How many cameras does a camera van have?

[creampuff]

M40 motorway. On a motorbike so no front plate. Slightly above speed awareness course speeds.

Camera van on bridge about 500 yards, slowed down as soon as saw van, but the van would have about 3 secs to measure speed.

Speed on the other side of van about 65mph.

Is there a camera pointing out the other side of the van to read rear plates and will a ticket be coming?

[Glosphil]

I seem to recall from a talk by the PC (yes, a real policeman) who operates one of the Gloucestershire camera vans that there were two cameras (front and rear) - hence they could catch speeding motorcyclists after they had passed the van.

[RyanOPlasty]

Mandy Rice-Davies said:

"Well he would say that, wouldn't he?"

[Glosphil]

RyanOPlasty said:

Very good. However, we did have a tour around the van.

The PC also told us that many motorists don't seem to realise that when he is driving the camera van he is traffic police which has given him the opportunity to catch a number of drivers using their mobile phones.

[HantsRat]

Depends on the force. All of ours in Hampshire have cameras that face both ways so number plates can be read from motorbikes passing.

Most around the country do too.

[HantsRat]

Ours are fitted like this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1280183/Th...

Although only the read speed camera in the door records the speed, the other cameras record video so a speeding motorcyclist can still be traced when it passes.

[Biker 1]

I actually took a very slow, drive-by look at a camera van in Crawley. As suspected, the operator was in the back, with camera on tripod pointing out the open back door. To the front windscreen was attached another forward facing camera, which I believe is the one that gets your rear number plate. The van was on the central reservation at a roundabout; I suspect that if you had taken the first exit, the number plate camera would not have seen you. Also, I heard that its VERY difficult for the speed camera operator to get a decent fix on a motorcycle, as the profile is very thin from the front. Perhaps OP should start furious weaving next time he spots the van??

[akirk]

HantsRat said:

Ours are fitted like this...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1280183/Th...

Although only the read speed camera in the door records the speed, the other cameras record video so a speeding motorcyclist can still be traced when it passes.

They are made out of aluminium and steel and can catch drivers travelling at up to 200mph at a range of 3,280ft.

I knew there was a way to avoid camera vans now which of my cars can do over 200mph?!

[spookly]

The Scamera van around my way has the main camera to capture speed at the rear, but also has a dashcam type arrangement at the front near the rear view mirror. I assume this is to capture/corroborate the license plate of bikes with the data from the main speed camera.

If it was above a bridge on a motorway then you might/might not have been caught by a second camera. I don't think the dash cam type arrangement would be very effective in that scenario as it lacks the zoom/lens you'd need to read the reg plate at that distance. Normal dashcams aren't much use at reading number plates at anything over about 15m, with a big speed difference making things worse still.

[Some Guy]

HantsRat said:

Depends on the force. All of ours in Hampshire have cameras that face both ways so number plates can be read from motorbikes passing.

Most around the country do too.

I can confirm this is the case, as I got a ticket on my bike.