Fake SPECS Cameras?

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Discussion

Silver940

Original Poster:

3,961 posts

226 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
Roadworks on the M3 J8-J6 at the moment, Average speed cameras covering the stretch. This morning a big chunk of the works had vanished northbound overnight including the cameras. That seemed quick to remove all that stuff. Anyway the few left in the short section I took a closer look at today and there are no cables running to them. Even if they were wireless they would need power.

Work in the most part though as generally the traffic is going about 50-55.




Edited by Silver940 on Friday 20th November 09:51

SVTRick

3,633 posts

194 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
So if we get NIP's in the post can we forward them to you smile
You may be better looking what's going on ahead instead of rubber necking looking for
tiny cables on the verge which could well be buried anyway.


HantsRat

2,369 posts

107 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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I can assure you they are not fake. You just cannot see the cable as it runs through the metal holding them up.

giantdefy

684 posts

112 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?

ALT F4

5,180 posts

216 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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A number of SPECS cameras are indeed fake and act as a deterrent without the cost of running the 'real' ones.

Silver940

Original Poster:

3,961 posts

226 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
SVTRick said:
So if we get NIP's in the post can we forward them to you smile
You may be better looking what's going on ahead instead of rubber necking looking for
tiny cables on the verge which could well be buried anyway.
I'm not telling anyone to speed through, there are workers present at the end of the day.

They have not buried cables for a 3 month set of road works. The CCTV cables are running along side but nothing goes to the camera poles.

bad company

18,484 posts

265 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
giantdefy said:
You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?
Shouldn't you be at school?

EU_Foreigner

2,833 posts

225 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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You have seen workers ???? Not seen a single one on the M3 throughout all of the road works two weeks ago ...

Silver940

Original Poster:

3,961 posts

226 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Occasionally spot one or two if I am early leaving work. Gone by 4:30 though it seems.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Just stick the cruise on at 50 and enjoy a bit of extra MPG.
Not worth the risk really is it :-)

FurtiveFreddy

8,577 posts

236 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Very few SPECS cameras within a zone are live. There's a box at the base of each camera pole which does the clever stuff and that can be moved around within zones to reconfigure the points where your reg. no. is captured.

I'm not sure the lack of obvious cabling around each camera pole is going to be conclusive as to whether they are inactive though. You're not going to spot cables easily at ground level.

More here if you're really interested: http://www.vysionics.com/product/specs

sherbertdip

1,097 posts

118 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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ALT F4 said:
A number of SPECS cameras are indeed fake and act as a deterrent without the cost of running the 'real' ones.
You come across as very knowledgable chap, can you let us all into the secret of precisely where these fake camaras are?

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
sherbertdip said:
ALT F4 said:
A number of SPECS cameras are indeed fake and act as a deterrent without the cost of running the 'real' ones.
You come across as very knowledgable chap, can you let us all into the secret of precisely where these fake camaras are?
It's not rocket science. On the M60 the live cameras have two giveaways. Firstly they have a faint red glow in the dark in then"flash" either side of the camera, secondly they have a mahoosive set of floodlights set up just in front of them to illuminate the front of the car and the driver. About 1 in 5 is live at most in that 20+ miles of roadworks.

The key is to work out where the last live one is before your junction. In reality it matters little apart from later on at night as the motorway is pretty well gridlocked most of the social hours of the day.

giantdefy

684 posts

112 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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bad company said:
Shouldn't you be at school?
As I'm in my 60's probably not, but every day is a school day smile

Silver940

Original Poster:

3,961 posts

226 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
Just stick the cruise on at 50 and enjoy a bit of extra MPG.
Not worth the risk really is it :-)
Exactly what I do and will continue to do

Nimby

4,573 posts

149 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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Just driven J8 - J7 and the 50mph signs have gone. Can't speak for J7 - J6.

aw51 121565

4,771 posts

232 months

Friday 20th November 2015
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LoonR1 said:
sherbertdip said:
ALT F4 said:
A number of SPECS cameras are indeed fake and act as a deterrent without the cost of running the 'real' ones.
You come across as very knowledgable chap, can you let us all into the secret of precisely where these fake camaras are?
It's not rocket science. On the M60 the live cameras have two giveaways. Firstly they have a faint red glow in the dark in then"flash" either side of the camera, secondly they have a mahoosive set of floodlights set up just in front of them to illuminate the front of the car and the driver. About 1 in 5 is live at most in that 20+ miles of roadworks.

...
Your second point is almost certainly erroneous; the IR (so-called "faint red glow which can be seen either side of each camera in a 'live' installation") allows the camers(s) to 'read' the registration mark due to the front number plate's retroreflective properties. I do agree that around 20% seem to be 'live', but a lot less than 20% have floodlights on the approach wink . You've also got to be right in front of the camera to be able to see the IR emissions; they are pretty narrowly focussed.

Nasty stretch of road nowadays, anyway frown .

LoonR1

26,988 posts

176 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
aw51 121565 said:
Your second point is almost certainly erroneous; the IR (so-called "faint red glow which can be seen either side of each camera in a 'live' installation") allows the camers(s) to 'read' the registration mark due to the front number plate's retroreflective properties. I do agree that around 20% seem to be 'live', but a lot less than 20% have floodlights on the approach wink . You've also got to be right in front of the camera to be able to see the IR emissions; they are pretty narrowly focussed.

Nasty stretch of road nowadays, anyway frown .
The floodlights are to light up the driver and make sure there is a 100% chance of identification. I have no intention of speeding down there, as I don't fancy unnecessary points, but a 57mph cruise control speed seems to be fine in the late evenings when the motorway flows. At those speeds is easy to have a quick glance amd analyse. The faint red glow is only on the floodlit cameras. Coincidence? I think not.

Either way, I'm just passing comment, I'm not advocating. Whizzing down there, as the active cameras are pretty well covering every exit anyway.

GC8

19,910 posts

189 months

Saturday 21st November 2015
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Silver940 said:
Exactly what I do and will continue to do
But please don't drive at an indicated 50mph in the middle lane, as the majority appear to.

mybrainhurts

90,809 posts

254 months

Saturday 21st November 2015
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LoonR1 said:
aw51 121565 said:
Your second point is almost certainly erroneous; the IR (so-called "faint red glow which can be seen either side of each camera in a 'live' installation") allows the camers(s) to 'read' the registration mark due to the front number plate's retroreflective properties. I do agree that around 20% seem to be 'live', but a lot less than 20% have floodlights on the approach wink . You've also got to be right in front of the camera to be able to see the IR emissions; they are pretty narrowly focussed.

Nasty stretch of road nowadays, anyway frown .
The floodlights are to light up the driver and make sure there is a 100% chance of identification. I have no intention of speeding down there, as I don't fancy unnecessary points, but a 57mph cruise control speed seems to be fine in the late evenings when the motorway flows. At those speeds is easy to have a quick glance amd analyse. The faint red glow is only on the floodlit cameras. Coincidence? I think not.

Either way, I'm just passing comment, I'm not advocating. Whizzing down there, as the active cameras are pretty well covering every exit anyway.
The latest SPECS cameras look at the rear of vehicles. Those, too, have floodlights, so your theory about driver portrait is a bit shaky.

In most road works, floodlights are few, so I reckon there are a lot of dummies.