Hel

see http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?ThreadID=206830

does anyone know the answer to question 3) for certain

Thanks from
Paul

P.S. I'm don't really need to know, but someone in work with me who travels from Swansea to Cardiff each day would like to know.

Hel

surely someone knows what these cameras can do etc

chrisp

They read your numberplate via digital camera twice over measured distance. As distance = speed*time its a fairly simple calculation as they know th etime it took you an distance between the cameras.

Harry_Boy

SPECS style device....

Trick

These are SPECS cams.

They are usually set up in a series of say 12 fixed points.
AS soon as you enter a spec zone, whether it be on the 3rd set of cams or the 11th, it will record your details digitally. i.e. your plate & speed.

Then, when you hit the next set of cams, whether you hit them out of sequence or even if you have stopped for 30 mins and resumed your trip, it will measure again - taking your average speed.

Awesome set of kit, very fast and efficient, except motorbikes get away as usual!

Turkish1

How do bikes get away then mate?




Turkish1

DanTheMan

Bikers don't get caught because the cameras are usually forward facing & bikes don't have front numberplates...

APJ

Doesnt this discriminate against car drivers then??? Its the same for the portable lasers they have everywhere down here - forward facing.

brett555

we need a james bond style number plate flipping/rotating device.

brett

ChrisB

Yes, there was talk of a legal challenge based on this. No idea if it went through or not. Other talk of bikes having to have front plates in the future to make things equal...

LanciaChris

Had them on the m25 from woking found to the m40 for ages now, and speeding (not that theres much chance) seems to have been reduced, barring idiots who dont know about the cameras, but they wont be a problem much longer!

And as a straightforward answer to the question, no - they dont have any information about the speed you are doing when you pass the first camera, they need at least two points to measure the average speed between.

Gridlock Mikey

We have shed loads of these in Nottingham, I do however need this point clarifed:

Imagine a road that is approximatley 200m long. The road is shaped like a boomerang i.e 100m, bend round to the right, 100m.
At the beginning there is a SPECS camera (30mph) 50m after the first camera, there is a garage/supermarket type forecourt then the right hander then 75-100m down the road, SPECS No.2 (Part of a huge network of cameras around Nottingham)

Now lets say I wasn't from Nottingham and I did not notice the first Camera and I went under it doing 30mph (It is a dual carriage way afterall) but then floored it upto and into the garage, stopped off for a packet of **** at the garage. Big queue at the check out, popped to the cash point etc and then finally got on my way again. How could I possibly get done for speeding?
SPECS 2 is round the corner so wouldn't have seen my burst.

I could then also, steam out of the garage, hoof it round the right hander and then slow down to 30 for the second camera. I understand how it works if I had not gone into the garage, but surely if you stop, how the hell does the camera work out how long you have been stationary? How would it know when to start and stop the clock so to speak

Also, Trevelo cameras, forward facing but the calibration marks on the road are "behind" the camera!!

Don't get it

Mikey

Trick

I would guess that maybe these cameras must work in sequence of either 1,2,3,4 as opposed to 1,8,12.

If they do monitor average speed, then we could nail it on one cam, they crawl past the other...

They have tended to put them on stretches that are notorious for speeding, i.e. Nottm main A610 route into the city.

ChrisB

Mikey, AFAIK, it wouldn't. It'd just decide your car has taken longer than x to pass between the two points and therefore wasn't speeding.

Truvelo behind the camera? Doubt it could work then...

ashley wrx

I have a mate who used to go change tyres at the offices were the cameras based in nottingham, and he reconds they only monitor the outside lanes on dual carrage ways, the first camera as only one lens next time have a look.

[Edited by ashley wrx - 5/16/2003 9:00:47 AM]

[Edited by ashley wrx - 5/16/2003 9:01:35 AM]

NotoriousREV

From what the manufacturers were saying when they launched SPECS they are capable of viewing and monitoring up to 4 lanes of very heavy traffic even in bad weather.