Safe Speed Forums

Ok guys,

So, on the way to work today I was approaching the Westway in London travelling at the speed limit which is 30mph when I am confronted by a mobile speed camera van with the back doors wide open facing my lane of traffic.

Now, this set-up had a flash unit resting on the floor next to the van pointing towards the oncoming traffic, (me!), and a camera unit in the back. As far as I was aware it's illegal to fire a flash towards a vehicle anyway, let alone from 25 metres away!!!

However I'm not worried as I always stick to the speed limits, as at my age and driving the car I do, I could kiss goodbye to affording the insurance with any points on my license!

Anyway, I continue driving towards the van keeping a close eye on my speedo, making sure that I'm not even tickling the wrong side of 30, and watch on as I'm over-taken slowly by mopeds and milkfloats........suddenly.......BANG!!! The flash goes off in my face as I am in direct sight-line of the van, I look around and there's no-one else that could of set it off!

Now I'm getting pretty fed-up of this sort of thing happening, being flashed by Gatsos and having Laser Guns pointed at me for no apparent reason.

Knowing my luck I am about to be on the recieving end of a letter and photo accusing me of breaking the speed limit when I clearly was not.

I was wondering if any of you guys and girls have had a similar experience and how you would go about contesting something like this if you were unlawfully accused of speeding.

Bearing in mind this isn't a regular Gatso, so there is no-way of me working out the speed from two photos, as all I will be supplied with is a still image of my car and a fraudulent speed reading!!!

Even if the equipment was calibrated properly there's a number of different factors that could cause the equipment to wrongly accuse me of speeding, at the end of the day, it's just a machine and I refuse to be one of the masses who just put up with a fine and points even though I am 100% certain that I was in the right.

Cheers people, your input would be gratefully appreciated!

There are two devices which do this - the Redflex Lasercam NT which flashes a magenta (purple) colour, and the Mini Gatso, which would be white.

The Reflex would be operated out of a van with a remote flash, the Mini Gatso would a large box on a tripod, also likely to have a van nearby.

Either way, you might not hear anything about it, they have 14 days following the offence to issue a NIP. If you do get a NIP and are certain you weren't speeding then you can elect a court hearing and examine the evidence.

Gareth

That whole setup sounds rather fishy.
Was it at night time?

The kit inside a gatso camera housing can be used in other ways, like in the back of a van, however it should still take 2 photos... I think...
If it was a magenta flash... well Truvelo UK make a portable device which is connected to road sensors.

Laser speed meters are connected to video cameras and wouldn't require a flash, unless maybe that is how they read the numberplate in the dark? It would make more sense to have a continuous light source though.

Maybe it was ANPR and the flash was meant to be infrared but they had forgotten to attach a filter? Even so ANPR is, I think, video based and would require a constant light source.

If you are the registered keeper then they've got 14 days to get a NIP to you.

You might want to read all the lovely information available on Pepipoo which is all about the law and how they are (and aren't) allowed to prossecute you. It sure made me less scared of these damned cameras!

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Andrew.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=9748&

ANPR uses a continuously flashing IR source (50 (or 25?) flashes per second). The light source is IR only so no filtering is necessary. There’s no way an ANPR illuminator could be so visible.


IIRC, a porta-gatso (in attended mode) needs only photo for evidence, so long as it corroborates the operator’s opinion.


S3 TSN,
Did you see any painted markings on the road?

"oh yeah"

I believe there is/was a device called a "Mini Gatso" but it no longer has type approval. However there is a portable housing for the same devices they put in the fixed gatso housings. Gatso traffic radar 24? Anyway it opperates the same way as in the fixed housing.

As for flashing at oncoming traffic yeah it's a stupid idea but it doesn't stop the fact that you were speedin'. Guilty until proven guilty remember. Hopefully you won't hear anything though, as long as your speedo read <35 you should be ok.

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Andrew.

There's supposed to be a Poltech camera with a pink flash. Cumbria claimed to have one for night-time operations. I can't say I've EVER heard of one being used, and I don't know its type approval status.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I'm not too worried as I definitely wasn't speeding 28-30mph maximum!

I just hope that the camera didn't mis-read my speed as I was the only person it flashed even though others were overtaking me!!!

Like I said, I couldn't afford to have points on my license and I pride myself on my driving.

What did bother me however was the set-up they were operating.

It had a camera in the back of the van pointing towards the traffic, was not "Gatso" style, but had a SEPERATE FLASH UNIT on the floor next to the van!!!
It was about the size of a shoebox, emitted a bright white flash (ONCE) in daylight conditions from 15 metres away which scared the hell out of me!!!
No road markings for the camera were in place.

They are often there, but it's the first time I've seen this set-up.

Any of you think it could be a tax disc checking van or some other kind of equipment?

The Poltech camera you refer to is now the Redflex LaserCam NT and has held UK Type Approval since 2003. Redflex bought the technology off Poltech when the latter went bankrupt after it lost a major contract and engaged in corrupt business practices.

I doubt Mr Callaghan makes much use of these given that the maximum detection range of this device is only 100 meters in daylight and a mere 80 meters in the dark. Not much use for a nocturnal M6 "turkey shoot".

Best regards,

Max

Ahh. That clears a couple of things up for me. Thanks.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety