Safe Speed Forums

Last I got flashed by a standard Gatso on the opposite side of the road. I was approaching the camera which was pointing towards me as oppossed from behind me. As far as I know cameras flash speeding traffic from behind not in the front. I was leaving a village and the camera is obviously there to catch speeders entering the village. I have never seen this happen before. Will I get fined?

If it WAS a standard gatso, then no.

It looked like all the normal ones but can standard Gatso flash oncoming traffic? If it did take a picture would my reg show up considering I was on full beam?

I'm on slightly thin ice here, but:

They have been known to flash you head on, but they are not "type approved" for facing traffic, so it will not be used to do you. Have a flick through the "Help, I'm being prosecuted!" sub-forum where this has been discussed before.

It usually means they're not working properly if the flash as you face them....IF it's a Gatso, as opposed to say a Truvelo:

about half way down this page

Where I used to work, on my way home I would regularly set off a facing Gatso - but I was on a motorbike...

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

It depends on whether you were abusing the speed limit. If you were, you might get a few points and a fine. If not, you're in the clear. So were you zooming through, or were you cool at the time?

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I stole this .sig

bw, surely it wouldn't have flashed if he was obeying the speed limit?

[quote="basingwerk"][quote="pullgees"]It looked like all the normal ones but can standard Gatso flash oncoming traffic? If it did take a picture would my reg show up considering I was on full beam?[/quote]

[quote="pullgees"]Will I get fined?[/quote]

It depends on whether you were abusing the speed limit. If you were, you might get a few points and a fine. If not, you're in the clear. So were you zooming through, or were you cool at the time?[/quote]

So are you saying you can get a fine if you are flashed by a Gatso head on?

Have a look at this site --www.speedcam.co.uk - shows both Gatso and Truvello - main difference is that Gatso apertures are rectangular ,whereas Truvello are circular, with a red flash.( and "Truvello" on post)
Gatso - flashing into you - usually faulty as Johnny says and from the reaction i got when i reported a "faulty" one (flashed in my face) it looks that way.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I f it was a gatso (white flash, usually on a grey post) as opposed to a Truvelo (purple or invisible flash, usually on a blue post) then they cannot use a face-on photograph as evidence against you.

I doubt they'll even bother to save the images let alone generate an offence for it as this is so well known that most people will contest it and then they'll get in trouble for using the device in that way.

Magenta! :p
They are not invisible. That's a myth probably brought on by the use of laser speed meters at the same time as Truvelos were introduced, which do use an insivible (infrared) laser beam.

Gatos weren't type approved for front facing mode. They may have been re-approved. Some counties use dummy units in the Gatso housing which sometimes or always flash both directions, and as these aren't used for prossecution they don't have to be accurate.

If it was a single white flash then nothing to worry about. If it was a double white flash then probably ok but if not read Pepipoo and learn how "the system" works.

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Andrew.

All Gatsos have an internal switch setting for "front", "rear" or "both". They are only type approved for rear shots, but the scammers will often set the unloaded ones to "both" . This does exactly what it has to pullgees - scares the cr*p out of you so you spend the next 2-weeks wondering if you got a NIP.

You'll probably find that you weren't even over the limit, front shots screw with the doppler for the radar (front on, cars are suprisingly stealthy) and it will tend to over-read your speed.

To the best of my knowledge, Gatsos are only calibrated for blue Doppler shift (speeding away from the unit). Because they use a xenon/argon flash unit, it has to be discharged about once every ten minutes or damage to the lamp results. The Gatso placed near my home, at the site of a KSI involving a Woolly Rhino and a Sabre-toothed Tiger about 80,000 years ago, regularly performs 'double flashes' to discharge the lamp charging-current circuitry and scares the crap out of passing motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and mobility scooter drivers.
If you saw a bright flash, you should be in the clear, if it was a pale purple colour and the camera looked like a Blue-Tit box on steroids, you may be in the nasty brown stuff...

Good luck anyway!

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