Detection and picture range of camera vans?
Discussion
Had a lovely day out with the family in North Wales, on our way home and decided to stop off for a cuppa at the Horse Shoe Pass.
Anyway on way back home heading towards English border, came up behind a motorbike sat patiently behind 3 cars going 40mph in the NSL. He was on a road/dakar hybrid type thing. Anyway when safe he took all three, as did I (my car is and RS6). He seems a little surprised to see me with him.
Anyway, we continued on our way and overtook another couple of sets of cars, all friendly stuff. We then get onto about a straight 1.5 mile road and he really guns it. I speeded up but held it at 80mph.
The road has a series of dips before levelling out for the last 1 - 3/4 mile. I spotted a white van at the end of the straight, took about 2-3 secs to determine it didn't look right and braked sharply to 60mph. My suspicions were confirmed and it was a camera van.
My question is what is the detection range and photograph range of the equipment? I think I saw it very quickly and got speed off so might I have a chance?
The strange thing was the bike rider had all the normal 'Power Ranger' gear on, but a high-res vest over it. My wife and I debated for sometime before overtaking the cars whether it was a off-duty policeman as you don't see many bikers wearing hi-res stuff. Their was a Bike for Life campaign and lots of police bikes up at the Ponderosa.
After passing the van the biker backed right off again. My wife thinks I was suckered into the speed trap, but I think he probably thought he'd had a lucky escape as he has no front plate and he backed off too.
>> Edited by rs666 on Sunday 30th April 20:17
Anyway on way back home heading towards English border, came up behind a motorbike sat patiently behind 3 cars going 40mph in the NSL. He was on a road/dakar hybrid type thing. Anyway when safe he took all three, as did I (my car is and RS6). He seems a little surprised to see me with him.
Anyway, we continued on our way and overtook another couple of sets of cars, all friendly stuff. We then get onto about a straight 1.5 mile road and he really guns it. I speeded up but held it at 80mph.
The road has a series of dips before levelling out for the last 1 - 3/4 mile. I spotted a white van at the end of the straight, took about 2-3 secs to determine it didn't look right and braked sharply to 60mph. My suspicions were confirmed and it was a camera van.
My question is what is the detection range and photograph range of the equipment? I think I saw it very quickly and got speed off so might I have a chance?
The strange thing was the bike rider had all the normal 'Power Ranger' gear on, but a high-res vest over it. My wife and I debated for sometime before overtaking the cars whether it was a off-duty policeman as you don't see many bikers wearing hi-res stuff. Their was a Bike for Life campaign and lots of police bikes up at the Ponderosa.
After passing the van the biker backed right off again. My wife thinks I was suckered into the speed trap, but I think he probably thought he'd had a lucky escape as he has no front plate and he backed off too.
>> Edited by rs666 on Sunday 30th April 20:17
Defer to BiB when they arrive. For now...
Typical laser kit will ping you within 2000 feet which is about half a mile, according to the spec, but the very latest van kit can allegedly zap a car at or over 1 mile distance
Typical laser kit will ping you within 2000 feet which is about half a mile, according to the spec, but the very latest van kit can allegedly zap a car at or over 1 mile distance
No warning...hmmm...donut break? Pangs of guilt followed by shutdown?
Not sure if ANPR sets off what kit when, gave up using kit like that some time ago, but it could be ANPR in which case no worries. Did you see the pounds sterling logo on the van when you passed by...
Possibly either setting up, going home, or a fault with the RA.
14 days will tell...
Not sure if ANPR sets off what kit when, gave up using kit like that some time ago, but it could be ANPR in which case no worries. Did you see the pounds sterling logo on the van when you passed by...
Possibly either setting up, going home, or a fault with the RA.
14 days will tell...
I doubt the biker was a copper. I've never heard of an unmarked big trailie being used anywhere. He will probably get a NIP if he was caught speeding. Most scamera van operators carry binoculars for this purpose. Evidence gathered in this way is admisable in court or at least it was in my case.
Typically I think vans get people up to around 1000 yards. All you can really do is cross your fingers and wait for two weeks. Oh, and don't go back to Wales
Typically I think vans get people up to around 1000 yards. All you can really do is cross your fingers and wait for two weeks. Oh, and don't go back to Wales
turbobloke said:
No warning...hmmm...donut break? Pangs of guilt followed by shutdown?
Not sure if ANPR sets off what kit when, gave up using kit like that some time ago, but it could be ANPR in which case no worries. Did you see the pounds sterling logo on the van when you passed by...
Possibly either setting up, going home, or a fault with the RA.
14 days will tell...
forget it
or buy a jammer
for the next time
>> Edited by rich 36 on Sunday 30th April 21:23
Quinny said:
I saw him to, said to my wife that looks like a hi-res vest, she said nah its inside a hedge....went past at 54mph and he was in the hedge!!!
I normally check the arrivealive website but didn't this morning d'oh
Did you see a Griff going in the opposite direction?
Did you see an RS6 Avant?
rs666 said:
The strange thing was the bike rider had all the normal 'Power Ranger' gear on, but a high-res vest over it.
>> Edited by rs666 on Sunday 30th April 20:17
I wear a hi vis vest over my power ranger gear on the bike, 'cause it means you don't have to clean as many flies off your leathers
It may look silly, but if it gives me half a chance of being seen I'll wear it. Sounds like the biker from your trip will be even more nervous than you are today...The Arrive Alive van in question was parked here with the rear camera pointing up the road to the south west. Sorry didn't have a camera with me but the fat oafs who man these vans get quite peeved when one photograhs them. It was there before 08:30 Saturday and Sunday. It is NOT a location listed in Arrive Alive's 'schedule'. The location has been chosen as a nice sneaky holiday weekend 'big earner'. The van covers 1010m from the junction to the bend at are travelling into N Wales having endured 4 miles of absurd 30 limits and few overtaking oppportunities. So what do the hypocrites in Arrive Alive do...catch out SAFE overtakers.
Cars and Bikes travelling away from the van and cars towards the van are vulnerable. But rear plates of cars and bikes on the main road cannot be read from the van and beacuse Arrive Alive understand their extreme unpopularity they have a rule that no operator is allowed to leave the van.
Cars and Bikes travelling away from the van and cars towards the van are vulnerable. But rear plates of cars and bikes on the main road cannot be read from the van and beacuse Arrive Alive understand their extreme unpopularity they have a rule that no operator is allowed to leave the van.
bluepolarbear said:
The lasers used by the vans and police are good for aroun 1000m to get a speed reading but the optics on the camera vans are no where near as good. If you are not stopped at the time then max range is around 400m if they want the evidence to take you to court.
If that's the case then I will be fine. My thoughts were that might be the case. I reckon the operator was thinking aha another 'customer' as the radar clocked my speed, but by the time I got anywhere near camera range I was down at about 50mph.
Richard C said:
The Arrive Alive van in question was parked here with the rear camera pointing up the road to the south west. Sorry didn't have a camera with me but the fat oafs who man these vans get quite peeved when one photograhs them. It was there before 08:30 Saturday and Sunday. It is NOT a location listed in Arrive Alive's 'schedule'. The location has been chosen as a nice sneaky holiday weekend 'big earner'. The van covers 1010m from the junction to the bend at are travelling into N Wales having endured 4 miles of absurd 30 limits and few overtaking oppportunities. So what do the hypocrites in Arrive Alive do...catch out SAFE overtakers.
Cars and Bikes travelling away from the van and cars towards the van are vulnerable. But rear plates of cars and bikes on the main road cannot be read from the van and beacuse Arrive Alive understand their extreme unpopularity they have a rule that no operator is allowed to leave the van.
That's the spot. Not listed on their site heh, that's a bit naughty.
Given the activity around the bikers (every few groups leaving the Ponderosa were tailed by a marked police biker) I figured it was aimed at the rear plates as they rounded the corner.
Interestingly it had hardly any markings on it at all. The ArriveAlive vans are normally plastered in stickers, but this one was almost plain.
Well, he'd first have to see you and 'form an opinion'
Then he'd have to swing his scam gear round to point at you and zoom in - a lot, and focus, and hold you VERY steady in his sights, then try to get a reading at that range.
at 1.5 miles you're looking at a beam width of about 4m, which is blatting everything around you, so readings are not easy to come by.
Trying to think of what optics you would need to get a good numberplate shot.
root 2 llambda distance over lens diameter, which is roughly.........
root 2 llambda is about 1000nm X distance (2000m)= 2mm/lens diameter. Lets say lens diameter is 2 inch = .05cm so thats 2mm / .05 = 4cm. So, the ABSOLUTE HIGHEST resolution from a 2inch lens at 1.5 miles is 4cm, lenses don't get anywhere near this, and 4cm isn't nearly good enough to read a number plate.
you would need AT LEAST to have a resolution down to 1cm for the characters on a plate to be a recognisable blur, and for this you would need AT LEAST an 8 inch lens, bit like what they have at football matches, but you've have to be pretty damn good to keep it in focus - depth of field and all that!
<someones going to tell me I've got the maths wrong here!! :-) >
Then he'd have to swing his scam gear round to point at you and zoom in - a lot, and focus, and hold you VERY steady in his sights, then try to get a reading at that range.
at 1.5 miles you're looking at a beam width of about 4m, which is blatting everything around you, so readings are not easy to come by.
Trying to think of what optics you would need to get a good numberplate shot.
root 2 llambda distance over lens diameter, which is roughly.........
root 2 llambda is about 1000nm X distance (2000m)= 2mm/lens diameter. Lets say lens diameter is 2 inch = .05cm so thats 2mm / .05 = 4cm. So, the ABSOLUTE HIGHEST resolution from a 2inch lens at 1.5 miles is 4cm, lenses don't get anywhere near this, and 4cm isn't nearly good enough to read a number plate.
you would need AT LEAST to have a resolution down to 1cm for the characters on a plate to be a recognisable blur, and for this you would need AT LEAST an 8 inch lens, bit like what they have at football matches, but you've have to be pretty damn good to keep it in focus - depth of field and all that!
<someones going to tell me I've got the maths wrong here!! :-) >
I had a similar experiance going home a few months back. Driving on the dual carriageway out of Swansea (50 limit), I was doing around 65. Didn't see the van until very late (they were sat after a traffic light junction so was watching that instead of looking out for bloody scamera vans!), boke hard but I was convinced I was too late and I had been caught. Haven't heard anything so I assume I'm now in the clear
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