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Tripping Speed Cameras

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  • March 27, 2009 at 9:08 am #11639
    VecchioJo

    Anyone ever managed to do this?

    There’s a speed camera halfway down a hill into town, if you start a determined sprint at the top and you’ve got a bit of a following wind you can easily hit 40mph as you pass the 30mph speed-limit sign and the rapidly following sneaky camera. I’ve clocked well over the speed limit countless times but never got the camera to flash, I think I might have succeeded once but the car that I was undertaking at the time (hey, I was on the cycle-lane at the time so all legal and above board) may have triggered it.

    Is it possible for a cyclist to trip a speed-camera, or are we just too small to register and I should invest in a silver-foil skinsuit?

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Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)
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  • March 30, 2009 at 8:59 am #627041
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    Jon Burrage

    True but in my experience
    True but in my experience pedestrians are so much less aware of bicycles than cars it is terrifying sometimes. Riding into Bristol down Gloucester road (A-road, busy, wise) doing 35mph-ish)with a car slightly ahead of me. The pedestrian lets the car pass and dawdles accross the road in front of me and other cyclists…this is ebcause they dont look, dont want to see or cant equate cycling with speed. Either way it caused a bunch of us to lock up, suggest they look in the future and then for us to recieve a tirade of abuse from her tracksuit wearing boyfriend!

    Its not technically illegal to exceed the speed limit, its safe for a cyclist on their own but not when a pedestrian is involved because we probably do take longer to stop.

    March 29, 2009 at 9:24 pm #627039
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    Mr Sock

    Quote: in fact, because by
    [quote] in fact, because by exerting yourself to try and go fast you’re making yourself less aware of road conditions, as well as giving yourself less time to react.

    You don’t have to particularly exert yoursellf if you’re going down hill, quite the opposite

    March 29, 2009 at 8:32 pm #627037
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    Barry Fry-up

    Okay so it’s not technically
    Okay so it’s not technically illegal to exceed the stated speed limit on a given stretch of road. but the reasons the speed limit is in place are just as applicable to you on a bike as they are to you in car. more so, in fact, because by exerting yourself to try and go fast you’re making yourself less aware of road conditions, as well as giving yourself less time to react.

    March 29, 2009 at 7:27 pm #627035
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    miffed

    The best things ive found are
    The best things ive found are the displays that tell you what speed you’re going and then give you a smile or sad face depending if you are breaking the law.

    Passed one going 32. A car decided it would still be a good idea to overtake me, into a blind corner, and then stop to turn right. Idiot.

    March 29, 2009 at 9:28 am #627033
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    Jon Burrage

    Agreed, the UK law does only
    Agreed, the UK law does only apply to motorised vehicles, attempting to trip a speed camera may be daft and unsafe but it isnt ‘illegal’. Ive been stopped a couple of times by police saying Im going too quickly (below the speed limit).

    March 29, 2009 at 7:32 am #627031
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    Anonymous

    LesBianchi – you seem to be a
    LesBianchi – you seem to be a very angry person, I would normally suggest you get out for a bike ride and relax, but it sounds like that would only add to your stress levels!

    Luckily my Dad is a pretty easy going bloke, so you are at no risk of sounding like him…

    March 28, 2009 at 9:48 pm #627029
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    thebikeboy

    Ah yes, our old friend
    Ah yes, our old friend ‘Furious riding’ If Les rides like he posts he might want to be careful of that one 😉

    March 28, 2009 at 9:43 pm #627027
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    John_the_Monkey

    I’m fairly sure that in the
    I’m fairly sure that in the U.K., speed limits apply to motorised vehicles only (in as much as exceeding them constitutes an offence in and of itself).

    (Which isn’t to say that it’s right to exceed a posted limit on a bicycle, just that it isn’t against the law as such, if I’ve remembered same correctly).

    March 28, 2009 at 6:23 pm #627025
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    Mr Sock

    Whereas I’d say you sound
    Whereas I’d say you sound like my mum

    March 28, 2009 at 5:55 pm #627023
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    hammergonewest

    Blimey!
    You do sound like my
    Blimey!
    You do sound like my dad, he’s called Les too, but he’s not as polite as you :O

    March 28, 2009 at 3:14 pm #627021
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    LesBianchi

    Don’t be such an arse.
    I know
    Don’t be such an arse.
    I know you think it’s big and clever to trip the speed-camera and no small ego-trip, but in doing so (and I may be stating the bleeding obvious here), you’re breaking the law, a law that as a cyclist and legitimate road user you’re required to follow.
    Trying to trip a speed-camera makes you no better than those motorists that speed, you know, the ones you hate, or those cyclists that run red lights, you know, the ones you hate.

    Stick to the law, stop being a twat, and at the risk of sounding like your Dad, stop putting yourself and others in danger.

    March 27, 2009 at 10:14 pm #627019
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    thebikeboy

    Yes I think they do have a
    Yes I think they do have a higher threshold plus as Purplecup says they work in a different way so are inherently harder to set off if you are on a bike – that said, they catch motorcyclists who’s radar shadow can’t be that much bigger than a cyclists.

    One thing I have noticed with the Slow Down! signs is that they seem to be very sensitive some times you can get them to flicker slightly when you don’t seem to be going that fast, and I’ve certainly noticed that I’ve had them flash at me in the car when the speedo has been reading much closer to 25mph. Dunno about you I always try not to set them off when I am in the car and always set them off when I am on the bike.

    March 27, 2009 at 7:48 pm #627017
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    smilzo

    Like the earlier two
    Like the earlier two posters(ees) I’ve tripped the LED speed signs – again, downhill only. I wonder if the camera ones have a higher threshold than the LED ones.

    March 27, 2009 at 9:30 am #627015
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    purplecup

    Speed cameras can measure
    Speed cameras can measure speed in two ways. most of them use a doppler shift radar that calculates your speed by the change in frequency of the waves. Cars reflect a lot of radar, being big and made of metal and glass. bike riders, being small and made mostly of clothes, will reflect much less, i doubt you’d get a reading although i have heard stories of police at mobile speed traps calling out speed readings to passing cyclists 🙂

    The other system uses piezo electric strips under the white lines on the road. again, the difference in weight between a bike and a car would suggest that you’re not going to set that off either…

    March 27, 2009 at 9:24 am #627013
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    Tony Farrelly

    Yeah, there’s one of those
    Yeah, there’s one of those illuminated 30mph signs on the big hill on the way in to work – I can usually get that to flash… never managed it on way back up though 🙂

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