Stopped for speeding?

"TerryJ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I suppose he was just interested to see what reading he got.

That and out of jest I would imagine. Some plods do have a sense of humour!
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Dylan Smith said:

So on my ride into work today, I passed a policeman who was running a
radar speed trap. He was pointing the handheld radar gun at me (there
were no cars behind me, so he was definitely pointing it at me).
Firstly, it was wishful thinking that I'd be anywhere near the 30mph
speed limit - but I was surprised I'd present enough of a radar
reflection for his speed gun to work.

Have the police ever pulled a cyclist over in a radar trap? Have
cyclists ever set off a GATSO?

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute:http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

Pulled over once in Lanner about 20 years ago. Coming over the top
from Redruth there's a nice drop down into the village of Lanner and
on this occasion a great tail wind. Reaching about 44 in a 30 zone.
The cop gave me a right telling off, but didn't bother to give me a
ticket as he realised I had no i.d. on me.

I used to get odd looks from police on the A30 when I dropped into the
slip streams of passing trucks. It was quite easy to maintain an
amazing speed, sometimes around 60, but I guess I wasn't speeding.

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In news:[email hidden],
Dylan Smith <[email hidden]> tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell
us:

Quoted message said:

Have the police ever pulled a cyclist over in a radar trap? Have
cyclists ever set off a GATSO?

Tried very hard to set off the GATSO at the bottom of the hill where the
A261 comes into Hythe the other week, but no joy. Though one of those
flashing "You are exceeding the 30 mph speed limit" jobs went off at me on
Saturday near Tytherington.

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the speed
limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway though) in a 50
limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police admitted that if they
set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all their
available manpower dealing with tickets from this single camera!

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"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the speed
limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway though) in a
50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police admitted that if
they set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all
their available manpower dealing with tickets from this single camera!

It seems to dpeend on where you live:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the speed
limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway though) in a
50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police admitted that if
they set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all
their available manpower dealing with tickets from this single camera!

(Apologies for last half a post - trying to type to quickly!)

It seems to depend on where you live:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2048681,00.html

The old rule used to be that you have to be doing 10% + 1 above the limit to
be fined which allows for innacuracies in the measurement - but that article
seems to suggest that's now the minimum.
--
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"naked_draughtsman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the speed
limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway though) in a
50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police admitted that
if they set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all
their available manpower dealing with tickets from this single camera!

The police do not set up those machines, and have no say in what the
settings are.

Alan

Quoted message said:

It seems to dpeend on where you live:

"naked_draughtsman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the speed
limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway though) in a
50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police admitted that
if they set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all
their available manpower dealing with tickets from this single camera!

It seems to dpeend on where you live:

Absolutely, and this is IIRC a very special case. It`s the end of a
motorway leading to a 40 limit, then a set of traffic lights. Not sure on
the current ACPO guidelines, but I know 10%+2 used to be the case, so to set
off a GATSO in a 30 you`d have to be doing 35+mph.

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elyob said:

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dylan Smith wrote on 11/04/2007 10:33 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Have the police ever pulled a cyclist over in a radar trap? Have
cyclists ever set off a GATSO?

I believe it happens in Richmond Park which is one of the few places the
cyclist can commit a speeding offence. They are also widely used in Marin
County in California where Park Rangers enforce the 15mph cycle speed
limit on the trails with radar guns. Its quite difficult to keep your
speed that low going downhill.

It wasn't me hacking down a RP hill last night at 35mph, overtaking three
cars and catching up a park ranger. Honest, guv.

mmm yes looking at the speedo today it wasn't quite 20.....

not the fastest i've been on the bike though fastest in its present
incaration.

roger

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Dylan Smith said:

Firstly, it was wishful thinking that I'd be anywhere near the 30mph
speed limit - but I was surprised I'd present enough of a radar
reflection for his speed gun to work.

Quoted message said:

Have the police ever pulled a cyclist over in a radar trap? Have
cyclists ever set off a GATSO?

I wonder how much surface area these guns need to get a reflection -
say you're going at 20mph, the top of your tyres are moving forwards
at 40mph. Another argument against big knobbly bits on your tyres? ;o)

Quoted message said:

From memory, I would have to look it up to be precise, and it would

depend on the type of gun being used, but the LTI 2020 has a beam of
about 3500meters and a 1m divergence at 1000m. At normal distances
this equates to about 4.5 to 8.0 cm of target area.

Hmmm, I wonder what frequency those radars operate on. By my calculations
using my rather rusty antenna theory to get that divergence at 3GHz you'd
need a 130m dish antenna. That's a divergence of about 0.06 degrees
which is pretty tight. For example, the deep space network 64m antenna
at Coldstone in the US has a beam width of 0.04 degrees at 8.4GHz.

--
Nobby Anderson

"Alan Holmes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"naked_draughtsman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the
speed limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway
though) in a 50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police
admitted that if they set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines
they`d use up all their available manpower dealing with tickets from
this single camera!

The police do not set up those machines, and have no say in what the
settings are.

But surely the operators would have to take the input of the relevant
police force as to setting limits?

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"naked_draughtsman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the speed
limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway though) in a
50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The Police admitted that
if they set it according to the normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all
their available manpower dealing with tickets from this single camera!

(Apologies for last half a post - trying to type to quickly!)

It seems to depend on where you live:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2048681,00.html

The old rule used to be that you have to be doing 10% + 1 above the limit
to be fined which allows for innacuracies in the measurement - but that
article seems to suggest that's now the minimum.

I know that most police wouldn`t bother for less than 80 no matter what, and
90ish would seem to be the point at which they decide to go after a driver.
Obviously this depends on what the police are concentrating on at the time,
and many other circumstances.

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naked_draughtsman wrote on 11/04/2007 14:26 +0100:

Quoted message said:

"TerryJ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I suppose he was just interested to see what reading he got.

That and out of jest I would imagine. Some plods do have a sense of humour!

They have to with the cyclists pedalling furiously past them shouting
book me book me in the hope of getting evidence of the speed they'd
managed ;-)

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

Alan Holmes wrote on 11/04/2007 13:42 +0100:

Quoted message said:

They do not pull you over, they identify you from your number plate and send
you a NIP, might be a bit difficult to find a number plate on a bicycle
though!

Depends. Sometimes they send you the notice in the post, sometimes they
have colleagues further down the road to pull you over.

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

Nobody Here wrote on 11/04/2007 16:27 +0100:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

From memory, I would have to look it up to be precise, and it would

depend on the type of gun being used, but the LTI 2020 has a beam of
about 3500meters and a 1m divergence at 1000m. At normal distances
this equates to about 4.5 to 8.0 cm of target area.

Hmmm, I wonder what frequency those radars operate on. By my calculations
using my rather rusty antenna theory to get that divergence at 3GHz you'd
need a 130m dish antenna. That's a divergence of about 0.06 degrees
which is pretty tight. For example, the deep space network 64m antenna
at Coldstone in the US has a beam width of 0.04 degrees at 8.4GHz.

It will be a laser based one which needs a far smaller aperture to
achieve that divergence figure.

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

naked_draughtsman said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than the
speed limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a motorway
though) in a 50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph IIRC. The
Police admitted that if they set it according to the normal ACPO
guidelines they`d use up all their available manpower dealing with
tickets from this single camera!

It seems to dpeend on where you live:

You don't mean "it's a postcode lottery!", do you?

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

Alan Holmes said:

"naked_draughtsman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than
the speed limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a
motorway though) in a 50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph
IIRC. The Police admitted that if they set it according to the
normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all their available manpower
dealing with tickets from this single camera!

The police do not set up those machines, and have no say in what the
settings are.

Cite?

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

"Chris Eilbeck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alan Holmes said:

"naked_draughtsman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Simon Finnigan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> To set off a GATSO, you`d have to be doing a fair bit more than
> the speed limit. I know there is one GATSO in my area (on a
> motorway though) in a 50 limit which is set to about 75-80mph
> IIRC. The Police admitted that if they set it according to the
> normal ACPO guidelines they`d use up all their available manpower
> dealing with tickets from this single camera!

The police do not set up those machines, and have no say in what the
settings are.

Cite?

Experience, I have been accuced several times of exceeding the speed limit,
I was stupid enuogh to pay one of them, other have been forgotten when I
asked to see the 'evidence', one was taken to court, no police witness
turned up and that case was also forgotten.

When I asked about how the things were calibrated, I was sent a card which
was full of [censored] about the representative of the company who make the
things and who was the person who did the 'service', servicing is NOT
calibrating, nothing at all from the police!

"Nobody Here" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On 11 Apr, 10:33, Dylan Smith <[email hidden]> wrote:

> Firstly, it was wishful thinking that I'd be anywhere near the 30mph
> speed limit - but I was surprised I'd present enough of a radar
> reflection for his speed gun to work.

> Have the police ever pulled a cyclist over in a radar trap? Have
> cyclists ever set off a GATSO?

I wonder how much surface area these guns need to get a reflection -
say you're going at 20mph, the top of your tyres are moving forwards
at 40mph. Another argument against big knobbly bits on your tyres? ;o)

Quoted message said:

From memory, I would have to look it up to be precise, and it would

depend on the type of gun being used, but the LTI 2020 has a beam of
about 3500meters and a 1m divergence at 1000m. At normal distances
this equates to about 4.5 to 8.0 cm of target area.

Hmmm, I wonder what frequency those radars operate on. By my calculations
using my rather rusty antenna theory to get that divergence at 3GHz you'd
need a 130m dish antenna. That's a divergence of about 0.06 degrees
which is pretty tight. For example, the deep space network 64m antenna
at Coldstone in the US has a beam width of 0.04 degrees at 8.4GHz.

The radar guns are more accurate than any of the other speed detection
devices, as they are calibrated every time they are used, at the start and
end of the shift.

Quoted message said:

--
Nobby Anderson

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Alan Holmes wrote on 11/04/2007 13:42 +0100:

Quoted message said:

They do not pull you over, they identify you from your number plate and
send you a NIP, might be a bit difficult to find a number plate on a
bicycle though!

Depends. Sometimes they send you the notice in the post, sometimes they
have colleagues further down the road to pull you over.

But they still need to produce the 'evidence', which you are entitled to see
before admiting the 'offence'!

Quoted message said:

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

Alan Holmes wrote on 11/04/2007 18:33 +0100:

Quoted message said:

But they still need to produce the 'evidence', which you are entitled to see
before admiting the 'offence'!

You have no need to admit anything about the offence until you are asked
to enter your plea in Court.

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell