M4 drivers BEWARE

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Happy1

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Thought you'd like to know.

Those new electronic signs on the M4 were switched on last Tuesday. The bad news is that they are rigged with the SPECS speed cameras.

SPECS is a computer-camera based system. As you go past the sign a digital camera reads your number plate. When you go past the next sign your number plate is read again. The computer 'knows' how far apart the signs are so it can work out your average speed between the two, or three or four.

The system is fully automatic and will issue a ticket without any form of human intervention. It does this for every single vehicle that passes. You will not know you've been caught as the cameras don't flash.

They work 24/7, 365 days a year, and theoretically, there's absolutely no limit on the number of tickets that the system can issue. The whole section of the M4 between Theale (J12) and Membury Services (between 14 and 15) is wired, both ways. The system is set to trigger a ticket at 78 mph. Radar detectors will be of no use as SPECS is entirely passive, there is no radar or laser beam to detect.

Be warned, this is from a reliable source /forums/images/icons/wink.gif


<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>
 
Re: HOAX!

It's a hoax that has been doing the rounds for ages.

For confirmation, visit the official Thames Valley Police website <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/>http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/</A>, and scroll down to the bit that says

The Highways Agency has installed new signs between J 12 and J 14 of the M4 as part of a year long pilot project to reduce congestion and collisions. The signs have two CCTV cameras. One which monitors the sign itself to make sure its working and displaying the right message; and another to monitor the congestion to evaluate the effect the sign is having on the traffic.

There are NO speed cameras and NO SPECS cameras in the signs!


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OK, I have seen what Brendan has said, so it 'may' be B&llocks, but don't come crying to me if it all goes wrong. IF it is B&llocks I will have stern 'words' with the 'relaible source'. Anyway I think people would rather have the choice to know or not know about a 'suspected' trap, but please treat it as untested at the moment. Please could the first to get an automated ticket please let us all know /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>
 
Dunno about that - we ain't got motorways in Cornwall. What we have got, though, is a new way of warning you when you are exceeding the speed limit. It really is quite scary if you are not used to it. You are driving along at say 45 in a 40 limit towards this box on a pole at the side of the road when it suddenly lights up with a red message saying 45mph.
I don't know what the psychology is, but it don't half make you slow up (or down?)

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I cannot comment on whether these cameras are being used on the M4. what I can say is that these cameras (or something very similar) ARE used on the ring road in Nottingham ( the speed camera capital of the world).

The local authority complained recently that becauise they were so effective at reducing speeding and because motorists were obeying the limits they had missed their ticket targets for the year and, as a consequence, they may have to delay the roll-out of these things onto other roads.

<hr width=100% size=1>My drinking team has a sailing problem
 
Re: HOAX!

Oh, So you are stating that Thames Valley police are lying and providing inaccurate information to mislead the public

Give me strength. The conspiracy theorists are everywhere

Here: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/ms4/09.htm>http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/ms4/09.htm</A>
Click on the buttons on the right for full information about the project. No speed cameras

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Re: HOAX!

'perhaps' they have 'just forgotten' to update the web site /forums/images/icons/wink.gif I think they would want to hammer a few as a lesson to the others and get some publicity first before coming across all nicey, nicey, look on our web site for todays secret speed traps section /forums/images/icons/wink.gif. At the end of they day they want revenue, how will they pay for these expensive cameras without walloping a few poor motorists.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>
 
Re: HOAX!

Pete, please don't be completely daft. It's a hoax. As simple as that.

Most of the motoring and speed forums having been debunking it as a hoax for months. It's being doing the round a great deal in the past week after the signs were officially turned on by a minister.
Have a look here, it explains it clearly

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/ms4/09.htm>http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/ms4/09.htm</A> click on the buttons on the right for full info

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Re: HOAX!

Brendan

You should know that my wife will be on the M4 tomorrow. She will take no prisoners, and her speed guns are all set at 78 rpm. You have been warned.

Tom

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Re: HOAX!

Not with a barrage of SPECS cameras hidden inside information boards she's not.
I know several traffic cops, some are members of clubs I belong to. Surrey, Wiltshire.

I'm not making a comment about speeding, about speed control, nor alternative methods of catching speeding motorists. Just pointing out that the hoax that's been doing the rounds for months about the new M4 information boards being covert 'average speed ' speed traps is a hoax. There's enough disinformation spread these days, and enough ways of verifying it, that you'd think that people would check these things before posting them

Rather than posting as 'I know from a good source'. people could have a look at relevant sites. Virus hoax sites for virus hoaxes. Motoring sites for speed camera hoaxes. Or simply post as a question., eg, 'I've received this bit of information today, can anyone verify it, or is it a hoax' rather than stating it as a known fact, when many people already know it's a hoax.

The same thing had already been posted and verified as a hoax on MoBoChat a few days ago.

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One SW local authority caught so many speeding emmets that they couldn't keep up with the paper work and nearly abandoned the whole project. I think they resolved it by removing about one in three cameras from the boxes.

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We have some of those here on the Black Isle - if you are below the speed limit, you get a smiley face, if not you get a frown and the message "Slow Down". Also gives your speed, updated about once a second. Excellent idea - makes me keep within the limit.

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Must have been 10 years ago, I was on the M1, roughly Leicester area. Cones with contra flow etc., the sign above us lit up with my speed AND reg number. Found myself looking around me to see if the other drivers were all pointing and tittering! That was sobering..

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Really???????? -------and you get your facts from?????????????? please tell.

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Hoax or not ???

(1) My wife was summoned to a "speed clinic" at Northampton not long ago. During three hours of indoctrination (generally helpful, she thought) she was told that Northampton already has these cameras and they will soon be "all over the country." (2) A mate of mine, a former editor of a motoring magazine, says he has been informed by technicians equipping the signs that the cameras have been installed and the ultimate aim is to use them for speed enforcement. (3) The official site mentioned by a poster above states "the cameras will not be used for speed enforcement." But for how long ? My opinion: Don't count on it.

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Re: Hoax or not ???

1) Big deal . They've been around for ages.
2) Big deal, Rumour. and anyway they are not equipped to be used as specs as they currently stand. You'll be telling me next that they'll be using the Traffic Master system to nail us next
3) Big deal. It seems there are a lot of you conhspiracy thoerists on the forum, and I only deal in facts. Fact, they are not being used as speed cameras. End of arguement

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Re: Hoax or not ???

Ooh la-di-dah !
I was only asking a question.
To call this discussion a conspiracy is fatuous.
Fact: Road safety experts and police have been discussing widescale application of this sort of speed enforcement for some time and it is already operating in some areas. Perhaps they will not make use of the precise mechanism of these cameras as you say, or perhaps they will tweak them or replace them or use other cameras on other structures, but the intent to monitor our motorways mile by mile for speed infringements is real and (from what I hear) will soon be upon us.

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Re: Hoax or not ???

I would have thought that there was a much more effective way to check speeds. Fit radio activated passive transponders to cars relaying car's speed and have them read by transmitters along the road.

The road display panels would then portray the recommended speed for the prevailing conditions and the radio transmitters would automatically charge for speed excesses. This would be at a progressive rate ie you could exceed the speed limit but you would increasingly pay through the nose for doing it. Above a certain limit it would be at a prohibitive level even for the rich (eg £10 a mile). This would replace toll roads (I'm thinking of the continent here) and reduce the admin by courts etc.

John

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