Speed Cameras
 

If your approaching a speed camera which is on the other side of the road and is one that takes pictures from the back of your car, and it goes off, can you still get fined?

The camera was on the other side of the road.

The car was approaching the camera and not going past it as the camera was intended.

There are no lines on the side of the road appriacing the camera either (but are some of the side of the road where the camera is.)


Secondly if its at night and that happens and it distracts you by the blinding light flashing twice and surely this could cause an accident?

Re: Speed Cameras
 

No - the standard fixed cameras like the one you are probably talking about will only snap you if you are travelling away from it.

In theory yes, but the flashes are so instantanious that they are not likely to pose any real danger.

Re: Speed Cameras
 

hmmm well i was travelling towards one at 1am and there were no other cars, but it still went off??

Re: Speed Cameras
 

As far as i know you will not get fined, because the markings on the road are what is used to determine your speed. If you were on the other side of the road you may not even have been in the picture. I remember a case a few years ago about taking pictures of people from the front is invasion of privacy under the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) but i am sure it won't come down to this!

Also i guess yes if you are distracted and crash then you could blame the camera, but i very much doubt you would be able to claim compensation from the speed camera unit of your local police force (i mean think how little money they must have!!). However you if someone was speeding through it when it went off and you crashed, a very good lawyer may be able to bring a successful civil action for the damage against the speeding motorist, but i don't see this being very likely.

If you are bored, you can always tie a tin can to a piece of string and swing it round infront of a speed camera, because when it reaches a certain speed it will make the camera go off :)

MB

Re: Speed Cameras
 

That's very odd - standard speed cameras are not designed to work like that and require some kind of marked distance for an accurate reading, such as the white lines you normally see.

:eeek: Why am I only learning about this now????

*legs it down the road with a tin can and some string....

Re: Speed Cameras
 

This happened to me recently, I never got the NIP. I did a lot of research at the time, it seems like the rear-flashing-Gatsos, that flash at on-coming cars are dummy units with cheap radar detectors that can't tell the difference between a positive speed (like normal), and a negative one (driving towards the camera). Apparently a friend of my friend (who was also flashed with me) told him that he drives passed the same camera all the time speeding, and never gets caught. I think even if it did take pictures of your car, they couldn't use them because there are only lines on the other side of the road, with the whole "Error Of Parallax" thing. If it flashed, then i'm 99.99% sure it wasn't a front picture taking camera like a TrueVelo, although apparently someone people have sworn they flashed, even though they have an infra-red flash, which you aren't supposed to see.

HTH and rests your mind a little.

Re: Speed Cameras
 

PMSL

Re: Speed Cameras
 

I liked the story of the guy yesterday, who had been caught speeding a couple of times, he noticed a police camera and drove past at 20 MPH and put not 2, but 4 fingers, 2 on each hand, up to the camera. He was fined for driving without due care and attention for taking both hands of the wheel.

Re: Speed Cameras
 

http://www.ukspeedcameras.co.uk/guide.htm

A pretty comprehensive site on all GATSO related matters.

Re: Speed Cameras
 

Do not use a beer or cider can though - the penalties for speeding under the influence are much higher :disturbd:

Re: Speed Cameras
 

getting caught speeding while your swinging could be even worse!!

Re: Speed Cameras
 

Where in Peterborough wa the speed camera Gary?

The one on the way out of Whittlesey to Stanground has flashed me three times and I've never heard anything!!

I have friends in the force who told me that pictures in this situation are usually blank.

Re: Speed Cameras
 

The one on Oundle Road outside side of Orton Longville school

Re: Speed Cameras
 

Just call up the Government and ask for a spin doctor

Re: Speed Cameras
 

The radar in the Gatso determines your speed, not the white lines.
They can be used to give a rough confirmation of your speed should you contest the accuracy of the camera recorded speed.
A case I heard about involved a man going through roadworks.
The camera recorded him doing quite a bit more than the speed limit, he knew he wasn't speeding, so contested it.
The police "somehow" missed a few lines when they were counting so it showed him as speeding.
Thankfully his maths skills, along with his solicitor and the magistrate, were somewhat better than the police and showed that he hadn't been speeding.