Average speed cameras - the way forward?

[Ben T]

It isn't an option on the Mazda 6 unless you have a diesel engine AND a slushbox.  So mine will have normal cruise.

Having to be a slushbox is understandable as it needs to be able to vary the speed of its own accord from crawling to cruising speeds, but not sure why it has to be a diesel.

Petrol engine throttle not fly-by-wire?

My Skoda is a diesel with a stick shift. It has ACC, which is v good.

So what does it do if you are doing 70 in 5th/6th, and it comes up to traffic doing say 20, does it just start hunting and eventually stall, if you don't change down?

[rogerzilla]

It isn't an option on the Mazda 6 unless you have a diesel engine AND a slushbox.  So mine will have normal cruise.

Having to be a slushbox is understandable as it needs to be able to vary the speed of its own accord from crawling to cruising speeds, but not sure why it has to be a diesel.

Petrol engine throttle not fly-by-wire?

It might just be a sales volume thing.  Allegedly fewer than 5% of them are petrol.  At the moment.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Two issues with average speed cameras are:

1.  Lane discipline goes out the window as all the BMW and Merc drivers who used to sit at 90 in the third lane are forced to sit with everyone else, and there is a lot of undertaking and switching lanes to try and get past the guy doing 1mph slower than them.

2. 50mph average speed cameras prove what complete bastards HGV drivers are; they finally achieve their life's ambition to keep up with the cars, so they sit 3 feet from your rear bumper to shit you up, or overtake you if they think they can get away with doing 52mph.  This is rather unnerving if you're in a low-slung car, because you never know if they can actually see you once they're alongside.  A relative learned the hard way not to sit alongside a lorry for any longer than is absolutely necessary - she was sideswiped by a foreign HGV and the police weren't interested because they said you can't expect the driver of an LHD lorry to see you 

You simply adopt an inability to drive at a constant speed. Drivers stay further away from unpredictable vehicles.

Much easier just to ignore tailgaters of any kind!  No HGV has adequate vision anyway but they can hear a good horn. 

 Don't try this at home: 

 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Two issues with average speed cameras are:

1.  Lane discipline goes out the window as all the BMW and Merc drivers who used to sit at 90 in the third lane are forced to sit with everyone else, and there is a lot of undertaking and switching lanes to try and get past the guy doing 1mph slower than them.

2. 50mph average speed cameras prove what complete bastards HGV drivers are; they finally achieve their life's ambition to keep up with the cars, so they sit 3 feet from your rear bumper to shit you up, or overtake you if they think they can get away with doing 52mph.  This is rather unnerving if you're in a low-slung car, because you never know if they can actually see you once they're alongside.  A relative learned the hard way not to sit alongside a lorry for any longer than is absolutely necessary - she was sideswiped by a foreign HGV and the police weren't interested because they said you can't expect the driver of an LHD lorry to see you 

Applying to motor vehicles the behaviour expected of cyclists. Perhaps those "Cyclists stay back" stickers should be expanded in their audience. Unless we're going to expect drivers to use their mirrors.

[Tim Hall]

It isn't an option on the Mazda 6 unless you have a diesel engine AND a slushbox.  So mine will have normal cruise.

Having to be a slushbox is understandable as it needs to be able to vary the speed of its own accord from crawling to cruising speeds, but not sure why it has to be a diesel.

Petrol engine throttle not fly-by-wire?

My Skoda is a diesel with a stick shift. It has ACC, which is v good.

So what does it do if you are doing 70 in 5th/6th, and it comes up to traffic doing say 20, does it just start hunting and eventually stall, if you don't change down?

I haven't had that situation yet. I know it can jam on the anchors automagically, with a beeping noise and blinken lights to tell me, should traffic conditions demand.

[The Family Cyclist]

There has been something circulating on Facebook so may or may not be true saying that the average speed cameras on the A12 on the Essex and North Essex or Suffolk as some folk call it border are linked to DVLA so know what vehicle it is and therefore the speed limits for said vehicle so 60mph for van rather then 70.

[TheLurker]

There has been something circulating on Facebook so may or may not be true...

May not be true _yet_ but technically quite straight-forward.  About the only things I can think of that might be stopping it would be inter-dept'l politics and a lack of cash.