Dodgy Gatsco or Dodgy Guage?

[arandle]

Folks - particularly any plod that may frequent these pages. I'm a little gutted at the mo and don't know where I stand, can anyone put my mind at rest?

There I was minding my own business as I drove out of London on Wednesday night on a 50mph stretch of the A40, it was fairly late (2am) and there was very little about. Even so I was in the "slow" lane and being particularly careful not to exceed the speed limits, as there are cameras all over that road. You can guess what's coming - according to my speedo I was doing 45Mph, but a camera flashed me!! At that time another vehicle on the outside lane came by me at (I would guess) 60ish.

So my questions:-

1. Could it be possible the other car triggerred the flashes even though he wasn't in the lane with the road marking on? If so, will I get done for it as the picture will be of me! I find it hard to believe that this could have happenned but I'm clutching at straws here....

2. Ignoring the other car, can these cameras make mistakes with their measurements?

3. I guess the real question is, if I get a letter in the post, what chance do I have of sucessfully arguing that I wasn't going over the limit given I have no proof??

...I'd really like my licence to remain clean and will be totally gutted if I end up banged up for a crime I didn't commit - it's a stitch up, I'm innocent!!!

Where do I stand?

Thanks all.....

[spnracing]

The camera measures your speed, so if it flashed for another car it will be your speed that shows, not their's. If you were speeding then you may get a NIP, if you weren't you're OK.

I wouldn't panic - I think the statistic is something like 1 in 11 flashes lead to a NIP.

[CarZee]

Two photos have to be taken (at a fixed interval). That way your speed reading can be double checked by seeing how many of the little white lines you passed in the time between frames.

N'est-ce pas?

[DimmaDan]

CarZee is right, you will not get done, the car in the outside lane possibly would have if there were markings (assuming film etc). Thats the whole point of having road markings, to verify the radar reading. The camera is only trained on one lane at a time anyway, the radar is not. (On single carriageways sometimes you can set the camera off if you're travelling(speeding) in the opposite direction to which the camera pointing , again the two photos will back up the actual speed, as vehicles travelling in the correct direction think they've been caught. You will not as there are no marking on your side) You need two flashes for a start. So the photo will show you doing 45mph in the specified time and the other car 60mph.
You have nothing to worry about.

>> Edited by DimmaDan on Thursday 25th July 17:58

>> Edited by DimmaDan on Thursday 25th July 18:00

[arandle]

Phew - that's a relief, thanks chaps, reckon I'm off the hook then.......

[JMGS4]

I wouldn't worry too much, if there's more than 1 car in the photo they can't do you anyway, false readings, who was the speeder????