Just scanning this forum recently, I have seen three or four posts made by people who have had the misfortune to have been snapped by a Gatso camera or similar, and have gone on to receive a fine and penalty points. At least one of these unfortunates lost his licence having reached 12 points.
All of these incidents could have been avoided, had these victims had at their disposal an enforcement alert device such as Road Angel Plus. I have been using this system for just over a year now, and would never drive without it. I have decided to write this “brief” account of one year’s ownership, which I think some of you might find useful.
Why Road Angel Plus, and why now?
Electronic countermeasures to police speed enforcement have been available for decades, but until 2006 I never saw a need to own any such device myself. That’s because I had no wish to flout speed limits or drive at an unsafe speed. When I started driving, in 1971, there was no obsessive enforcement of speed limits that I knew of, unlike today. Furthermore, it was generally possible to assess the speed limit for a road based upon its characteristics. If it looked safe for 40, the speed limit would very likely be 40. If it looked safe for 60, the limit might well be 60. There were exceptions, of course. Driving past Leicester prison one Sunday evening in 1975, I was driving at what I thought was a safe speed, given the width of this straight section of road. I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop, and advised that I’d been doing 45 in a 30. He could see that no harm was done and that I wasn’t “unsafe”. And so, after checking my docs, he let me go with a friendly word. Back then, the people who tended to get done for speeding would know full well that they were exceeding the posted limit by some considerable margin, and would often be driving high performance cars. As I gained driving experience, I always remember thinking that the
limits I saw on some country roads were there for a reason – there’d be a nasty bend, or a hidden turning or some other hazard. In short, our speed limits may not have been perfect, but by and large they made sense.
ALL that has changed. The friendly cop who stopped me outside Leicester prison has been replaced by a Gatso camera, incapable of making a judgement based on the situation.
Many speed limits have been lowered in the last ten years. Now, it’s no longer possible to assess the speed limit for a road by assessment of its characteristics. A road that looks like it would be safe for a 60 limit (which it may well once have had) will now have a limit as low as 40, or even 30. But paradoxically, a village near me which has a railway passing through it with an
unguarded level crossing has a
limit which changes to
about 50 yards before the level crossing! It gets worse. Some urban roads which used to be
have been changed to
. Because these roads had a system of street lighting, the use of
repeater signs is not lawful, and therefore the only visible change if joining such a road part way along the speed limited section will be the absence of the
repeater signs which have now been removed. The people now being targeted are not necessarily hotheads in high performance cars, but are often ordinary motorists driving ordinary cars. As you can see, the scope for running foul of the law is enormous, especially now as drivers are often prosecuted for being only 5mph above the posted limit. Not only that, but in order to avoid being a “40-everywhere” or “30-everywhere” driver, a significant proportion of our attention must now be devoted to actively looking out for speed limit signs, street lamps, and other visual cues which may indicate the speed limit. In some cases this can be a serious distraction.
Back in the 1970s or earlier, the people who purchased speed limit enforcement alert devices often did so as to be able to “speed with impunity”. The very purchase of a radar detector was often shrouded with secrecy – an under-the-counter brown envelope job, because everyone knew why the purchase was being made. Now, such devices are sold openly – in car dealerships, bundled with SatNav, and even advertised on TV. (Road Angel Plus was advertised on tv by Top Gear’s Tiff Needell, and I’m 99% sure it’s his voice that makes the audible alerts) Even road atlases now include speed camera locations on their maps, because it is realised that even safe drivers can be caught out while driving perfectly safely. As this board has often observed, the name of the enforcement game has gone from “making roads safer” to “let’s see how many people we can catch”. In short, policing by numbers and meeting targets.
The Purchase
And so the day came in August 2006 that I decided to take matters into my own hands. I saw Road Angel Plus on sale at my local Audi dealership when I took my car in for service. I purchased one shortly afterwards, though not at the Audi dealer. I paid £300, and bundled with Road Angel Plus came an electric tyre inflation device worth about £30. (A bit of a white elephant actually, but I won’t digress) This particular unit is now available for around £250. The one I have looks like this.
Road Angel doesn’t actually
detect cameras as such, but knows the locations of all Gatso/Truvelo cameras which are stored in its database. Like SatNav, it uses the GPS satellites to determine its location.
Setting Up
The unit comes with three chargers – a mains charger, and two in-car charges – one with a coiled lead and one with a straight lead. The first thing I did was to make sure the unit was fully charged. Next, I downloaded the software needed for updating the database. First time installation was slow, but has been quicker since. The makers recommend updating the database (via USB connection on PC) every two weeks. I always do it within the two weeks, or in any event just before I go on a long trip.
On the Road
The unit sits on a magnetic pad which is held on top of the dash with an adhesive. A button is pressed to turn it on, and Tiff’s voice proclaims
”Road Angel!” It can take a minute to acquire the satellites, and then a big number appears on the display, indicating your vehicle’s speed. (At a steady speed, this will be more accurate than the speedometer) When approaching a “safety camera”, the voice will cry out
"Warning! Fixed Safety Camera!” The distance from the camera at which this occurs is by default 250 metres, but can be adjusted to 500m or even 1km. I use the default 250m. An icon will appear, representing the type of camera and, very importantly, the speed limit for that section of road will be displayed in a circle to the left of your actual speed. In many cases, I’m at or below the speed limit and no action is required. Occasionally, I might be slightly above the speed limit, in which case taking my foot off the accelerator is all that is needed. The system is clever enough to know if you’re headed face to face with a Gatso on the other side of the road, in which case no alert is sounded. However, for reversible cameras situated in the middle of a road, an alert is always given from either direction. The system will beep – slowly at first – beep….beep…..beep – then more quickly as you get closer to the camera – beep..beep..beep – then frantically as you get very close – beep!beep!beep!beep!
Very occasionally (twice in a year) I’ve seen a camera for which no alert was given. In these situations it is possible, by pressing a few buttons, to add the location to your unit’s database. I always do this because the database update process is a two-way affair. As well as downloading the up to date list of camera locations, the software will
upload the user locations you have added for consideration. These will be added to the Road Angel database, if appropriate. I must say I have been impressed by the accuracy of the database. It’s kept bang up to date, so that even SPECCS cameras at roadworks are in there, and are removed when the road works are completed.
I normally keep the unit charged up by plugging it into the 12v socket when I leave the car parked. (However, not all cars deliver current to the 12v socket when the key is removed from the ignition) It only takes a small charge, and has never caused problems with the car battery.
Camera vans and laser
The interface software has been updated since I bought my unit, and when run for the first time updates the unit’s flash memory. It now includes other types of alert – school zones, black spots, and known camera van locations. However, I can confirm that the unit as supplied does not normally detect a laser signal! And even if it did, the alert would come too late. There is an option to install a laser detector on the rear numberplate, but any such an improvisation might produce only an alert to tell you that your NIP will be sent out to you shortly. For this reason, I don’t have the numberplate mounted sensor.
Is it Legal
Yes, because it doesn’t emit any jamming signal and does not detect the cameras themselves but only knows their positions. I’ve heard it rumoured that devices like this are to be outlawed, but I think it’s only features like the laser sensor, not much use anyway, which might be banned.
The current method of “promoting safety” is to prosecute motorists. They get a letter, two weeks after the event, telling them that they were speeding. The Road Angel philosophy is different. We are told that “safety cameras” are deployed in areas known to be hazardous. Rather than letting the motorist drive into these areas at an “unsafe” speed and then writing a letter about it (NIP) two weeks later, Road Angel believes that it’s better to warn the driver ahead of time that he’s approaching a hazardous area, so that he can check his speed and adjust accordingly. To my mind, anyone who tries to defy this logic is admitting that what they really want is for drivers to be allowed to speed, so they can be caught and fined.
Has it changed the way I drive?
Yes. But perhaps not in the way you might think. Up until August 2006, I found myself distracted – constantly scanning for speed limit signs, street lamps and other visual cues indicating the speed limit, plus of course looking out for the cameras and vans used for enforcement, and at the same remaining transfixed by the speedometer.
Now, I can relax, enjoy the drive, and concntrate on the road, free of unnecessary distractions. Surely this is a much safer scenario?
Occasionally, there will be a stretch of road with a
limit, but no camera. If it looks safe for a higher speed, there’s a chance that I might be exceeding the posted speed limit. Frankly, I say “so what”. Many of these limits have been set too low. I won’t be that much over the speed limit, and I won’t be driving at an unsafe speed. And I sure as hell won’t be doing 80+ in a 30 area, or 159 on a motorway to try the car out.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
Members
