DrEvil

Basically I want to know if it is optimistic or pesimistic?? I'm hoping for the first, around 37mph.. otherwise I have an SP30 on the way.. joy...

Cheers, Alex

[This message has been edited by DrEvil (edited 21 November 2000).]

JoeyDeacon

Optimistic, probably by around 10%. How fast were you going at the time?? Your 37MPH (If that is the speed you got done at?) is probably more like 34MPH.

RichieC

Dunno what model you have, but I had my MY93 WRX calibrated yesterday and here are the figures, hope it helps:

Indicated Actual
30 29.6
40 39.4
50 49.1
60 60.6
70 69.7
80 79.5
90 87.8
100 95.2
110 106.6
120 116.0

Hope youre in the clear, best regards

Richie

[This message has been edited by RichieC (edited 21 November 2000).]

DrEvil

Thanks for the info, i've got a P1..

J-D, I hope so.. far as I could tell (guessing) the speed read about 37 more than 26 less than 38, could be wrong...

RichieC - I really hope not, I might just scrape it.

My own stupid fault, instead of slowing down to 30 ish as usual, i just followed the traffic infront, never again!

Cheers, Alex

PS. I'll let you know the outcome.

Jerome

Alex,

By law a speedo cannot under read at all. They can over read by up to 10%. Most manufacturers err on the side of caution and get them to over read.

Jerome.

DrEvil

Jerome - cheers mate.

harryh

Top Gear did a test about a year ago using the same equipment plod use to calibrate their speed testing gear and most cars under read until about 40mph and then over read after that. This is exactly what you do not need for a zero-tolerance policy in built-up areas.

DrEvil

PS.. even though the car infront must of got done, did my snooper make a sound, no...

at least I wont hit any temporary traffic lights that are after blind bends though..

Still in a grump

JoeyDeacon

Alex,

So how fast were you going and what is the limit for that stretch of road?? If your snooper didn't make a sound then maybe it is a fake camera??

I have set off a couple of speed cameras in my time and have never heard anything.

The Zohan

What sort of camera

Gatzo - grey box 'planted' by the roadside - did it flash twice???
or mobile camera - no flash.

The Gatzo's can be set to only go off above a certain speed. this is down the the local feds? i think


i concurr about the speedos reading about 10% on the optimistic side.

Oh, simple way not to get knicked - don't speed in built up areas. Oh, it is sooo easy to be Self-righteous!




[This message has been edited by Paul Habgood (edited 21 November 2000).]

DrEvil

J-D,

it was a man in a van, went & quizzed him about it, looked like a small tripod unit in black, very lightweight, bar all the stuff it plugged into... was doing 37 ish according to the speedo.. unfortunately it ws round a bend just after 60 zone went to 30.. hmm..

As I said, I ultimately should have been doing 30 ish, just fed up with give so much to the government (tax or otherwise..). Its been a bad week so far, hopefully will get better!

Jerome

Alex,

If it is the van I think it is (in the Farnborough area?), it looks like a laser gun, so that might be why the snooper didn't go off. Either that or he'd just turned it off. Hope you don't get done, after all you were slowing down to the limit anyway. With any luck the van was being manned by a friendly traffic copper running a speed trap I got chatting to in Farnborough a few weeks ago. He was quite happy to have a chat with me about the speed trap etc. Also didn't mind me seeing the speed he was letting people get away with in a 30. Only stopped chatting to nick someone (who was going far to fast), but not before I inadvertantly made him miss a speeding local taxi. He even joked I should phone the taxi company and ask for a free fare 'cos I saved one of their driver 3 points & fine.

While I'm on the subject, I also think these vans are distracting. If you notice a bloke sitting in the back of a van pointing something at you, it could well be enough of a distraction that you don't notice a hazard ahead...

Jerome.

DrEvil

Paul,

Quite agree, I usually do make sure I am hovering around about the speed limit in built up areas, sometimes infact way below.. all you need is for a kid to jump out from behind a parked car etc.. 30/40 zones + houses = me be very cautious usually, especially if theirs lots of parked cars (really annoy people in towns when I'm doing 20-25mph due to pedestrians around).. a lot more places should be 20 mph limits IMHO..

Ah well, I'll stop me bitchin' and see what happens.. no excuse for it at the end of the day...

Phil.A

How far were you in to the 30 limit the police guidelines for the radar traps say that you should be 2/10s of a mile into the limit before thay can pull you up.
just got of a sp30

Mr.Cookie

Sorry to hear Alex

Phil

Are you sure about that as there was one in pirbright a few weeks ago and it was no more than 100-150 yards away from national speed limit sign.

Regards
Simon

DrEvil

Phil - cheers, I'll check that out, they werent far from it.

Mr Cookie - cheers mate..

Kevin2000 - thats harsh mate.

Thanx to all

BarryK

There is a good table of this on the SIDC FAQ.

I agree with some comments on here about the danger of Gatso's. I pass a particular one daily, at the foot of a (steep) hill about five yards past the 30mph sign leaving the 40 zone.

I do my best not to speed but find I am not looking where I am going or reading the road ahead whilst peering at my speedo in case I set off the Gatso at 35mph or something.

A more dangerous distraction than doing 35 I think.

Kevin2000

Mr cookie,on a straight stretch of B road over here where the limit was 60 the government decided to put a limit of 30 for bout 300 yards cause from what I can see there are 2 or 3 house entrances along there.Two days after the sign for 30 went up the police plonked a gatso van not more than 5 yards inside the new 30 zone.That is no exageration and obviously upon seein the van u slow automatically but i wasnt doin more than 50 anyhow in the 60 zone.It was only two days after when aproaching the spot again that i spotted the very small 30mph sign which was almost obscured by trees.No doubt there are people passing through there right now none the wiser but what amazed me was the fact the gatso was no more than 10-15 feet from the new limit sign.

Kevin2000

Some one made the point that if you are lookin at the reg of an unmarked police car you arent payin attention to the road,thats the case looking at your speedometer qualifies as dangerous under that train of thought.I agree with you Barry in the fact that it is all too easy to go slightly over the limit when looking at the developing road conditions ahead of you.

Mr.Cookie

Cheers Kevin

Ps Kevin that some 'll be me

[This message has been edited by Mr.Cookie (edited 23 November 2000).]

KevMac

Had my Forester Turbo checked by official Subaru diagnostic kit on the motorway last month.

The car was reading exactly 10 over at every speed i.e. 40mph=36mph, 50mph=45mph etc and 80mph was 72mph which was nice to know on the M-Way.

[This message has been edited by KevMac (edited 23 November 2000).]

phil_ng

Richie, Or anyone - can you tell me where I can get my speedo calibrated N London area?? I have always felt my STI5 was well over reading. can it be adjusted? Luckily I know all the gatsos within my area and its strange how you develope a habit of looking for the white lines and awareness of brake lights in the distance.

DrEvil

BarryK - another good example of that is when a police car is following, you tend (out of paranioa) to be checking the speedo constantly... especially when they arent giving u a 2 second gap (encountered this round my area of the UK)..

Cheers, Alex