How Motorway Average Speed Cameras Work?

About SPECS cameras
They work by using an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system to record a vehicle's front number plate at each fixed camera site. As the distance is known between these sites, the average speed can be calculated by dividing this by the time taken to travel between two points.

What happens if you speed through average speed cameras?

If the average speed between two sets of SPECS cameras exceeds the Police threshold (usually 10% plus 2mph over the limit, but can be set anywhere above the legal limit), an offence record is created, and images and data are transferred back to central control unit for processing.

Can you cheat average speed cameras?

Secret Hack to average cameras

Say you cross the first checkpoint at 50mph, and the last checkpoint at 50mph but it only took you 4 mins to cover the 5 miles of average speed zone - your average speed is 75mph. So despite slamming on the brakes for the cameras, speeding up during that journey will still catch you out.

Sarah Jenkins

Sarah Jenkins

Senior Technology Editor & AI Specialist

Sarah Jenkins is a veteran tech journalist with over 12 years of experience covering artificial intelligence, mobile innovations, and digital ethics. Her insights have appeared in leading technology publications worldwide.