Speed Camera Question?

[Ozzie1989]

Hello there! My first visit to the leisure lounge even though I've been here a while

Now on my way home today, I went through a speed camera (as you do on your way home ) and I made sure I was doing 30 as it's downhill. Now there was a car going in the oppoiste direction and as the light flashed he was just over the end of the white lines in the road (camera facing the back of him). I at this point was about in the middle (camera facing the front of me). There were also no white lines on my side of the road due to resurfacing.

I'm pretty sure I was doing 30 but I wanted to check where the flash goes off? and if they can get you if there's no white lines on your side of the road?

Cheers

 

[christopher watson]

Take pictures of the newly laid road (and lack of white lines) just in case you DO get a speeding ticket

 

[CheeseMaster]

The camera snaps people going away from it, not to it ( not the same case in France though, cameras are pointed at the windscreen to snap the driver on some routes ).

Don't know about if the white lines have to be present, but guess they should be as I think they are used for calibration and cross checks.

I've been flashed before now driving out on the twickenroad out of London by a camera on the other side of the road facing me ( when there was no one coming the other way and I was doing the speed limit ) but I figure it was a fault as it looked like an early model Gatso. I never heard anything.

They do tend to switch the direction of Gatsos around which is why you might see on the carriageway calibration lines on both sides, but the Gatso facing away from some.

I've been driving when Gatsos flashed many times, and never been ticketed. Each time I've been at the speed limit too - so it must have been other cars triggering it.

 

[Ozzie1989]

I will go take a picture first thing in the morning, knowing my luck they'll have re-painted the lines before I get there LOL!

I didn't think they would do you (or at least not work as well) with the camera facing you as it doesn't give enough time for you to go over the lines. However it is a small road, and if it only did one side, why put the lines on both (when they existed before they dug up one side of the road)?

We shall see Shame you couldn't check on the net for it!

 

[CheeseMaster]

So they can turn the camera round.

 

[Ozzie1989]

No, the camera is fixed and the lines are in (or were) on the same place either side of the road.

 

[CheeseMaster]

New one on me Looks like Britain now has the same cameras as round here then

 

[Ozzie1989]

Well that particular camera has been there for at least the past 3 years bloody things! I know I was doing 30 as per my speedo, and according to my gps this over-reads by 3mph at 30, so with a bit of luck (even though I wouldn't wish it upon anyone) it will be the driver on the other side of the road! :worship:

 

[CheeseMaster]

Been out of the UK as a citizen for 3 years, returning on and off.

 

[Seraph]

New one on me Looks like Britain now has the same cameras as round here then

They put lines on both sides of the road so that if a person tries to evade the camera by going on the other side of the road, they can still not only get a decent snap shot, but also a completed verified speed.

ad Some cameras in the UK get people face on... Truvelos...

 

[Trancendental]

Yellow Gatso cameras will flash in both directions depending on where the camera is placed.

If the camera is placed on the left (Your direction of travel) it may flash traffic going in the opposite direction, however traffic going in the opposite direction will not recieve fines due to various technicalities.

If the camera was on the central reservation (Your direction of Travel) it will not flash traffic going in the opposite direction unless it has been rotated to view that line of traffic. In these circumstances, distance traveled line sets may be painted on both sides of the raod a few metres apart.

Various circumstances (Weather, Temperature) can cause a Gatso camera to falsely trigger.

If you were to recieve a fine, without the road markings for distance traveled over time you could take the issue to court and argue that it is not possible to verify your speed and that the camera may have been triggered by traffic flowing in the opposite direction or by one of the many circumstances that cause random Gatso flashes.

If you were doing 30 then don't worry about it.

 

[johnstoke]

theres 2 that seem to flash for no real reason on my way to work in the morning, if you are sure you werent speeding, i wouldnt wory too much

 

[poggy]

I thought they had to check the speed using the markings in the road to confirm it's accurate. Without the lines I can't see hoe they could do it. There was a thing in the paper a while back about them not checking the speed against the road markings and they had to cancel a load of tickets.

I guess you will know within 14 days time, but I wouldn't worry too much if it were me.

 

[CheeseMaster]

Right, my goodness I agree with poggy on something (!). However they can use the lines on the other side of the road and just draw continuations on the two photographs to work out your speed if they want.

 

[Ozzie1989]

Cheers to you all. I will take a photo of my side of the road with no markings later on today just in case it does come through to me. I'm not gonna worry about it, if it happens it happens and I'll try to challenge it, if it doesn't then I'll have learnt something from my first flash!

 

[crazydave]

The camera snaps people going away from it, not to it ( not the same case in France though, cameras are pointed at the windscreen to snap the driver on some routes ).

Hey, think there are some cameras that can flash you going towards them, think they are truvelo cameras, however the white lines lead up to the camera rather than leading away,

 

[Luke M]

the speed cameras use lazers to calculate the speed you are travelling however these are not accurate they just see if you are over the limit.

if the camera detects you speeding it takes 2 photos a specific time apart. they then use the lines on the road to calculate the distance you have travelled then can calculate your speed.

if you have ever seen white rectangles in the road (or sometimes circles) about a foot long. these are reference points for cops. they start a stop watch when you go over the square then there will be another square about a mile down the road where they stop the watch. they can then work out your speed. not used so much now though since speed guns have been introduced.

 

[MikeWhitcombe]

I've seen these - but they tend to have three thin white lines painted next to each other across the road in front of it, never have figured out what the purpous of this one line is.

 

[Ozzie1989]

Here are some pics of the scene. The first picture shows the direction I was coming from (Driving Towards the camera). As you can see, no white lines on my side of the road due to resurfacing:


The second picture is from behind the camera facing up the road. I was travelling towards the camera. Again no white lines!


I also double checked what camera it was and it clearly says it's a Gatso camera on the front!

 

[CheeseMaster]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if that camera was really snapping motorists in both directions of travel then the bit of the other lane that hasn't been resurfaced would have calibration markings on them up to the same point as the the nearside lane.

So its either overtaking calibration ( in which case it is illegal on those markings anyhow ) or from an earlier site of the camera/option for later siting.