Discussion
This is a copy of an email sent to me today, sorry if you have already read it.
These are also now in use on the A31!
In case you do not already know ...
Be aware of the new speed cameras which are being erected the complete length of the ''A'' and ''M Roads. They are recognised by tall blue coloured poles and a small aerial pole next to it.
SPEEDCHECK SVVD or SPECS went on-line last week-end on the M1, netting 4,300 offenders in a single day. The system does not use instantaneous speed like the cameras we''re all familiar with, instead measuring the
average speed of every vehicle over a distance of about a mile.
How? By reading your license plates and matching them up camera -to-camera. Kent and Leicestershire police are so impressed with it that systems are being erected in their enforcement areas too. This is a new system which has now entered service after successful trials on the M1 and M20 in the UK.
SPEEDCHECK SVDD (Sureway Video Detection Device) is a system similar in concept to the GATSO, but with a new twist. SVDD deploys cameras at either end of a measured baseline, (up to 500 metres) to monitor vehicles 24 hours a day. Using machine vision, vehicle number plates are read, and the precise time of each observation recorded and as a vehicle passes the second camera, the number plate records are matched, and an average speed for the vehicle is calculated. If this is above the trigger speed, then the vehicle''s identification is recorded along with it''s speed. It is also flashed up on a huge illuminated sign further down the road to embarrass the driver into slowing down. When triggered, the detection technology used in these cameras automatically records the date, precise time, location and speed of the offending vehicle, along with a detailed image of the front of the vehicle, which clearly records the number plate, make, model, who is driving and colour of the vehicle!
There are five overriding reasons for the habitual speeder to be afraid of his system.
1. It works 24 hours a day.
2. Needs no film!
3. Uses no flash!
4. Uses no radar!...So, bad luck all those of you who think that radar detectors work.
5. It''s been proven to be over 99% accurate in almost all weather conditions. It doesn''t do spot-speed checking. A GATSO can only check the speed of a vehicle within a certain range, so the tactic most drivers use now is to slow down for the camera and then speed up again once past it.
SPEEDCHECK measures average speed over a known distance. So if you do 60mph under each camera and then speed up to 80 mph in between, your average speed is likely to be near 70mph - 10 over the limit imposed, you''re nicked. SVDD say this means that the system can impose a far smoother flow of traffic eliminating slow-fast driving that the GATSO cameras provoke. Because it''s automated, the system is entirely self-sufficient. It''s hooked up to the DVLA computers, and can automatically process the fines and send out notices in the post.
It''s Big Brother. Don''t believe for a moment that this technology will only be used to catch speeders. It can be used to keep track of where every single car in the country is at any given moment in time once the network of these things becomes broad enough. Warning to M25 Motorists. If you are a driver then this is important! Even if you aren''t, you know people who are, so it is still important!
Please pass this one on to as many people as you can. There are 60 new cameras that start operating on the M25 on Monday 14 June 2001. These are between the A3 and M40. They are digital and linked direct to computer, use no film or flashgun. They can deal with 60,000 tickets EVERY HOUR. The cameras are also (apparently) linked and can workout your average speed between them. So, if you speed up between them and slow down as you approach them, if your average speed is over the "legal limit + No %"threshold you may well get a ticket.
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quote:That was my understanding too. I'm not sure if this is something different. I did read somewhere (can't remember where) that the trafficmaster system was also capable of reading number plates and could be switched on at some point in the future. Any commnets on this?
The 'blue cameras' are used for something entirely different - trafficmaster perhaps(???)
[quoteI did read somewhere (can't remember where) that the trafficmaster system was also capable of reading number plates and could be switched on at some point in the future. Any commnets on this?
The Trafficmaster system works by reading number plates and comparing the time it takes for you to get from one camera to the next. In a sop to civil liberties they throw away one digit of your plate so that they can't track individual cars. Yeah right... you telling me that MI5 aren't tapped into the system too? 
According to traffcmaster they dont read all the digits from the plate and only read the plates of something like one in 4 cars that pass in average conditions. The unit is supposed to create a tempory uniqe ID used to track the vehicle for that journey... They say they cannot transmit the actual plate due to rules set out in the data protection act... Im sure if i owned a traffic master and i got nicked speeding then i certainly would not be renewing it. But imagine if the goverment bought the company and id guess it would not take long to make a return from the fines. As for MI5 etc who knows... but not much would suprise me! at least they have better things to do than doing people for speed... Specs seems to be on the gantries on the M6 roadworks in birmingham tho anyone know for sure?
Edited by Marv on Saturday 28th July 19:57
Has anybody got photos of what we should be looking out for (not blue traffic master)? Maybe they could post them somewhere 
If you do get caught though the police are still reliant on you being honest and admitting you were driving the car! The Government and ministers are habitually dishonest lets all take their example
If you do get caught though the police are still reliant on you being honest and admitting you were driving the car! The Government and ministers are habitually dishonest lets all take their example 
I beleive the the blue traffic master systems do actually read your number plate but they actually put it to our advantage in that if a bunch of cars passed one and then don't pass the next within a certain time they know something is up - either traffice jam or worse still an accident....
Of course it's Trafficmaster - they're all over the place! Why bother trialling SPECS when these blue jobs have been in place for ages? It's bad enough being a habitual criminal without scare stories!!! I think when my licence gets revoked for innumerable speeding violations, I'll do what every yobbo has been doing for years - no licence, no insurance, no tax, no MOT, and just drive around piling points up on a licence I haven't got! It costs £300 per year to insure the average car, and the average fine for driving without insurance is £150 - get the picture that it's pointless being a tax-paying, law abiding citizen?
hmmmm I agree with Ted, you can bet your last pound (or euro) that MI5/6 are tapped into the system.
Ok so its probably quite handy for them checking the whereabouts of cars packed with explosives hours before some freako parks it in ealing. I bet thats not the only thing they can and do use it for.
I'm getting worried that we in the west 'won the cold war', only to sit back and watch our societies turn into the police states that we were so keen to denounce...
Why in gods name would MI5 or 6 be interested in tapping into this system???????????????????? jees you lot are paranoid sometimes... what possible reason could they have? And if they do...who cares?! Do you own a mobile phoine? if so, its rather a lot easier to find out exactly (well to within 10 m or so) where you are than via a traffic monitering system which is static and only picks up those who actually go past it!!?!
what possible reason could they have? And if they do...who cares?! Do you own a mobile phoine? if so, its rather a lot easier to find out exactly (well to within 10 m or so) where you are than via a traffic monitering system which is static and only picks up those who actually go past it!!?!
..so I was talking to "Geezer" Dave in the pub last night (see "Speeding cameras in Catseyes" for more of his shocking truths) - when he revealed that we all have microtransmitters implanted behind our left ears and in the event of "doing something bad" (apparently including speeding as well as other significant misdemeanors such as first degree murder) they transmit our details and current location to a Mekon-like creature that MI6 have genetically engineered and connected to a permanent super-computer at the top of the BT Tower. The Mekon uses telepathy to contact the police who are authorised to storm the locale and kill indiscriminately. In the event of you being in a car and speeding (thus initiating contact with the Mekon) The police will use helicopters equipped with heat-seeking air-to-ground missiles. The rest of Dave's chilling and factual account was lost after he slid off the end of the bar...
I think pauls got the right idea! But seriously the sad thing is that the inteligence services are more than 99% likely to be linked into these networks. You say about mobiles but most of the pay and go ones arnt registered anyway. Think of the Echelon system that was working back in the 70s that could recognise words in the phone calls. Even at that time all international calls went through it... As for why... think of that car that blew up in london. The information could track where it came from etc etc... and thats a very obvious use of the information. I know the sort of equipment that i work on and how powerfull it is and there is not much that would suprise me! The technology is already here.
As for specs they use a unit made by 'peek traffic' that does the recognition and its all auto.. As for the storage its not really a problem... Think of the phone network... They have a record of every call ever made (so they can bill u) so that must be millions upon millions of entries... all they need to save is the reg, place and a timestamp.. maybee a pic? wouldnt be too hard to setup i imagine..
I think tho we have a few years before things start getting really silly.. like the cameras coming out that can do you for parking and **** like that!
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