For mobile cameras, a tolerance of three km/hr or three per cent for speeds over 100km/hr is deducted. Police can also apply an additional tolerance at their discretion.
Speeding fines
You can be fined: 10 penalty units for driving less than 35 km/hour over the speed limit. 15 penalty units for driving at 35 km/hour or more but less than 45 km/hour over the speed limit. 20 penalty units for driving 45 km/hour or more over the speed limit.
On a straight section of road the typical range for a mobile speed camera is one mile. Can you get caught behind another car? As long as the speed camera operator can see and target your vehicle they will be able to get a reading of your speed.
How Much Margin for Error is There? At present some police forces allow 10 per cent of the limit plus 2 mph albeit, this is subject to change at any stage, with our without your knowledge from the relevant police forces. This leeway has always been discretionary.
Technically, you can be issued with a fine for going just 1mph over the limit, although this is unlikely, particularly with fixed speed cameras.
“So for example, travelling at 35mph or above in a 30mph zone will be recorded as a speeding offence. “However, Go Safe say thresholds vary and can change without notice. “Officially, any speeding offence occurs at 1mph above the limit, but most forces will allow a variance.”
The 10% rule
That's because the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) urges police officers to use their discretion when dealing with drivers who break the speed limit. To be more specific, they recommend only handing out speeding tickets if a driver surpasses the speed limit by 10% plus 2.
A large portion of the country's cameras work to a tolerance of ten per cent of the speed limit plus 2mph, including the Metropolitan Police in London and its surrounding areas as of 2019.
Most police forces have a tolerance of 10% plus 2 mph above the limit before a speed camera 'flashes'. So on a 30 mph road, a camera wouldn't normally activate unless a car drove past at 35 mph or faster. So for example, On a 70 mph stretch of motorway, the threshold would go up to 79 mph.
Don't believe the urban legend that most cameras are just empty boxes, but it is true that not all speed cameras flash. Ultimately, there's really only one way to tell whether you've been nabbed by a roadside speed camera, and that's the appearance of a fine notice in the post.
By the end of 2012, police had fitted every mobile speed camera with infra-red technology, enabling them to take snaps without telltale flashing.
The camera itself gives a speed measurement, but a court will rely on a technician's calculation of the distance covered over the ground, which is estimated to be accurate to within one mile per hour. Successful challenges have been made on occasion, however.
Can I request the calibration certificate for the speed camera/equipment? Yes. However, on the vast majority of cases, there is no obligation upon the Police to disclose evidence until the case gets to Court. That said, if you persevere, you should be able to obtain same from the Police on a voluntary basis.
You'll either be offered a speed awareness course, be issued a speeding ticket, or – in the most dangerous circumstances – you'll be sent to court, where you'll receive a fine, points on your licence or a driving ban.
It should take no less than six seconds to travel between these two points at an average speed of 70mph. This means it is no use speeding along before then slowing down as you pass the camera – your average speed will still be too high. There's no way to beat the system.
Average speed cameras work by recording your speed at two different points. They don't capture your speed in a single flash. Instead, they'll monitor your speed over a length of road. This is so people don't slow down just before they see a camera and then speed up again afterwards.
First and foremost, speedometers in most vehicles are designed to overestimate the speed of travel. International law has long required modern cars to overstate true speed.
It's fair to say there is a tolerance for speeding, which is 10%+2mph above the speed limit. So, in short, a speed camera flashes you speeding but allows for this tolerance – in most instances, that is! However, when a police officer uses a mobile speed camera, they can enforce different levels and rules!
It's an average of your speed between two points, and on longer stretches can have multiple cameras averaged out together. Say you cross the first checkpoint at 50mph, and the last checkpoint at 50mph but it only took you 4 mins to cover the 5 miles of average speed zone - your average speed is 75mph.
The most usual corroboration is by way of static or mobile camera or hand held laser, but a police officer can also use his own speedometer in his vehicle to corroborate his opinion that you are speeding. It is also sufficient in law for a second police officer to corroborate the evidence of another officer.
The traditional way to calibrate the camera is to take images of a known calibration grid. Six points are needed to obtain 12 equations.
All equipment used for calibration shall be certified annually by a competent body with equipment traceable to national standards. vi) the signature of the person who undertook the calibration. 2.5 Any continuation sheets shall also be clearly marked with the certificate number, date, and device serial number.
Infringement notices can be: mailed to you (normally within 2 weeks) handed to you.
Fixed safety cameras are placed at signaled intersections and can detect both speed and red-light offences. A point to point camera system is used on the Hume Highway and Peninsula Link and it measures average speeds over distance.
Mobile road safety cameras use a radar to determine the speed and the direction of a vehicle. The camera can detect speeding vehicles in 1 or both directions and from either side of the road.