Homemade Speed Camera

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Boring82
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Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Boring82 »

Bit of a long shot, but did anyone else see a programme over the last few weeks in which someone built the shell of a GATSO and put it up outside their house? I caught about 2 minutes of the programme and wanted to watch the rest of it and cannot remember what it was called or what channel it was on.
Fenlander
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Fenlander »

Chap in a village not far from here did it and the police came and took it away as they claimed it was a safety risk to motorists! Nothing at all to do with siting their mobile van a few hundred yards further along. They did give in in the end and gave him it back. He's also had a scarecrow wearing a hi-viz holding a hairdryer before.
SC2
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by SC2 »

Could it be this: http://www.itv.com/hub/speeding-wars/2a4188a0001?
Didn't watch, but looks likely.
Boring82
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Boring82 »

SC2 wrote:Could it be this: http://www.itv.com/hub/speeding-wars/2a4188a0001?
Didn't watch, but looks likely.
That looks like it. The future Mrs Boring was watching it had it on in the background whilst I was cooking.
Fenlander wrote:Chap in a village not far from here did it and the police came and took it away as they claimed it was a safety risk to motorists! Nothing at all to do with siting their mobile van a few hundred yards further along. They did give in in the end and gave him it back. He's also had a scarecrow wearing a hi-viz holding a hairdryer before.
It was this guy, I just googled him and he is not alone!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-16850999
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fa ... wn-6333043
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... dents.html
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Chris Bertram »

Truvelo used to have a page of fake speed cameras on his website. Some were quite convincing at first glance, others were obvious dummies, very amateurishly constructed. I dare say he still has the pictures.

The police don't like them for a number of reasons. One is that they disapprove of people taking the law into their own hands - if you want to do policing, join the police. Another is that there will have been no risk assessment carried out into their siting, so panic braking on sight of the box could have very serious consequences. Officially installed Gatsos and the like won't have this problem.
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Boring82
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Boring82 »

Chris Bertram wrote:The police don't like them for a number of reasons. One is that they disapprove of people taking the law into their own hands - if you want to do policing, join the police. Another is that there will have been no risk assessment carried out into their siting, so panic braking on sight of the box could have very serious consequences. Officially installed Gatsos and the like won't have this problem.
The short section I saw was him putting it up followed by several cars slamming on their anchors as they spotted the camera, with him (and some friends) laughing at the motorists. Followed by him being told by the council to remove it and some locals congratulating him in the pub.
Fenlander
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Fenlander »

Boring82 wrote:
SC2 wrote:Could it be this: http://www.itv.com/hub/speeding-wars/2a4188a0001?
Didn't watch, but looks likely.
That looks like it. The future Mrs Boring was watching it had it on in the background whilst I was cooking.
Fenlander wrote:Chap in a village not far from here did it and the police came and took it away as they claimed it was a safety risk to motorists! Nothing at all to do with siting their mobile van a few hundred yards further along. They did give in in the end and gave him it back. He's also had a scarecrow wearing a hi-viz holding a hairdryer before.
It was this guy, I just googled him and he is not alone!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-16850999
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fa ... wn-6333043
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... dents.html
Different place & person, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -wall.html
Boring82
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Boring82 »

Fenlander wrote:Different place & person, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -wall.html
Interestingly how would a fake camera have helped in this case:
Daily Mail wrote:But when an uninsured driver ploughed into his garden wall causing £3,500 damage, he decided that was the last straw.
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Fenlander »

Presumably that the illegal motorist wouldn't have crashed because he would have been going slower due to the presence of the fake camera. Unlikely of course but his main aim was to do something, there was and is a problem with traffic exceeding the 30 limit through the village. Predictably the speed camera van sits at the other end of the village at the end of a long straight stretch of NSL focussing on the start of the 30 which conveniently starts further out than it really needs to. The heart of the village where the problem is goes unprotected.
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TheLeeds
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by TheLeeds »

Good point about the risk assessment, although if people were driving sensibly and keeping to the speed limit, they'd be less likely to crash.

I notice in the Mail article, it says,
But police have warned Mr Allen that he could face legal action if a motorist should crash and claim that the fake camera was a distraction.
However, I'd be reluctant to take advice from police for three reasons.
1 - Unlike a solicitor or barrister, they aren't qualified to give legal advice,
2 - They're not insured to give legal advice (professional indemnity insurance), and
3 - By virtue of their position, they are not impartial. In the event of criminal charges being brought, it's the police who would gather evidence of guilt against a person they may have previously advised.

There was a scarecrow festival near us a few years ago, and someone put one in a high vis behind a fence with a hairdryer. At night it was convincing enough to go back and take a second look, just to make sure it wasn't alive.
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PeterA5145
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by PeterA5145 »

I don't think this one will be fooling anyone :laugh:
dummy_cop.jpg
But, seriously, most drivers on most roads are regular users, and a dummy camera is only going to fool them once.
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Boring82
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Boring82 »

TheLeeds wrote:I notice in the Mail article, it says,
But police have warned Mr Allen that he could face legal action if a motorist should crash and claim that the fake camera was a distraction.
However, I'd be reluctant to take advice from police for three reasons.
1 - Unlike a solicitor or barrister, they aren't qualified to give legal advice,
2 - They're not insured to give legal advice (professional indemnity insurance), and
3 - By virtue of their position, they are not impartial. In the event of criminal charges being brought, it's the police who would gather evidence of guilt against a person they may have previously advised.
I've had experience before of Police Constables giving legal advice when not qualified to do so. He didn't realise at the time he was speaking to a Police Sergeant about his field of expertise, he was soon informed to stop impersonating a QC...

However, in all likelihood he could well be sued in a civil action due to creating a distraction that causes an accident. Insurance companies (as it would be them that would be looking to pursue the claim rather than the driver) will likely look to take on the individual for causing the accident by distracting the driver. I seem to remember that there was a camera that had to be moved as it was proven to have been a major contributing factor to an accident, as it was sighted in such a way that the driver became distracted by it and crashed their vehicle. If I remember rightly it was just after a bend with a strange camber that caused them to panic brake, loose control in the wet and ended up writing their car off in a ditch, I think they moved it further along from the bend - which I would have thought was a more sensible placement anyway!
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Piatkow »

This one seems to have avoided mention so far.
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J--M--B
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by J--M--B »

Boring82 wrote:
Chris Bertram wrote:The police don't like them for a number of reasons. One is that they disapprove of people taking the law into their own hands - if you want to do policing, join the police. Another is that there will have been no risk assessment carried out into their siting, so panic braking on sight of the box could have very serious consequences. Officially installed Gatsos and the like won't have this problem.
The short section I saw was him putting it up followed by several cars slamming on their anchors as they spotted the camera, with him (and some friends) laughing at the motorists. Followed by him being told by the council to remove it and some locals congratulating him in the pub.
But I am sure we have all seen people braking hard when they see a fixed speed camera, Talivan, plod with radar gun or just a police car parked whilst they eat their doughnuts. IN some places you know to make sure you keep a good distance from the car in front because they are likely to be braking for speed cameras.

I keep expecting a plod to complain when I have been taking pictures using a 500 MM lens near road especially as I will often be wearing a high-viz jacket or waistcoat.
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J--M--B
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by J--M--B »

TheLeeds wrote:Good point about the risk assessment, although if people were driving sensibly and keeping to the speed limit, they'd be less likely to crash.

I notice in the Mail article, it says,
But police have warned Mr Allen that he could face legal action if a motorist should crash and claim that the fake camera was a distraction.
However, I'd be reluctant to take advice from police for three reasons.
1 - Unlike a solicitor or barrister, they aren't qualified to give legal advice,
2 - They're not insured to give legal advice (professional indemnity insurance), and
3 - By virtue of their position, they are not impartial. In the event of criminal charges being brought, it's the police who would gather evidence of guilt against a person they may have previously advised.

There was a scarecrow festival near us a few years ago, and someone put one in a high vis behind a fence with a hairdryer. At night it was convincing enough to go back and take a second look, just to make sure it wasn't alive.
Many police officers seem to have little grasp of the law - years ago I had a rare apology years ago from one traffic officer when I corrected him on a basic aspect of parking regulations.

We often hear of people being incorrectly told that it is illegal to take photographs of various things.

And of course we recently had the Metropolitan Police illegally detaining a man for two days which could turn out to be expensive for them, or rather for us tax payers as usual.
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Truvelo »

Some of the fakes can be realistic such as this although if you look closely there's a spelling mistake in the name.
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Big and complex.
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by phil gollin »

.

Surely if a "fake" is a possible distraction and may cause an accident, then surely the same applies to the real things ?
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by Boring82 »

phil gollin wrote:Surely if a "fake" is a possible distraction and may cause an accident, then surely the same applies to the real things ?
It's down to acceptable risk (which will be assessed as part of the planning process for sighting them). For example, it is understood that a number of people panic brake when they see a speed camera suddenly, it is therefore more advantageous to place them so that they can be seen from as far away as possible. So it would not be sensible to put a camera behind something so that drivers are unsighted until the last moment and therefore panic break and potentially cause an accident (regardless of the speed they are travelling).

Regardless of what the Daily Mail (and some on these forums say) speed cameras are there to reduce speed not to make money. As a traffic cop friend of mine said "a camera that makes money, is a camera that is not doing its job."
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by J--M--B »

Boring82 wrote:
phil gollin wrote:Surely if a "fake" is a possible distraction and may cause an accident, then surely the same applies to the real things ?
It's down to acceptable risk (which will be assessed as part of the planning process for sighting them). For example, it is understood that a number of people panic brake when they see a speed camera suddenly, it is therefore more advantageous to place them so that they can be seen from as far away as possible. So it would not be sensible to put a camera behind something so that drivers are unsighted until the last moment and therefore panic break and potentially cause an accident (regardless of the speed they are travelling).

Regardless of what the Daily Mail (and some on these forums say) speed cameras are there to reduce speed not to make money. As a traffic cop friend of mine said "a camera that makes money, is a camera that is not doing its job."
I thought there were many speed cameras that are mounted so not visible until too late and so inducing panic braking?

I suspect the authorities would not want a court case where it was admitted that a speed camera (even if only a fake) was a dangerous distraction as it could be used by someone who was involved in an accident because someone was distracted by a real one.
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Re: Homemade Speed Camera

Post by MotorwayGuy »

Truvelo wrote:Some of the fakes can be realistic such as this although if you look closely there's a spelling mistake in the name.
That one actually looks quite well made, obviously by someone who experienced with metal working, usually fakes are plywood boxes or scraps of aluminium painted yellow.
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