Safe Speed Forums

New satellite technology speed cameras in road tests
Car speeding past camera
The hi-tech camera is being tested to catch speeding motorists
Tests are taking place of a new type of speed camera combining number plate recognition and satellite technology.
PIPS Technology says its devices capture a car's position and works out an average speed over a distance.
Cameras within a designated area compare location data to assess if speed limits have been broken.
The SpeedSpike is being trialled in Southwark, south London, and on the A374 in Cornwall, MPs on the Commons transport select committee were told.
PIPS Technology, which devised the system, said it could be used on motorways, A roads, rat-runs and in areas surrounding schools.
In a written answer to the select committee, the company said its test sites were in Salter Road in Southwark and the A374 from Torpoint to Antony.
With new complex technology comes the risk of errors and so the government must issue clear guidance on how these systems should be used
Paul Watters, AA
Paul Watters, AA head of public affairs, said while it supported speed cameras, there were worries over calculating average speeds over longer distances.

"We have some concerns about how far these systems extend along roads with many different speed limits impacting on a driver's journey, how well drivers understand them and how well the zones are signed," he said.
"Camera enforcement is now high profile with conspicuous cameras and signing - we hope that continues.
"With new complex technology comes the risk of errors and so the government must issue clear guidance on how these systems should be used."

The Home Office has declined to comment on the trials.
PIPS Technology is run from the US and has offices in Eastleigh, Hampshire.
The company created the Spike Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera used in London's congestion charging zone.

New speed camera system tracks drivers from space
By Katie Scott |20 April 2010 |Categories: Autopia
New speed camera system tracks drivers from space
The Home Office has been trialling a speed camera system that uses satellites to track speeds over long distances.

The SpeedSpike system, developed by Texas-based PIPS Technology, has been in operation at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall, revealed a House of Commons report.
The system uses GPS information to calculate the average speed of vehicles between any two points in the network. This is combined with registration number reading cameras, which are said in the report to be able to work "in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day".
As well as claiming that the system is easy to install and "low cost", the report suggests that it could be used to "eliminate rat-runs" and could even cut down on the need for speed bumps.
While the Home Office isn't commenting on the trials, Superintendent Tim Swarbrick of the Devon and Cornwall Safety Camera Partnership told the South West News Service that the system was being tested "on a live road system to assess how effective and accurate it is".

He continued: "Average speed recorders have proved to be very successful in roadworks on the major trunk roads. They have reduced injury and deaths and we would like to replicate this positive effect on more rural roads. To this end we are assisting the Home Office in piloting a new version of this equipment to gauge both its accuracy and operational effectiveness. The equipment is not being used for enforcement purposes, as it is not Home Office approved at this stage."
Source link: * SWNS| * The Telegraph

New speed cameras trap motorists from space
A new type of speed cameras which can use satellites to measure average speed over long distances are being tested in Britain.
By By Richard Savill
Published: 6:30AM BST 20 Apr 2010
Satellites could track motorists from space if trials prove successful

The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks.
The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.”

The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall.
The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with a base in Hampshire.
Details of the trials are contained in a House of Commons report. The company said in its evidence that the cameras enabled "number plate capture in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day". It also referred to the system's "low cost" and ease of installation.

The system could be used for "main road enforcement for congestion reduction and speed enforcement", and could help to "eliminate rat-runs" and cut speeds outside schools, it added. It could also reduce the need for speed humps.
The development of speed cameras has raised concerns about expanding state surveillance.
The Home Office said it was unable to comment on the trials because of "commercial confidentiality".
The AA said it would watch the system “carefully” but it did not believe there was anything sinister. “It is a natural evolution of the technology that is out there,” a spokesman said.

...PIPS Technology, which devised the system, said it could be used on motorways, A roads, rat-runs and in areas surrounding schools...

Motoring news
Concerns over speed camera tests
20/04/2010

Concerns have been raised over the implications of an average speed monitoring system that is being 'covertly' tested on UK roads.

Government testing of the SpeedSpike system, which uses automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and GPS technologies, was revealed in the written evidence section of the Transport Select Committee's recent publication, The Major Road Network.

Manufacturer PIPS Technology revealed that its system, which employs similar technology to that used to enforce London's congestion charge, had been trialled in Southwark and on the A374 in Cornwall. A network of the cameras could conceivably follow cars' progress across many miles, communicating with each other to establish whether drivers had broken the speed limit.
While the most common use of average speed monitoring systems is on motorway contraflows, the makers say that the system could be used for a variety of tasks, including reducing congestion on main roads, eliminating urban 'rat-runs', and enforcing speed limits outside schools.

However, MP Geoffrey Cox, whose constituency lies close to the Cornish testing ground, told the Daily Mail that questions remained before an extension to the scheme should be considered. He asked whether it is "really necessary to watch over people, to spy on them and film them".
"We will get to a point where it becomes routine, and it should never be a matter of routine that the state spies on its citizens," he added.

The trials were not publicised, and have come to light just days after Home Office figures showed that, between 1997 and 2008, the Government made more than £900 million from speeding tickets.

Jo Abbott, spokesperson for the RAC Foundation, told Admiral News that "problems will arise if on the back of this drivers start to receive a large number of penalties for going over the speed limit by a very small amount".
But despite adding that it is "impossible to drive safely if you are always watching the speedometer", she said that the system could nevertheless have benefits for the individual motorist.
"If the traffic is slightly slowed, it's good for the environment and good for the motorists' pocket," she said.

More Persecution Of The Motorist By The Labour Nanny - Satellite Cameras.
Written by TB
Tuesday, 20 April 2010 19:42

Guess what - this has to be in the UK, further persecution of the motorist is in the pipeline even after the years of persecution by the Gatso camera. All this is in the name of safety - I say rubbish!
This nanny Labour lot just can't help themselves in trying to control our lives - don't do this, don't do that, trying to spy on everything we do. We can only hope that they will come to a sticky end in May.
Anyway this new persecution device is a satellite speed camera that can track a cars average speed over a few miles. It combines automatic number plate recognition with GPS and it seems that it is being tested on the A374 in Cornwall.
Speed cameras have raised a £1billion since Labour came to power in '97 - no shock there but the money will probably have been squandered like the rest of our money over these years.
Despite what the Government and the brainwashed partnerships say the cameras have been a cash cow. Just think, millions of motorists have been prosecuted on the say so of a machine which probably isn't always accurate. People had driven for twenty years and not been criminalised until we got the unfair cameras.
The best advice would be to get a Sat-Nav device with built in camera detection. It more or less proves that they are only in it for the money when they do not put speed cameras near schools. Most people do drive slowly there so they are not going to make any money with cameras outside schools.

Speed Camera Can Track Car for Miles
Published: 20 Apr 2010
A CAR drives past a new satellite speed camera that could track its average speed for several MILES.

The SpeedSpike device combines automatic number plate recognition technology with GPS.
Details of secret Home Office trials on the A374 in Cornwall and on Salter Road, South London, emerged in a Commons report and have been slammed by civil rights groups and MPs.
Tory MP Geoffrey Cox said: "It should never be a matter of routine that the state spies on its citizens."

And The Sun (quite a good photo ...) here

How does a single camera track a car for several miles? Steve?

Let us put aside the argument about speed limits and methods of enforcement for the duration on this thread, is there anyone on here that not seriously worried about this level of government spying?

As I keep asking - how does this system raise the level of surveillance above what it is now. GPS is not a spy-in-the-sky system.

This is all conjecture that I don’t necessarily align myself with.

Am I missing something here? Why does a fixed point camera need GPS?