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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 17:03 
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Seems like i'm having a bad time of it at the moment. Just swapped company cars and whilst waiting for my new car kit to be fitted i was caught using my phone whilst driving (silly silly).

Today whilst driving through southampton i think i may have crossed a red light camera. It had just turned from amber to red and i was trying to brake to stop (in a 50 zone), i realised i wasnt going to and kept going, thinking this would be safer than ending up in the middle of the junction.

Now the camera was not yellow and it didnt appear to flash,

Is it likely i was caught? Do they always have to flash to work? Do they have to be yellow?

Any help would be great as i am super paranoid about more points. Seems i spend most time edgey at the moment waiting to get done for something

MikeD


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 17:46 
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They do flash. They don't have to be yellow. There's a chance there was no camera in the box (as Southampton have a lot of traffic light camera boxes to up the congestion)
There is also a delay between red appearing and the camera activating.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 18:15 
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Ziltro wrote:
They do flash. They don't have to be yellow. There's a chance there was no camera in the box (as Southampton have a lot of traffic light camera boxes to up the congestion)
There is also a delay between red appearing and the camera activating.


Thats re-assuring as it definately did not flash.

What delay is it between red appearing and the camera activating?


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 18:32 
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MikeD wrote:
What delay is it between red appearing and the camera activating?

Well I just read on an SCP's web site they set them 0.8 seconds or later, however I have seen some photos recently which were activated after 0.6 seconds!

I should think > 0.8 seconds would be more normal though.

So I can't say for sure, but there's some numbers to think about. ;)

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 18:41 
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Yes, red light cameras in Southampton are generally grey. Where was this? At the lights along the Millbrook Road by any chance. This is 50mph with a camera.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 19:00 
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malcolmw wrote:
Yes, red light cameras in Southampton are generally grey. Where was this? At the lights along the Millbrook Road by any chance. This is 50mph with a camera.


Yeah thats it, pretty hard to get down to a stop as they are changing


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 19:14 
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Mmm I guessed it was that road too but didn't know the name.
Traffic light camera, speed camera, traffic light camera, traffic light camera, speed camera... It's great fun. :x
Why do you think the cameras are on the main road and not on the side roads (which would be pulling out into faster moving traffic)?

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 19:48 
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Ziltro wrote:
Mmm I guessed it was that road too but didn't know the name.
Traffic light camera, speed camera, traffic light camera, traffic light camera, speed camera... It's great fun. :x
Why do you think the cameras are on the main road and not on the side roads (which would be pulling out into faster moving traffic)?


yeah everytime i go down there i'm so busy looking for the cameras i'm always in the wrong lane.

i'm just glad that they always flash, at least this one didn't.....this time..


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 20:07 
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MikeD wrote:
Ziltro wrote:
Mmm I guessed it was that road too but didn't know the name.
Traffic light camera, speed camera, traffic light camera, traffic light camera, speed camera... It's great fun. :x
Why do you think the cameras are on the main road and not on the side roads (which would be pulling out into faster moving traffic)?


yeah everytime i go down there i'm so busy looking for the cameras i'm always in the wrong lane.

I've certainly had the "I need to change lane now but first I need to deal with this camera" thing. It seems to happen at certain sites (with particularly unreasonable limits where you need to get in lane) more than others. For example, the second camera after the 40mph limit starts on the M4 going into London (which incidentally is about 2 feet after the first one).

Yet another way in which cameras cause potential danger and congestion. Like "they" care.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 22:04 
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Yeah, changing lanes near cameras is definitely a mental challenge.

And as an aside, if you change lanes in the radar beam of a Gatso camera it affects the speed reading! (one way it increases, the other it decreases, but I can't remember which)

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 22:27 
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so bottom line is, if it didnt flash i didnt get snapped?


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 22:42 
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Ziltro wrote:
Yeah, changing lanes near cameras is definitely a mental challenge.

And as an aside, if you change lanes in the radar beam of a Gatso camera it affects the speed reading! (one way it increases, the other it decreases, but I can't remember which)

Changing lanes away from a rear (of vehicle) facing gatso camera will increase the measured speed.

:scratchchin:

:idea:

Assuming a straight carriageway: the corroborating measurement, as derived from the two photos, is always calculated in 1 dimension – along the carriageway. Therefore the ‘cosine effect’ will apply so resulting with a reduced calculated speed if the vehicle traversed the lane at an angle (i.e. changing lanes). Given that the angle of the radar beam is 20 degrees and the two measurements must be within 10% of each other, a vehicle crossing over the lines at 20 degrees from the axis of the carriageway (directly away from the gatso) should invalidate the prosecution.

:D


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 23:17 
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MikeD wrote:
so bottom line is, if it didnt flash i didnt get snapped?

Pretty much, yeah.
I believe the shutter speed on the camera is such that the flash is needed, even in daylight. I have not heard of any which have a light sensor, and that wouldn't help it being a deterrent.

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PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 22:26 
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Ziltro wrote:
MikeD wrote:
so bottom line is, if it didnt flash i didnt get snapped?

Pretty much, yeah.
I believe the shutter speed on the camera is such that the flash is needed, even in daylight. I have not heard of any which have a light sensor, and that wouldn't help it being a deterrent.


thanks,


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 17:37 
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do the traffic light gatso cameras flash twice like a gatso speed camera, also ive heard they can do you for driving to fast now if you jump the red


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 18:13 
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The Gatso ones flash twice - they take two photos.
I would ASSUME the Peek ones also flash twice.
There needs to be proof that the vehicle actually moved.

I believe the RedSpeed RedGuard flashes three times, the third for a close-up shot.

The RedSpeed RedSpeed (silly name but never mind) is a combination of red light and speed camera, when the lights are red it is a red light camera, otherwise it is a speed camera.

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