Nothing to do with camouflage. As the vans are primarily operated by civilians they are not classed as emergency service vehicles. They do pose a hazard, hence the orange lights. I am not a fan of this type of enforcement. One vehicle that is camouflaged to look like a police vehicle are the Highway Agency vehicles. The ACPO member who was involved in their development and introduction intentionally made sure they look like a police vehicle from a distance, even down to the orange roof lights being behind white lenses.
They're a different Battenburg colour though, for me at least easily identified. They even use a vehicle manufacturer that the Police don't.
Police Battenburg is blue, traffic officer is black. If you can see that across the lanes (you're in lane 3, they're in lane 1) that helps, but not from 500 yards back - maybe 100 yards. You'll need to ease off to 75mph or so until you can read the rear / see the side. It's the unmarked ones that are more worrisome.
I don't drive at those speeds and not very often am I found in the 3rd lane. I tend to crawl along at around an indicated 62. I haven't seen a Police 4x4 in a very long time, Traffic Officers invariably drive a large 4x4 Shoguns last time I could be bothered to show an interest. the rear of the Chevrons Traffic Officer takes up more room that would the word Police meaning the cutout is shorter for the later. I have no concerns with regard to the unmarked ones, either I haven't come across one or they have had no reason to stop me so far. For what it's worth I don't ride either dual carriageway roads or use motorways on a motorcycle. I don't recall Traffic Officers patroling A roads not that I ride those roads either for any significant distance I much prefer B roads and unclassifieds.
You'll be OK at 67mph if you're specifically worried about cameras. See here, section 5.6: https://library.college.police.uk/docs/NPCC/Speed-enforcement-disposal-guidance-2025.pdf At 68mph though, it's wrist-slapping time. Doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to do 67mph of course - your roads may vary. The local police is a 4x4 around here plus 10 mile radiius or so - it's rural with ordnance! Agreed on dual carriageways - boring and blustery. I meant for general driving advice, not just for bikes.
I drive a van, 62 is the best speed for fuel economy on a motorway balancing that against a reasonable drive time. 50 mph on an A road, which it appears to catch some drivers out. Speed isn't a concern for me as I do the posted limit using either cruise control or a limiter depending on the situation.
Not necessarily, see para 5.3 Nothing in this guidance restricts police forces from prosecuting for speeds falling below the thresholds. However, such decisions should be taken on a case-by-case basis with due regard to the individual circumstances of the offence and relevant signage and engineering in place at the time.
Yup, that's true. And there's nothing to stop a force from ignoring the guidance, but I've not heard of any force with cameras that are stricter. In para 5.3 it's likely to be actual police officers pulling you for speeding, not a fixed camera. Riding past a marked car at 67mph in a 60mph probably isn't smart, for example. I'll be interested to hear if anyone has tried that with repeated success. The few traffic police I've talked to would generally prefer to pull you to have a quiet word, not issue you a ticket (think of the paperwork!). See para 3.5. Getting lippy or doing some crap/dangerous riding whilst speeding (para 3.10) - that may change their mind, of course.
