Fil: El moment GATSO

Agradar totes les coses pitjors dins vida, passa quan youre menys esperant-lo. I una vegada que el seu passat, tot pots fer és espera, i esperança\u2026Alongside corredís cap a un objecte dur, enrere, i adonant-se de que tu arent anant per ser capaç de fer-lo al voltant la cantonada pròxima, el flaix doble d'un GATSO que va fora en el vostre mirall de vista de darrere és un de les experiències més terribles pots haver-hi damunt quatre rodes.
Em passava aquesta setmana, a les cinc del matí, en un tram de la M25, en el qual he ha viatjat com a mínim una i mil vegades en els últims 10 anys, sovint a la mateixa velocitat exacta que estava fent aquesta setmana.
El problema amb GATSOs, una mica molest, és que mai es pot dir quins són encesa i quins s'apaga. Majoria d'ells són apagat, però aquest particular aquell-muntat en un pòrtic basculants entre encreuament de vuit a Reigate i encreuament de nou al va Leatherhead anti-horària – ha estat assegut allà durant anys, fent no molt.
Quin és per què, durant anys, Ive passat conduït ell al meu regular tranquil, buit motorway gait sense tant com a dicky-ocell per manera d'un flaix.
Mateix va per totes les càmeres en aquella secció del M25 entre el M23 i l'Un3. Per aeons, theyve va posar dormant llevat que un límit de velocitat més baix que 70mph ha estat posted a causa de temps dolent o alguns tal, a quin punt youre un ximplet no per alentir a dins d'un mph o dos del posted límit.
I llavors més d'hora aquesta setmana, boom-boom, va anar fora, correcte de cop, a la mateixa velocitat que Ive sempre passat ell a. Algú, en algun lloc dins de les autoritats locals senzillament han d'haver-hi decidit per girar aquesta càmera particular damunt, i tan thats allò. Gràcies per cridar, la benvinguda dóna suport a algun cop aviat.
Suposo que estava fent vuitanta-humthing-ish, potser un toc menys; de qualsevol manera, va ser un velocitat prou alta com per allà per ser sense arguments i no hi ha dubte sobre mi rebre una sanció, suposant que no hi era en realitat una càmera fins allà prenent fotografies i no merament una llum que parpelleja dues vegades per posar el vent amunt confiats automobilistes (excés de velocitat).
Així que tot el que pot fer ara és esperar l'embolcall de paper marró temut a aparèixer en el post, informant-me del meu càstig. Que, espero que els diables, serà només tres punts i una multa però podria possiblement-perquè aquesta velocitat és just a la cúspide-ser alguna cosa una mica naughtier.
O, naturalment, podria acabar amunt sent convidat per anar en un curs per adonar-se de l'error de les meves maneres, en quin cas Malalt ser allà com una bala, escoltant intently amb el millor d'ells dins la fila de front. Qualsevol cosa agafa, bàsicament, per mantenir la meva llicència neta, tan l'ha estat pel durar 15 anys.
Malalt deixat saps quin passa. Mentrestant, és allà més nou GATSOs allí que youve estat agafat per recentment que nosaltres, el col·lectiu, ought per saber aproximadament?

Like all the worst things in life, it happens when youre least expecting it. And once its happened, all you can do is wait, and hope…Alongside sliding towards a hard object, backwards, and realising that you arent going to be able to make it around the next corner, the double flash of a GATSO going off in your rear-view mirror is one of the most dreadful experiences you can have on four wheels.
It happened to me earlier this week, at five in the morning, on a section of the M25 on which I must have traveled at least a thousand times in the last 10 years, often at the exact same speed that I was doing this week.
The trouble with GATSOs, somewhat annoyingly, is that you can never tell which ones are switched on and which ones are switched off. Most of them are switched off, but this particular one – mounted on an overhead gantry between junction eight at Reigate and junction nine at Leatherhead going anti-clockwise – has been sat there for years, doing not a lot.
Which is why, for years, Ive driven past it at my regular quiet, empty motorway gait without so much as a dicky-bird by way of a flash.
Same goes for all the cameras on that section of the M25 between the M23 and the A3. For aeons, theyve laid dormant unless a speed limit lower than 70mph has been posted due to bad weather or some such, at which point youre a fool not to slow to within an mph or two of the posted limit.
And then earlier this week, boom-boom, it went off, right out of the blue, at the same speed that Ive always past it at. Someone, somewhere within the local authorities must simply have decided to turn this particular camera on, and so thats that. Thank you for calling, welcome back sometime soon.
I reckon I was doing eighty-humthing-ish, maybe a touch less; either way, it was a high enough speed for there to be no arguments, and no question about me receiving a penalty, assuming there was actually a camera up there taking photographs and not merely a light that flashes twice to put the wind up unsuspecting (speeding) motorists.
So all I can do now is wait for the dreaded brown paper envelope to appear in the post, informing me of my punishment. Which, I hope to heck, will be just three points and a fine but it could possibly – because that speed is right on the cusp – be something a little bit naughtier.
Or, of course, I might end up being invited to go on a course to realise the error of my ways, in which case Ill be there like a shot, listening intently with the best of them in the front row. Whatever it takes, basically, to keep my licence clean, just as it has been for the last 15 years.
Ill let you know what happens. In the meantime, are there any more new GATSOs out there that youve been caught by recently that we, the collective, ought to know about?