motorways are generally safer than single carriageway roads, mile for mile per 1000 cars etc. So there is an argument for higher speeds on them, but at a cost of fuel consumption and fatigue.

My observation of the groups of drivers exceeding speed limits are:

Young lad 2 - 3 years driving, got powerful saloon on HP. You can see where he lost out, a length of missing hedge, wall or damaged tree. The site often also marked by flowers. These accidents are NOTHING to do with speed (apparently).

Successful business person, worked hard to get where they are, got the toys to prove success. The car has to have all the kit, no way will they follow anyone, they see speed limits as another challenge.

Possibly older couple, maybe two ladies, chatting away, doing 40mph on open road, several cars behind wanting to get past. When they get to the 30mph zone the driver is oblivious, they just carry on at 40mph, chatting away.

Speed limit on an open dual carriageway is often seen as unnecessary. The only stretch of road that I can relate to, that fits this description is the A24 north of Worthing. A 60mph limit was put in place and then, when people continued to ignore it the camera came along. Why put a 60mph limit in that stretch of road? Well there were so many accidents, with fatalities that the air ambulance could have stationed themselves there, so often were their visits. Now if I didn't know why, I might see that camera as unnecessary.

It has been suggested that more regular testing would be the answer, no, because its easy to be a good boy on the test.

Accidents are not JUST speed its bad driving as well. But if you have any doubts visit the yard owned by one of the car recovery companies, not the bodyshop, if the damaged car gets to the bodyshop, the damage isnt too bad. Now would all those who think they are a bad driver put their hands up please? Thought so, nobody!

Just for the record I just changed cars, 116,000 miles in 4 years.
 
Sorry for you loses but bad driving maims and kills not speeding. You seemed to have fallen for this governments propaganda.

Bad driving may including someone who is driving too fast but 'speeding' is just a term for someone driving above the designated limit.
 
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