Wednesday 4th January 2006

Talivans don't emerge in the dark

Daytime technology puts drivers at risk

---

Talivans: daytime creatures

The Safe Speed road safety campaign reports that it's been investigating the operation of mobile speed cameras vans -- the dreaded 'talivans' -- and has discovered that they don't come out at night.

All, or almost all, of the mobile speed camera vans in use around the country use a laser speed meter coupled to a video camera and video recorder. The speed meter measures the speed and the camera records vehicle number plates for later prosecution. But, according to the campaign, it's difficult or impossible to get good video pictures of number plates with the equipment in use.

Fixed speed cameras do not suffer from the same problems. Gatso and Truvelo cameras use flash photography, and the SPECS system had built-in infra-red illumination.

But for many camera partnerships the 'weapon of choice' is the mobile camera van. At least half of all current speeding tickets originate with mobile camera vans, and they don't work at night.

While many motorists might travel at night to avoid the risk of mobile camera vans, the risk of crashing increases at night -- it's less safe in other words.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said: "The serious concern here is that when people switch to travelling at night to avoid the cameras they face increased crash risks. Any increase in night-time crashes would be likely to be well away from any camera site.

"This is one more side effect where the speed camera appears to work, yet road safety actually gets worse. Crashes are down at the camera site because people have chosen not to travel when the camera is active. But because those same people travel instead in more dangerous conditions and crashes increase elsewhere.

"Drivers find mobile camera vans especially threatening. It is not uncommon to see dangerous panic braking on our roads because an innocent contractors van is parked in a lay by. Drivers cannot tell the difference until it may be too late.

"We must stop all speed camera operations because the side effects are killing us. Road safety will not be restored while a single speed camera remains on our roads."

• www.safespeed.org.uk

^{Image courtesy www.speedcam.co.uk}

[Sgt^Roc]

This guy is using common since and above all intelligence to decipher the causes of accidents something that is all to lacking in the camera partnership’s policies.