SpeedCurb Setup

[L.J.D]

Lately I've seen a lot of new SpeedCurb installations such as this one which have been set up with two cameras on one unit which i think is potentially dangerous. Have the rules changed in regards to cameras flashing in drivers eyes ? Because if someone is going the other way and sets it off it could potentially temporarily blind driver coming towards it. Surely having it facing directly in the approaching drivers eyesight isn't safe ? I've noticed a quite a fair amount of them popping up recently installed like that and the Redspeed equipment does flash really bright.

[Conekicker]

This is no different to a single camera installation, the flash will still be seen by approaching drivers. Now be honest with us, how fast were you going?

[tom66]

Surely a bigger concern would be the HADECS3 cameras on motorways and major trunk roads? When these flash they illuminate all 8 lanes of the M1!

[L.J.D]

This is no different to a single camera installation, the flash will still be seen by approaching drivers. Now be honest with us, how fast were you going?

Haha I've been meaning to query about it on here for a while but a few nights ago there was an accident at that particular site involving a police car with the blues on and I did wonder if the police car set the camera off and caused the other driver to be temporarily blinded. Though just a speculation.

Surely on normal cameras with it set up on the opposite side of the road the flash wouldn't be as intense but that one is literally pointing right at the oncoming driver.

[L.J.D]

Speaking of camera setups I don't know if this has been mentioned on here but I saw that a local council has put up a speed camera that will only issue fixed penalty notices for speeding and no points or speed awareness courses.

This article explains more.

Surely a bigger concern would be the HADECS3 cameras on motorways and major trunk roads? When these flash they illuminate all 8 lanes of the M1!

Yes i think this is rather odd given how nowadays we have IR illuminators you'd think motorways would be prime candidate for them. Unless they want the flash on to warn other drivers that they are active.

[Ruperts Trooper]

Speaking of camera setups I don't know if this has been mentioned on here but I saw that a local council has put up a speed camera that will only issue fixed penalty notices for speeding and no points or speed awareness courses.

This article explains more.

Surely a bigger concern would be the HADECS3 cameras on motorways and major trunk roads? When these flash they illuminate all 8 lanes of the M1!

Yes i think this is rather odd given how nowadays we have IR illuminators you'd think motorways would be prime candidate for them. Unless they want the flash on to warn other drivers that they are active.

Doesn't that depend on how well "reflective" number plates show up under IR light?

[L.J.D]

Doesn't that depend on how well "reflective" number plates show up under IR light?

Well I've noticed at alot of SPECS installations new and old they've added alot of auxiliary IR units maybe to combat that ? So I'm guessing it's possible to add extra illumination to other equipment ? Because the older SPECS equipment just had them either side of the camera up top.

[MotorwayGuy]

All of the double-headed ones I've seen used on two-way roads are installed in the middle of the road likethis one, the flash facing drivers is nothing new or special.

These have two heads facing the same direction which is even more unusual, presumably one can only cover two lanes.

[AndyB]

Doesn't that depend on how well "reflective" number plates show up under IR light?

Well I've noticed at alot of SPECS installations new and old they've added alot of auxiliary IR units maybe to combat that ? So I'm guessing it's possible to add extra illumination to other equipment ? Because the older SPECS equipment just had them either side of the camera up top.

SPECS 3 usually has them on a separate pole, but the A2 Holywood-Bangor has them at the top of the main pole. Before the conversion from SPECS 1, IR cameras were present beside the video cameras on every pole, whether drogue or active.

[traffic-light-man]

I'm not sure I see the flash as all that much of an issue. A flash from a rear facing camera always will have affected oncoming traffic anyway.

Come to think of it, there's an off-side Gatso in Aughton, West Lancs that I'd never really considered as unusual until this thread.

Lancashire's Jenoptik sites have the additional IR floods, including at the non-average ones, some mounted on additional poles and some mounted on the same poles as the cameras.

Having said that, the average cameras (I don't think they're Jenoptik) in use on the M6 smartification works between Croft and Orrell are using a very bright band of light across the carriageway instead, just Infront of the cameras, but IME it's directed downwards enough that it doesn't blind drivers.

[Peter Freeman]

Although electronic flashes are very bright, doesn't their extremely short duration mean that there is insufficient total light flux to trigger either iris contraction or blinding effect?

[MotorwayGuy]

I'm not sure I see the flash as all that much of an issue. A flash from a rear facing camera always will have affected oncoming traffic anyway.

Come to think of it, there's an off-side Gatso in Aughton, West Lancs that I'd never really considered as unusual until this thread.

Lancashire's Jenoptik sites have the additional IR floods, including at the non-average ones, some mounted on additional poles and some mounted on the same poles as the cameras.

Having said that, the average cameras (I don't think they're Jenoptik) in use on the M6 smartification works between Croft and Orrell are using a very bright band of light across the carriageway instead, just Infront of the cameras, but IME it's directed downwards enough that it doesn't blind drivers.

The Siemens ones on the A2 use white LEDs rather than inferred ones:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.442485, ... 384!8i8192

[Duple]

The HADEC 3 Flashes are very bright / bordering on dangerous - especially if the unit has malfunctioned and is constantly flashing !

[L.J.D]

Off topic here but does anyone know why London had some gatso installations like this it looks very odd. There was also this very odd looking one too. Perhaps they were a modified version to hold extra film ?