A certain toll road...

[geordie jay]

There seems to be more and more unmarked police cars patrolling the motorway networks these days.in the surrounding northeast area and north yorkshire they seem to gone with a bmw 535d estate in dark blue almost black in colour..at they are pretty rapid aswell...i remember when clarkson raced one on top gear and he was in a m5 and for being a oil burner it was pretty impressive against the mighty m5..it doesnt matter where you go now you being watched.just a quick quiz question to all you drivers...when going threw major roadworks on a motorway you usually find those big yellow cameras theres usually 2 pointing down,does anybody know exactly what they for??? Will be interesting to see your comments what they really do.

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Like this?


If so they are SPECS average speed cameras. Very common in road works.

[geordie jay]

yes mate there the ones,infact most people slow down when passing lol which doesnt really matter coz it takes your average speed from one camera to another,so slowing down when you passing and then speeding up when passed doesnt matter but i drive for a living and see it every day lol and half of drivers on the road dont even know what they for...haha.

[adsgreen]

they are great if you have a motorbike though

[dubbed_up_daz]

Not been on the m6 toll for a year but it took a lot of abuse the first month/6weeks I had my 6. Used to use it up and down about half a dozen times and only ever seen one traffic car so quite lucky then I guess

[R1RS4]

they are great if you have a motorbike though

+1 no front number plate

[Bladerider]

Why would anyone not know what a SPECS camera is ??

They are painted bright yellow and usually next to chuffing great signs saying "Average speed cameras" !!!

You just swap lanes and they cant check your speed !! lol

J.

[MikeFish]

Why would anyone not know what a SPECS camera is ??

They are painted bright yellow and usually next to chuffing great signs saying "Average speed cameras" !!!

+1 I thought everybody knew what these were for?

People seem to slow down when they see them as a last minute attempt to reduce their average speed just to be safe, not because anybody thinks they are the other type of speed camera.

[dubbed_up_daz]

Swapping lanes for specs is a fallacy except for scotland although that loophole has been fixed also afaik

[Bladerider]

Good to know, cheers

Maybe its just the sets on the A14 near cambridge that dont work then

J.

[dubbed_up_daz]

I had a 33 mile commute this one time,26 miles of which were specs, the roadworks lasted 20 months.....travel the route at night, use your phone camera (sh1t you not) and drive past the cameras looking through the phone. If the infra red is not working (clearly visible on a phone cam for some reason) then the camera is not working.

[R33]

I think it was the m6 pre toll that had an xj220 police car!

You'd probably have found that Jag in the hard shoulder too but in this case it would be sitting in a puddle of oil with the blues shrouded in steam

[SuprSi]

lol don't be so harsh on the xj220!

To be fair that's probably the only thing that would have kept up with me the other day *whistles nonchalantly*

[adsgreen]

After having the privilege to drive one, the xj220 is defiantly one of my top cars I have driven. God awful in most respects and I have never experienced turbo lag like it (makes air cooled 911 turbos positively responsive) but bloody hell can it shift.
I also have a massive soft spot for the shape. Still looks sleek and awesome from many angles.

[R33]

I did a trip to the ring with one many years ago and whilst it was lovely to look at it had quite a few issues. In the wet the driver could barely keep in in a straight line above 70mph and it was dropping all manor of fluids all the time. A great car but I don't think it was the most approachable car to own and drive.