New "both ways" speed camera catches 700 in first week
Discussion
A village on the A394 in Cornwall has had a normal Gatso camera for many years. Easy to spot - big yellow box, obvious markings on the road, and a warning sign - so most drivers slowed down to the 30 limit. That's surely the reason for a speed camera - to make people slow down?
They recently removed the Gatso and replaced it with a couple of fancy modern cameras (they look like large CCTV cameras, a bit like the type used for average speed zones) high up on a pole, which are much harder to spot. Both cameras are facing the same way.They also removed the big white lines on the road, replacing them with what appear to be tiny studs of some kind (although they may just be the remains of the old markings).
What they didn't let on was that this new setup can catch drivers travelling in both directions. According to the media it caught 700 drivers in the first week of operation. A nice little earner.
Chances are, most of those caught were travelling in the direction that the old camera wasn't monitoring.
That's certainly the case for my housemate - 2 tickets last week, on the way home from work, 36 and 37mph.
Perhaps she'll listen now when I tell her to slow down a bit in 30 limits. She's always having a pop at me for driving too slow through villages. Heading in one direction (towards the lenses) there's a long, sweeping, curve. Does it start detecting as soon as it can "see" a car, or at a specific distance?
Does anyone know how these cameras work - detection points, etc?
They recently removed the Gatso and replaced it with a couple of fancy modern cameras (they look like large CCTV cameras, a bit like the type used for average speed zones) high up on a pole, which are much harder to spot. Both cameras are facing the same way.They also removed the big white lines on the road, replacing them with what appear to be tiny studs of some kind (although they may just be the remains of the old markings).
What they didn't let on was that this new setup can catch drivers travelling in both directions. According to the media it caught 700 drivers in the first week of operation. A nice little earner.
Chances are, most of those caught were travelling in the direction that the old camera wasn't monitoring.
That's certainly the case for my housemate - 2 tickets last week, on the way home from work, 36 and 37mph.
Perhaps she'll listen now when I tell her to slow down a bit in 30 limits. She's always having a pop at me for driving too slow through villages. Heading in one direction (towards the lenses) there's a long, sweeping, curve. Does it start detecting as soon as it can "see" a car, or at a specific distance?
Does anyone know how these cameras work - detection points, etc?
A394 Longdowns.
https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/19908793.omn...
Apparently there's going to be a few more popping up across the county.
https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/19908793.omn...
Apparently there's going to be a few more popping up across the county.
paintman said:
A394 Longdowns.
https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/19908793.omn...
Apparently there's going to be a few more popping up across the county.
Looks like a Jenoptik Vector SR. Uses radar with a camera and "digital grid overlay" for manual verification. I imagine modern radar detection is a million miles awy from the tech in a Gatso. I have a tiny £100 radar sensor on the back of my bicycle which can detect the speed and position of cars from 150m+ away, and can count the number of vehicles if there's a queue.https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/19908793.omn...
Apparently there's going to be a few more popping up across the county.
https://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
To be honest, I'm fairly flippant with the local front facing cameras, not that I'm deliberately speeding but im not checking im bang on 30 like I normally would.
if I saw that camera though, I would 100% make sure I wasn't speeding. To me it's pretty obvious even though I have never seen one before.
if I saw that camera though, I would 100% make sure I wasn't speeding. To me it's pretty obvious even though I have never seen one before.
ingenieur said:
"funding being secured to improve a number of Cornwall’s static camera sites"
Hmm, an improvement would be removal.
So drivers could break the speed limit with impunity?Hmm, an improvement would be removal.
It's not complicated, great big sign says 30, so that's as fast as you should drive.
Can't really simplify it any more than that really.
NMNeil said:
ingenieur said:
"funding being secured to improve a number of Cornwall’s static camera sites"
Hmm, an improvement would be removal.
So drivers could break the speed limit with impunity?Hmm, an improvement would be removal.
It's not complicated, great big sign says 30, so that's as fast as you should drive.
Can't really simplify it any more than that really.
Gareth79 said:
Looks like a Jenoptik Vector SR. Uses radar with a camera and "digital grid overlay" for manual verification. I imagine modern radar detection is a million miles awy from the tech in a Gatso. I have a tiny £100 radar sensor on the back of my bicycle which can detect the speed and position of cars from 150m+ away, and can count the number of vehicles if there's a queue.
https://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
Sorry but that's not a link to the most interesting thing in your post, what is the link to the cycle mounted driver dobber in thingy pleasehttps://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
NMNeil said:
So drivers could break the speed limit with impunity?
It's not complicated, great big sign says 30, so that's as fast as you should drive.
Can't really simplify it any more than that really.
Good grief, that camera screams HIT THE BRAKES!, and is hardly designed to deceive.It's not complicated, great big sign says 30, so that's as fast as you should drive.
Can't really simplify it any more than that really.
Paying attention literally pays dividends.
N111BJG said:
Gareth79 said:
Looks like a Jenoptik Vector SR. Uses radar with a camera and "digital grid overlay" for manual verification. I imagine modern radar detection is a million miles awy from the tech in a Gatso. I have a tiny £100 radar sensor on the back of my bicycle which can detect the speed and position of cars from 150m+ away, and can count the number of vehicles if there's a queue.
https://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
Sorry but that's not a link to the most interesting thing in your post, what is the link to the cycle mounted driver dobber in thingy pleasehttps://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
5s Alive said:
Good grief, that camera screams HIT THE BRAKES!, and is hardly designed to deceive.
Paying attention literally pays dividends.
My point is that it replaced an old Gatso that only worked when driving in one direction. Drivers just got used to going slower in one direction, faster in the other.Paying attention literally pays dividends.
This new camera is two smaller boxes, at the top of a much taller pole, on the opposite side of the road and detects you as you are driving towards it. There are no obvious road markings, and no visible flash to alert you that you've been nicked (which might make some people slow down the next time).
I bet quite a few offenders picked up more than one ticket before it became apparent that it was a 2-direction camera.
A similar thing happened when another village on the same road got average speed cameras - drivers spotted the first camera, slowed down, then speeded up again and got caught over the average by the second camera. Loads of prosecutions until word spread that it was an average zone. The road is much narrower here though, with a couple of nasty bends in the middle of the zone. It deserves to be a 30 zone.
Obviously the real answer is "stick to the posted speed limit, and you won't get done", but plenty of people have trouble sticking to 30 on a fairly wide, open, road with no side turnings or crossings in the vicinity of the camera.
Master Bean said:
N111BJG said:
Gareth79 said:
Looks like a Jenoptik Vector SR. Uses radar with a camera and "digital grid overlay" for manual verification. I imagine modern radar detection is a million miles awy from the tech in a Gatso. I have a tiny £100 radar sensor on the back of my bicycle which can detect the speed and position of cars from 150m+ away, and can count the number of vehicles if there's a queue.
https://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
Sorry but that's not a link to the most interesting thing in your post, what is the link to the cycle mounted driver dobber in thingy pleasehttps://www.jenoptik.co.uk/product/vector-sr/
clockworks said:
Does anyone know how these cameras work - detection points, etc?
Short version: if drivers choose to break the law re: speed going past the camera, it will detect it, and a fine/points will be issued.Seems pretty straight forward?
The fact people might now get caught breaking the law, when before they could get away with it, is not going to get people out on the streets protesting.
It took me one fpn to learn my lesson (which was to look out for cameras)
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Absolutely no excuse for excess speed in a 30. If the new cameras are at the same site as the old one then I can see why less competent drivers would speed along there. Hopefully more of the old Gatsos will be replaced with the new cameras in other residential areas.
Absolutely no excuse for excess speed in a 30. If the new cameras are at the same site as the old one then I can see why less competent drivers would speed along there. Hopefully more of the old Gatsos will be replaced with the new cameras in other residential areas.
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