Can you get flashed on the motorway

I drive a 20 mile stretch of smart M1, 5 days a week. I regularly see the cameras going off when doing speeds well below the posted limit. Even crawling past at 5mph has set them off. I think they are programmed to go off randomly for whatever reason. The Selfish Gene 5, posts months. Frankly a system designed to entrap motorists that nobody wants to be flashed by, flashing at random could be very distracting actually.

That second you look in your mirror to see the flash, look at your speedo, get confused - is distracting. The brain only has a certain capacity to multitask. SO yes - dangerous and s t. TwistingMyMelon 6, posts months. OP I got flashed a few weeks back, I was crawling past another car about 5mph over the 60 mph limit, I was a bit pissed off, nothing has come of it!!

At the time I thought maybe I got the limit wrong. Not really dangerous, if you as a driver have a meltdown over a camera flash then you should question your driving ability. Its not end of the world stuff. This is a digital version of the Truvelo that can be mounted forward or rear facing, can also be used at traffic lights, and can even be set up to watch up to 3 lanes at a time.

The D-Cam comes in a distinctive housing, while some have a flash unit separate from the camera itself - which again makes no visible light. Hadecs units come in two small housings that are mounted on the side of motorway gantries.

Thanks to their limited use of yellow to give away their location, and the fact they are about half the size of a Gatso or Truvelo camera unit, some people have called them stealth speed cameras, as they can be difficult to spot when travelling at 70mph. Like other speed cameras, there are lines painted on the road that are used as secondary proof of speeding. And like a Gatso, Hadecs is a rear-facing radar camera, and it flashes when it picks up a vehicle travelling at more than the speed limit.

The innovation that allows Hadecs to be used on a smart motorway is its ability to adjust its detection speed according to the variable speed limit that's posted. It does this by receiving information from sensors further along the carriageway, so when you see a lower limit posted on a smart motorway, the Hades cameras ahead can catch you for breaking it.

As well as speeding, Hadecs cameras can be set up to monitor up to five lanes, and they can detect vehicles that are using closed motorway lanes. As they are radar-based, they are able to work in all weather conditions, too. The SPECS camera system works differently because it measures vehicle speed over a far greater distance than a Gatso or Truvelo camera. You'll see two or more sets of cameras to monitor vehicle speed for an extended distance, and this can be for as little as yards or up to 99 miles - as the SPECS cameras on the A9 in Scotland do.

SPECS cameras are often referred to as average speed cameras and are popular for use in roadworks where a lower speed limit than usual needs to be enforced. The first camera logs the vehicle with a time and date stamp.

Once the vehicle has passed the second camera, the time stamps on the two images are compared, and if the time taken to cover the distance means the average speed is higher than the posted limit, then a ticket is issued. And while some people think that weaving between lanes can help you pass them undetected, the truth is that the SPECS system can monitor multiple lanes. It's also no use slowing for the cameras and then speeding between them, because the system measures your average speed between the two locations, not just how fast you're going as you pass either camera.

As well as these fixed speed cameras, many regions use mobile cameras to provide temporary coverage in areas where speeding is known to occur. Mobile units are usually located in vans that are marked as a safety camera vehicle with a bright livery, and they feature opening windows or panels to point the cameras through. You will usually find them parked at the side of the road, in laybys although not where parking restrictions apply and also on bridges over roads.

The kind of cameras these mobile units use include mini Gatso cameras that use radar technology but there are also handheld radar or laser gun cameras. A laser gun uses a narrow laser beam that is reflected off a vehicle to measure its speed.

These devices are quick and effective, being able to register a vehicle's speed in as little as half a second and up to a distance of a mile away.

A radar gun works similarly to a laser gun. It has a wider beam and only works up to around yards, while it will only come back with a reading after around 3 seconds, but it's still an accurate way of registering a car's speed. Mobile camera vans can be set up in any direction to catch speeders, and can just as easily be set up to catch speeders approaching the camera site as going away from the site. As with fixed camera locations, a mobile camera site must have road signs indicating its presence, but apart from that, mobile cameras can be set up at any time.

In terms of location, mobile units are usually found in places notorious for accidents or speeding in the past, and are not normally pitched up in random places. Some local speed camera operators have been known to issue information on radio and social media to inform road users of where mobile camera units are operating on particular days. These are in addition to cameras which are used for traffic monitoring, catching vehicles that jump traffic lights which incidentally aren't required by law to be painted yellow and cameras used by government agencies to check road tax and other ANPR-based activities.

Whichever way you look at it, the best way to ensure you're not caught speeding is to remain aware of the speed limit and stick to it. If you have passed a speed camera that has flashed, the only way you will know for certain that you have been caught is when the registered keeper of the vehicle receives a Note of Intended Prosecution NIP.

This will arrive within 14 days of the offence taking place and will explain what happens next. This day rule is in place so that companies, such as vehicle lease firms and car hire firms, can determine who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offence. If your driving licence is clean, then you may be offered the option of taking a speed awareness course instead of the penalty points. Your case will be referred to court, where in most cases it will be overseen by a magistrate.

Bear in mind that in court, the role of the prosecution is simply to prove that you were speeding. If the world starts to blur, it might be time to take your foot of the pedal…. If you were caught doing high speeds on the motorway, or driving way over the limit in built up areas, the police have six months to start court proceedings against you. This is also true if you already have more than eight points on your licence. Although you can represent yourself in court, it is recommended that you get yourself some legal advice so as to give you the chance of the best possible outcome.

Is there anyway of finding out if you have been caught speeding? Is there a number you can ring or a site to go on where you can tap in your vehicle reg and discover you have been caught. A legitimate site. No — You just have to wait.