Discussion
Can anyone help with the following?:
Got nabbed by a scamera on the A5 last night near Lichfield. Weirdest thing was that I passed the Gatso on my side of the road and the one on the carriageway opposite flashed me as I accelerated away. I was only doing about 57mph. I was stunned because I have never seen a rearward facing Gatso take pictures head on of the opposite carriageway.
Anyone got any clues? and does the fact that this shitbox flashed twice mean it was definitley loaded with film?
Really hacked off about this, probably going to sell the TVR now as it's getting beyond a joke and I'm up to six points when this one comes through.
Got nabbed by a scamera on the A5 last night near Lichfield. Weirdest thing was that I passed the Gatso on my side of the road and the one on the carriageway opposite flashed me as I accelerated away. I was only doing about 57mph. I was stunned because I have never seen a rearward facing Gatso take pictures head on of the opposite carriageway.
Anyone got any clues? and does the fact that this shitbox flashed twice mean it was definitley loaded with film?
Really hacked off about this, probably going to sell the TVR now as it's getting beyond a joke and I'm up to six points when this one comes through.
I get this quite a bit on the A3 near Kingston, coming out from under a bridge. High central barrier in place, no markings for GATSO on my side of the road and the GATSO camera on the other side seems to go off on a regular basis, but nothing through the post in a long time. They wouldn't even be able to read the plate due to the solid central reservation 
.
I'm guessing that the radar pattern from the GATSO on the other side of the road, whilst being calibrated for that side of the road, also comes across onto your side of the carriageway. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will give the correct physics of the situation but IMHO you are covered and will not hear anything as that camera is not calibrated for your side of the road (hence no GATSO camera road markings).
Chris
. I'm guessing that the radar pattern from the GATSO on the other side of the road, whilst being calibrated for that side of the road, also comes across onto your side of the carriageway. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will give the correct physics of the situation but IMHO you are covered and will not hear anything as that camera is not calibrated for your side of the road (hence no GATSO camera road markings).
Chris
flasher said:
Can anyone help with the following?:
Got nabbed by a scamera on the A5 last night near Lichfield. Weirdest thing was that I passed the Gatso on my side of the road and the one on the carriageway opposite flashed me as I accelerated away. I was only doing about 57mph. I was stunned because I have never seen a rearward facing Gatso take pictures head on of the opposite carriageway.
Anyone got any clues? and does the fact that this shitbox flashed twice mean it was definitley loaded with film?
Really hacked off about this, probably going to sell the TVR now as it's getting beyond a joke and I'm up to six points when this one comes through.
Six points and you still haven't figured out how Gatsos work.......I'll offer you £10K for your non-T T350.....
dont worry about it! i got a call from my brother one night, saying my youngest brother was in hospital with meningitis! so i went through all the local scameras at 2am at some appropriate speeds to the situation! most cameras flashed when coming up to them! most of the time i was double the limit or more!but there are more important things in life!
Tam Lin said:
Six points and you still haven't figured out how Gatsos work
OK Mister. For us "slower" members of the PH community, how do Gatsos work? Is there some clever new head-on acquisition mode?
As you insist on an explanation here you go(applies to GATSO only not Truvelo):
Grey boxy thing with round lens and big flash bulb connects to another boxy thing that stores pictures. Big grey boxy thing situated at revenue earning location pointing along road one way or the other. Together with white painted lines on the road (manual speed checking markings to corroborate camera accuracy) the grey boxy thing forms the Gatso 'Trap'.
Grey boxy thing (hereinafter referred to as the GBT) also contains a radar emission unit that fires in the direction the front of the GBT faces. NOTE fires in the direction the front of the GBT faces...not up, not down, not backwards and not to the sides.
Car drives past said GBT and if car is speeding above the speed threshold that the GBT is set at, then as car is 'detected' by the GBT, the camera and flash are triggered, thereby preserving an image for later persecution. The best bit is that if the camera is facing the car and flashes then if its one of the current GATSO GBT's then it been falsely triggered by an approaching car and the photo can not be used.
To summarise current GATSO's work ONLY in the direction of the traffic travelling towards the unit from the units rear.... the side without the lens/flash.
Beware though that several units are appearing with dual lens/flash panels (front and rear) that ensure it's tricky to determine the direction in which they are active....
rude girl said:
Six points and you still haven't figured out how Gatsos work.......I'll offer you £10K for your non-T T350.....
Oh FFS do we have to start all this again?
Might be entertaining for some, but I thought we'd established that the majority just find it dull
Ah but then we don't have to read it do we!!!
CVP said:
I get this quite a bit on the A3 near Kingston, coming out from under a bridge. High central barrier in place, no markings for GATSO on my side of the road and the GATSO camera on the other side seems to go off on a regular basis, but nothing through the post in a long time. They wouldn't even be able to read the plate due to the solid central reservation
I'm guessing that the radar pattern from the GATSO on the other side of the road, whilst being calibrated for that side of the road, also comes across onto your side of the carriageway. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me will give the correct physics of the situation but IMHO you are covered and will not hear anything as that camera is not calibrated for your side of the road (hence no GATSO camera road markings).
Chris
AFAIK if a GATSO flashes as you approach it from the other direction, it means it is a 'fake' GATSO, meaning it has no camera and a less sophisticated radar that cant distiguish between those objects moving towards it and those moving away from it, hence it cars on the other side of the road can set it off.
HTH
AFAIK GATSOs are perfectly capable of nabbing you in either direction, but early in their lifetime the UK govt decided to only use them as rear-facing units.
As *999* pointed out, the evidence is simply not used.
IIRC the idea behind this was to counter invasion of privacy and seeing as this has gone out of the window with Truvelo and Talivans, I wouldn't be suprised if they soon start painting the lines across both sides of the road and scamming twice the cash.
As *999* pointed out, the evidence is simply not used.
IIRC the idea behind this was to counter invasion of privacy and seeing as this has gone out of the window with Truvelo and Talivans, I wouldn't be suprised if they soon start painting the lines across both sides of the road and scamming twice the cash.
**999** said:
To summarise current GATSO's work ONLY in the direction of the traffic travelling towards the unit from the units rear.... the side without the lens/flash.
Can't understand why you think this, **999**. I know it definitely isn't the case, because my girlfriend has three points to prove it.
To save writing it out again, see the following links:
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?p=2&f=10&t=14506&h=0
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=20180&f=10&h=0&hwd
Spoonman said:
**999** said:
To summarise current GATSO's work ONLY in the direction of the traffic travelling towards the unit from the units rear.... the side without the lens/flash.
Can't understand why you think this, **999**. I know it definitely isn't the case, because my girlfriend has three points to prove it.
To save writing it out again, see the following links:
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?p=2&f=10&t=14506&h=0
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=20180&f=10&h=0&hwd
Sorry Spoonman, then this is not a GATSO or as it is described it's a two faced GATSO sitting in a central reservation with the only clue as to which way its nabbing motorists is the slight downwards tilt of the unit in the appropriate direction.
And sorry I do know this to be fact...
**999**
Edited to add:
the photo on the one thread clearly shows that this is not a standard GATSO but possibly either a Truvelo or other forward facing camera The lines in the road indicate it may be a pressure pad sensitive device in which case there is no radar and it relies on the calculation of Time over a known distance to provide speed.Additonally if you read the thread you will see that Noodles 'mate' states they have no GATSO's in their area.
You don't provide any details of the device that got you girlfriend but my guess is that it was a device similar to that in the first thread you mentioned.
You need to be aware that not all GATSOs and other Cameras use radar to detect speeders eg Specs, some Truvelos and indeed traffic light cameras.
>> Edited by **999** on Wednesday 23 July 19:05
**999***
I suggest you travel to Lincolnshire, enjoying the single carriageways heading out of Skegness. There, if you're driving fast enough, you'll be flashed by a Gatso on the other side of the road and – if it's containing film – you too will be giving the Government a £60 reward.
I'm not talking about hearsay – this happened while I was in the car. Bloody bright the flash was, too.
I suggest you travel to Lincolnshire, enjoying the single carriageways heading out of Skegness. There, if you're driving fast enough, you'll be flashed by a Gatso on the other side of the road and – if it's containing film – you too will be giving the Government a £60 reward.
I'm not talking about hearsay – this happened while I was in the car. Bloody bright the flash was, too.
Spoonman said:
**999***
I suggest you travel to Lincolnshire, enjoying the single carriageways heading out of Skegness. There, if you're driving fast enough, you'll be flashed by a Gatso on the other side of the road and – if it's containing film – you too will be giving the Government a £60 reward.
I'm not talking about hearsay – this happened while I was in the car. Bloody bright the flash was, too.
Suggest you read the edited post.
**999**
And remember not all grey camera boxes are GATSO's!!
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff