FIGURES just released show new grey painted motorway speed cameras are capturing offenders at a frightening rate.
The new speed camera system installed in April 2014 between junctions five and six on the M25 in Kent near Clacket Lane Services only became operational on 22 October.
If the vehicle is breaking the speed limit the camera takes two photographs of the registration number
Yet, less than three months later, 1,513 people had been caught. One of the biggest complaints is that they are not as noticeable as the yellow cameras leading to many motorists dubbing them ‘sneaky’.
The Highways Agency Digital Enforcement Camera System 3, or Hadecs 3 for short, differs by being able to cover all the lanes of a motorway carriageway from a single camera mounted on the grass verge or a gantry. If the vehicle is breaking the speed limit the camera takes two photographs of the registration number.
The new cameras will soon be rolled out to other Smart Motorway sections – the M1 (in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire), M6 (around Birmingham) and a stretch of the M3.
Of the 1,513 drivers logged by the new cameras, 781 had exceeded a speed limit of 70mph, according to Kent Police. The other 732 had broken a limit of either 40, 50 or 60mph. The Highways Agency says the people caught are a small proportion of the “hundreds of thousands of motorists [who] use this stretch of the M25 every day”.
