Speed camera has to be on same road?

[NuckyThompson]

Is this another myth or is there some truth to this?

Does a mobile camera van need to be on the actually road they catch you on or can they park on a parallel road and get you from there too?

[Nigel_O]

I was pinged on the M4 in South Wales (yes, I should have known better) by a van that was parked just off a bridge over the motorway, so definitely on a different road. It got me at about 900 metres away, so it could have been almost anywhere with a clean line of sight of the motorway

The main issue is that I believe it needs to be as close to head-on as possible - ie no "panning shots" possible with speed detection

I recall seeing one of those "Police, camera, action" type programmes where the BiB was parked on a country lane that had a great view of a downhill stretch of DC - must have been like shooting fish in a barrel

[markjmd]

Not uncommon for plod to setup cameras on Mway bridges as a vantage point, so I would say that pretty much guarantees the "camera not on same road" defence won't hold water.

[Durzel]

Cosine effect.

If they're off axis to you then the speed measurement would be in your favour, not theirs.

As said above though they park on bridges are motorway slip ramps so the notion that they physically have to be on the same piece of tarmac is in the same ball park as them having to have their hat on.

[TGTiff]

M6 in Cumbria is notorious gor the vans to be parked on the over looking bridges!

[agtlaw]

Myth.

[Boosted LS1]

There's a single carriageway road here with a truvelo camera on each carriageway a few hundred yards apart. They face the oncoming traffic but have been used for rearward shots of cars on the opposite carriageway which catches people out. that was some years ago, don't know if they still do that.

BTW what is the extra pole for with the orange flash? Is it an additional flash?