Fixed Speed Camera

[grevious]

Is a fixed speed camera, facing the opposite way to the white bar lines in the road , still capable of recording an exessive speed. I was caught doing 40 in a 30 zone, with the bars on the opposite side of the road to the way I was travelling .

[green_and_mean]

As you got 'caught' I would have thought the obvious answer was...yes. If you mean are the lines required for the prosecution to succeed I'm not sure however I'm sure someone will soon come along that does. As far as I'm aware the cameras work on radar or lazer and the lines are only there if more than one car is in the photo, although I may be wrong.

[Michael Browne]

When you say 'caught' do you mean you have received the NIP or merely that you were flashed?

[crem]

I thought the white lines had to be present on both photos so that you could mathematically work out your speed over distance to verify the camera reading. But, like G&M, I oculd be mistaken.

[david1605red]

The speed reading is taken from a laser beam emitted from the camera. The two photographs of the car crossing the gridlines are taken a fixed time interval apart (usually 0.5 seconds), and the number of gridlines crossed provides corroboration of the speed reading, otherwise known as the secondary check. (The gridlines are a fixed distance apart, usually 2 metres but older ones are 5 feet in some areas).

 

ACPO procedural guidelines state that no prosecution should ensue if the secondary check differs from the laser reading by more than 10%, or if there are multiple vehicles in the frames. That doesn't always stop the barstewards trying it on in some instances.

[patdavies]

Nonsense, fixed GATSO cameras use radar, not laser.

 

A fixed GATSO can only provide evidence for a vehicle moving away from it. The lines are not a statutory requirement, but the need for a secondary check is. Tthis can be performed by an officer comparing the perspective/sizes of two photographs and calculating the distance travelled - it is, of course, much easier if the lines are present.

 

The only fixed camera approved for forward facing use is a Truvelo. There is only one picture taken - the secondary check is that the front wheels are on the triple lines prior to the camera. The Truvelo uses a very visible magenta-coloured flash. A Truvelo can be turned round and used as a GATSO

[david1605red]

Oops sorry, I meant radar not laser.

[grevious]

thanks for all the information, I redrove past the camera today and noticed a tripple line on the road in the direction I was going. I suppose the NIP means a fine and three points

[crem]

I think something like 60% of the cameras no longer have film in them, so even if it flashed, it may not have taken a photo. Only time will tell (14 days to be precise )