Monday 19th May 2008

New Camera Test On A3

German company trials new technology to gain Home Office approval

---

The system in place

A speed camera installed on the A3 near Kingston is new technology that is being tested to gain Home Office approval, PistonHeads has learnt.

The camera is unlike anything we have seen before and appears to consist of three parts and has two sets of road marking before and after it.

A London Safety Camera Partnership spokeswoman has told us that the camera is not enforcing (although we still wouldn’t recommend speeding through it) and is being trialled by a company called Robot Visual Systems in Germany.

We have requested details for the new system, which is on the A3 near the A308 turn-off, but perhaps unsurprisingly Robot has ignored our request.

This sits behind the camera

From having a trawl through their website
(www.robot.de) it appears that the system may include both a traditional camera with flash and an automatic number plate recognition system.

Whatever it is it looks like a step forward in the fight against the motorist and if it is deemed to catch enough drivers will no doubt become a more common fixture on our roads.

There is a pole after the camera that looks like it will carry another piece of technology.

The London Safety Camera Partnership spokeswoman added: ‘Transport for London is facilitating a trial of new speed camera technology on the A3 near Kingston.

‘The trial is to allow the manufacturer, Robot Visual Systems, to test the cameras in order to gain Home Office Type Approval.

‘This is purely a technology trial and the cameras are not enforcing.’

From behind

We will continue to push Robot for more info and let you know what we find out.

Oh, and as far as we know all the other cameras lining the A3 are working just fine…

[Bizzle]

Ahh good, a friend of mine was looking for something new to reverse his lorry into

[SplatSpeed]

looks like the new one on the a24

[midcuk]

looks a lot smaller and stealthier than normal (thus less of a visual deterrent) mor chance of it raising revenue then.

would be beneficial if it checks number plates to be linked to the insurance/tax/MOT databases to catch out non paying motorists, but i doubt it

[layabout]

How long until people get a fixed fine for swearing or being in a bad mood,just wondering as im pissed off with having camera's where ever i seem to go.

[LewisR]

Now, here's something I don't understand. I've been done for speeding on numerous occasion, twice it went to court. The reulst? Fines and points on my licence. No. people killed/injured/hurt = 0. Value of property damged = £0. Now, many years ago I was shunted by a driver not looking where he was going. He wasn't prosecuted at all but wrote off my car AND genuinly hurt my neck, which took about 2 months to recover from. Now, how does that work then?

[layabout]

LewisR said:

Now, here's something I don't understand. I've been done for speeding on numerous occasion, twice it went to court. The reulst? Fines and points on my licence. No. people killed/injured/hurt = 0. Value of property damged = £0. Now, many years ago I was shunted by a driver not looking where he was going. He wasn't prosecuted at all but wrote off my car AND genuinly hurt my neck, which took about 2 months to recover from. Now, how does that work then?

Its because this country is turning into a big joke.

[Alex]

I really wish that as much ingenuity and resource was utilised in devising ways of catching real criminals.

[RabD]

Should look pretty sweet with a couple of burning tyres around it.

[gopher cough]

kill it with burning tyres before it gets approved!

[Fetchez la vache]

If only the authorities put as much effort into tracking down uninsured drivers...

...of course that would never happen

[FartPants]

Article said:

The camera is unlike anything we have seen before and appears to consist of three parts and has two sets of road marking before and after it.

The set of lines before this camera are from the previous Gatso (now removed) and I suspect have nothing to do with the new camera...

[lawrencec]

there are 2 of these on the A322 in brack nell covering the traffic lights one facing towards the driver and one covering the back

[leicesterboy15]

What a complete mis-appropriation of funds! Typical of the situation at the moment, the government trying to raise more revenue and turn normal people into criminals!

I go past this thing every day and it has already been raised in a different thread. There is a slip road just before it and a turn off just after with the road narrowing in between so its a good place for a camera if ever there was one (even though I hate these things), but the old gatso that was there worked fine, in my 3.5 years of passing it in both directions I have never seen accident there so there was no safety issue to address. Just another example of a government cash point.

[jas16]

clingfilm!!!!!

[gopher cough]

anyone know how to get hold of captain gatso, it must be killed quickly before it can breed

[Hoonfest]

Yep, I've scene this great new bit of kit near where I live. It is more or less in the same place where the plod attempted to frame me for speeding with some trumped up bulls*&% timing device in their car. Suffice to say I was let off later due to, I suspect, very dodgy evidence. So not only do we have to deal with current Scamera crisis we also have deal with dubious plod trying to add to their ticket scores, great!

Edited by Hoonfest on Monday 19th May 13:15

Edited by Hoonfest on Monday 19th May 13:16

[robwales]

Alex said:

I really wish that as much ingenuity and resource was utilised in devising ways of catching real criminals.

Ingenuity and resources follow the money.

[stuartbuckell]

LewisR said:

Now, here's something I don't understand. I've been done for speeding on numerous occasion, twice it went to court. The reulst? Fines and points on my licence. No. people killed/injured/hurt = 0. Value of property damged = £0. Now, many years ago I was shunted by a driver not looking where he was going. He wasn't prosecuted at all but wrote off my car AND genuinly hurt my neck, which took about 2 months to recover from. Now, how does that work then?

Because what that drive did was deemed an "accident" whereas your behaviour is of a criminal nature... i.e. you did it deliberately. Where do you draw the line? How can you prove it wasn't an accident? But you can prove you broke the speed limit.

[NUEZ]

I drive past this every day on the way to work, I was wondering what it was.

[vonhosen]

stuartbuckell said:

LewisR said:

Now, here's something I don't understand. I've been done for speeding on numerous occasion, twice it went to court. The reulst? Fines and points on my licence. No. people killed/injured/hurt = 0. Value of property damged = £0. Now, many years ago I was shunted by a driver not looking where he was going. He wasn't prosecuted at all but wrote off my car AND genuinly hurt my neck, which took about 2 months to recover from. Now, how does that work then?

Because what that drive did was deemed an "accident" whereas your behaviour is of a criminal nature... i.e. you did it deliberately. Where do you draw the line? How can you prove it wasn't an accident? But you can prove you broke the speed limit.

And we have limits on the speeds people can choose because they do make mistakes.