Iħjut Il-mument tal-GATSO

Bħall-agħar affarijiet kollha fil-ħajja, jiġri meta tiegħek l-inqas tistennaha. U ladarba ġara dan, kull ma tista 'tagħmel hu li tistenna, u tittama ... Flimkien ma 'li tiżżerżaq lejn oġġett iebes, lura, u tirrealizza li m'intix se tkun tista' tagħmilha madwar il-kantuniera li jmiss, il-flash doppju ta 'GATSO li jitlaq fil-mera retroviżur tiegħek hija waħda mill-aktar esperjenzi koroh li jista' jkollok fuq erba 'roti.
Ġara lili aktar kmieni din il-ġimgħa, fil-ħamsa ta' filgħodu, fuq sezzjoni tal-M25 li fuqha żgur li vvjaġġajt mill-inqas elf darba fl-aħħar 10 snin, ħafna drabi bl-istess veloċità eżatta li kont qed nagħmel din il-ġimgħa.
L-inkwiet mal-GATSOs, kemmxejn tedjanti, huwa li qatt ma tista 'tgħid liema huma mixgħula u liema huma mitfija. Ħafna minnhom jintfew, iżda din partikolari - immuntata fuq gantry fl-għoli bejn il-junction tmienja f'Reigate u junction disgħa f'Leatherhead tmur kontra l-arloġġ - ilha toqgħod hemm għal snin, tagħmel mhux ħafna.
Huwa għalhekk li, għal bosta snin, Ive xprunat warajha fil-mixja regolari kwieta u vojta tal-awtostrada tiegħi mingħajr daqshekk għasfur tal-dicky permezz ta 'flash.
L-istess jgħodd għall-kameras kollha f'dik it-taqsima tal-M25 bejn l-M23 u l-A3. Għal aeons, huma poġġew rieqed sakemm limitu ta 'veloċità inqas minn 70mph ma jkunx tpoġġa minħabba temp ħażin jew xi wħud bħal dawn, f'liema punt tiegħek iblah biex ma jnaqqasx għal ġewwa mph jew tnejn tal-limitu stazzjonat.
U mbagħad aktar kmieni din il-ġimgħa, boom-boom, telaq, dritt barra mill-blu, bl-istess veloċità li Ive dejjem għadda minnha. Xi ħadd, x'imkien fi ħdan l-awtoritajiet lokali għandu sempliċement iddeċieda li jixgħel din il-kamera partikolari, u hekk hu. Grazzi talli ċempilt, merħba lura f'xi żmien dalwaqt.
I reckon I kien qed tagħmel tmenin humthing-ish, forsi mess inqas; Jew il-mod, kienet veloċità għolja biżżejjed biex ma jkunx hemm argumenti, u l-ebda mistoqsija dwari li nirċievi penali, jekk wieħed jassumi li fil-fatt kien hemm kamera hemmhekk tieħu ritratti u mhux sempliċement dawl li jteptep darbtejn biex ipoġġi r-riħ sewwieqa li ma jirrispettawx (veloċità).
Allura kull ma nista 'nagħmel issa huwa li nistenna li l-envelop tal-karta kannella dreaded jidher fil-kariga, u jinfurmani bil-kastig tiegħi. Li, nispera li heck, se jkun biss tliet punti u multa iżda jista 'possibilment - għax dik il-veloċità hija tajba fuq il-cusp - tkun xi ħaġa ftit imqareb.
Jew, ovvjament, nista 'nispiċċa niġi mistieden biex immur fuq kors biex nirrealizza l-iżball tal-modi tiegħi, f'liema każ Ill ikun hemm bħal sparatura, nisma' b'intenzjoni bl-aħjar minnhom fir-ringiela ta 'quddiem. Dak kollu li hemm bżonn, bażikament, biex inżomm il-liċenzja tiegħi nadifa, l-istess kif kienet għal dawn l-aħħar 15-il sena.
Ma tiflaħx għarrafkom x'jiġri. Sadanittant, hemm aktar GATSOs ġodda hemmhekk li nqbadt minn dan l-aħħar li aħna, il-kollettiv, għandna nkunu nafu dwarhom?

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?