How Do Police Speed Vans Operate ?

[V8RX7]

Obviously there's a man in the back with a frikkin laser but other than that how do they operate ?

Is it on all the time recording and when he see's large number's he makes a note or is it all recorded and gone through back at the station ?

Just wondering as I went past one yesterday at 70 which on the dual carriage way would be fine, but I was towing a trailer which he wouldn't have seen until I went past him.

Only 10 over so not the end of the world - just got me wondering how they operate.

[bigbob77]

It's manned by a civilian who goes on a comprehensive one day training course. One of the aims of the training course is teaching them how to judge the speed of oncoming traffic.

They "must" have an opinion that you're breaking the speed limit before pointing the camera at you.
They "must not" point the camera at every car, hoping to find one that's speeding.

I've only been accused of speeding once, when I was doing an indicated 70 in a 70 limit.
Luckily the video evidence showed the guy pointing the camera at every car on the road - which gave me lots of distance/time markers which I was able to use to prove my speed the old fashioned way (which was 64mph, not 81mph as claimed)

[Steviesam]

They just leave it running.

I got caught and clearly remember the man was not even in the van but at the front of the van picking something up off the floor.

I did write to say this, but they said he had made the opinion I was speeding anyway in my grey car, that was actually red.

Couldnt be bothered to argue it any further.

[AH33]

I always just assumed there was a bloke in there sobbing into his hankie about his lost friends, failed marriage and kids that won't speak to him - which all coincidentally happened when he took that job.

[V8RX7]

Steviesam said:

They just leave it running.

Then someone later runs through 8hrs of film ?

That doesn't see very productive.

[pim]

AH33 said:

I always just assumed there was a bloke in there sobbing into his hankie about his lost friends, failed marriage and kids that won't speak to him - which all coincidentally happened when he took that job.

And playing with himself whilst watching blue movies on his I pad.

[Flooble]

V8RX7 said:

Then someone later runs through 8hrs of film ?

That doesn't see very productive.

Why would they need to do that? Surely they would only tag the video when a vehicle went past above the speed limit. Which does mean trailers, lorries and the like might be getting away with it.

[Ki3r]

I've seen them work a couple of times, and can't say this is the same all over the place.

The operator has to form the opinion the vehicle is above the speed limit (this is the same for a police officer).

The laser they use is linked to a video recorder (well sd card).

If they believe a car to be speeding they press the button on the laser, it comes up with a reading. If it's above the limit, it automatically 'marks' it on the sd card.

If it is a van or vehicle towing and has a lower limit, the person can press a button and it is again marked on the sd card.

They work both coming towards and going away, although going away is harder as the number plate needs to be in focus and that's easier if you are coming towards it.

Hope that helps .

[grkify]

In all seriousness there I was having my lunch in a layby and spoke to one of the guys in the back of the vans about how it works he said that there was various different versions from fully automated to a guy with a handheld gun and a note book. I believe that a large number of the vans are run by private companies working on behalf of the police rather than actual policemen

Edited by grkify on Friday 26th August 20:23

[HantsRat]

bigbob77 said:

It's manned by a civilian who goes on a comprehensive one day training course. One of the aims of the training course is teaching them how to judge the speed of oncoming traffic.

They "must" have an opinion that you're breaking the speed limit before pointing the camera at you.
They "must not" point the camera at every car, hoping to find one that's speeding.

I've only been accused of speeding once, when I was doing an indicated 70 in a 70 limit.
Luckily the video evidence showed the guy pointing the camera at every car on the road - which gave me lots of distance/time markers which I was able to use to prove my speed the old fashioned way (which was 64mph, not 81mph as claimed)

Just to avoid confusing. It's not law they must form a prior opinion of speed, only guidelines. Also I have been trained on the hand held laser and the course is only 4 hours. There really isn't that much to learn. I can easily be trained in a couple of hours.

The vans have the same model as the hand held devices but they are on a tripod and have a video recorder fitted.

[bigbob77]

HantsRat said:

Just to avoid confusing. It's not law they must form a prior opinion of speed, only guidelines. Also I have been trained on the hand held laser and the course is only 4 hours. There really isn't that much to learn. I can easily be trained in a couple of hours.

The vans have the same model as the hand held devices but they are on a tripod and have a video recorder fitted.

Fair enough, I thought it was law that they must form a prior opinion of speed, but my case was about 7 years ago so I can't really remember.

I do remember that in court the operator didn't know (or understand when explained) "speed = distance / time".
He also didn't understand laser beam divergence - which he really should, especially at the distance he was aiming at (it could have easily covered several vehicles going in both directions).

I try not to be bitter about it - I don't want to support speeding. But it cost me 7 days off work for court nonsense and if it happened again, even if I was 100% sure I wasn't speeding, I would just take the points and fine. It's wasn't worth fighting.
And if they really cared about road safety they would install tailgating cameras, not speed vans...

[Boosted LS1]

pim said:

AH33 said:

I always just assumed there was a bloke in there sobbing into his hankie about his lost friends, failed marriage and kids that won't speak to him - which all coincidentally happened when he took that job.

And playing with himself whilst watching blue movies on his I pad.

I saw a scamera operator at Court in Nottingham recently. He was in his 20'ies at a guess, had recently shaved the sides of his head but the hair had grown back but it wasn't as long as the hair on top. He was also skinny and about 5'7" in his 1" soled shoes. There's defo a power trip going on in his head because out on the town on a friday night is a place he daren't go, lol.

Michael Postles & Christopher Akers. I hope their neighbours know what their employment is. The naughty rascals.

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Saturday 27th August 23:53

[SVTRick]

pim said:

And playing with himself whilst watching blue movies on his I pad.

I can just see you opening the side door of his van and catching him in full flight.

[kowalski655]

On a related note,what is the range of these things?

I ask as near me there is a great road for a ton up hoon(not that I would of course)...unclassified,very wide,with sweeping curves and undulating, and best of all..NO POTHOLES!!!!

But plod will often sit on the opposite side of a valley a good few hundred yards away to catch you coming over a blind hill,so I presume they go this far, or is them sitting there just to scare you to slow down

[WaferThinHam]

kowalski655 said:

On a related note,what is the range of these things?

I ask as near me there is a great road for a ton up hoon(not that I would of course)...unclassified,very wide,with sweeping curves and undulating, and best of all..NO POTHOLES!!!!

But plod will often sit on the opposite side of a valley a good few hundred yards away to catch you coming over a blind hill,so I presume they go this far, or is them sitting there just to scare you to slow down

Lasers are around a mile I think.

[CoolHands]

Considering how difficult it is to shoot a moving target, let alone from a few hundred yards away, I reckon most of them are totally inaccurate.

[Ki3r]

kowalski655 said:

On a related note,what is the range of these things?

I ask as near me there is a great road for a ton up hoon(not that I would of course)...unclassified,very wide,with sweeping curves and undulating, and best of all..NO POTHOLES!!!!

But plod will often sit on the opposite side of a valley a good few hundred yards away to catch you coming over a blind hill,so I presume they go this far, or is them sitting there just to scare you to slow down

Down here it's around 1000 metres.

[Boosted LS1]

kowalski655 said:

On a related note,what is the range of these things?

I ask as near me there is a great road for a ton up hoon(not that I would of course)...unclassified,very wide,with sweeping curves and undulating, and best of all..NO POTHOLES!!!!

But plod will often sit on the opposite side of a valley a good few hundred yards away to catch you coming over a blind hill,so I presume they go this far, or is them sitting there just to scare you to slow down

No, they're collecting revenue. Speed kills, don't you know that. They're pondlife.

[wack]

One on the A49 this morning on my way to oulton park

Line of cars doing 45 and the only decent safe overtaking spot for miles and there the s sit

Overtaking should be about safely completing the manoeuvre not looking at your speedo to see if you've gone over the limit

They regularly sit in a layby just outside the nunsmere hotel aiming north which is where they probably got the white Porsche driver I saw pull out to overtake this morning

One day there's going to be a head on there when somebody cuts it fine then lifts off when they spot the van

Utter tts

[covboy]

swerni said:

I thought that was lorry drivers

Only low loader drivers with diggers on the back !