Fixed Speed Camera Range

[Terry]

What range do fixed speed camera's have, and what if 3 cars a speeding, do
they get all 3 ?
Cheers

[John Tserkezis]

Post by Terry
What range do fixed speed camera's have, and what if 3 cars a speeding, do
they get all 3 ?

I can only speak with certainty of the _fixed_ cameras in NSW. There are
sensors on the road just after the camera and flash poles that do the speed
sensing. The trend lately in Sydney is to paint calibration marks after the
road sensors to give the progressive pictures an idea of the speed of the
vehicle in case there was a sensor stuffup.
There are a number of different sensor types, but ultimately, they use
timing to calculate your speed as you pass over the smallish patch that the
sensor occupies on the road. All can be visibly seen as cut-outs on the road
similar to what you get at traffic lights.
There are some that do not have visible cut-outs (though there is obvious
road-words and re-paving around the area), but there are only two or three or
so that I know about in NSW.

To answer your three vehicle question, if they are following each other and
all travelling at the same speed, then the same speed will be registered three
times in succession.
In the event they are travelling bumper-to-bumper, (unlikely but you never
know) it would be treated like a multi-wheeled vehicle and register the first,
while the remaining ones are just 'trailing' behind.
But going on the camera angle, I really don't think that tailgating is a
viable technique, as it'll view the tail end as well. Perhaps if you're close
enough, the plates of the front and centre vehicles would be obstructed, but
again, I really don't think that this is a viable thing to expect to work.

In the case where you have only one camera for both sides of the road, (and
you don't always get sensors on both sides of the road), one direction will
have their rear photographed, the other the front.
If not, only one direction is covered, or there may be another nearby camera
covering the opposing direction.

With the cameras in NSW, one camera is good for up to four lanes (could be
combination direction lanes, or one wide four lane road). So if you see a
three to four lane road (for one direction) being serviced by a camera, you
can be assured that the OTHER direction is NOT serviced by that camera.
Either it only operates one way, or there would be another separate camera for
the other direction.

Aside from the two-direction cameras, by default, cameras take a picture of
the REAR of the vehicle. There are only two one-direction forward-facing
cameras in NSW that I know about, one for each direction on the freeway near
the University of Wollongong.

Flashes: Depending on which camera you happen to cross, some use standard
visible light flashes (so you'll see them flash), some (later versions?) use
infrared (that you won't see flash). The infrared flashes are reputed to be
better at improving the picture contrast with dirty rego plates.


Evasion: In NSW, it's really easy. There are three signs warning you, and
almost all the camera poles are clearly visible so just slow down as you pass
the sensor bits.
In the ACT, all the cameras that I know about (since I was there last a few
years ago) are combination red-light/speed cameras.
In Victoria, they don't warn you so you need to keep an eye out on the poles
with big boxes attached. They have a combination of red-light/speed cameras,
and stand-alone speed cameras.
It's been reported some cameras used OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to
obtain your rego plate and process that. In the event that it gets a grunged
reading, it throws it out. (reportedly)
If you're going to intentionally obstruct plates, for christs sake, make
sure the vehicle is not otherwise uniquely identifiable. Heard too many
stories of things like obscure model motorbikes and some dumb-ass leaving a
"for sale" sign on the rear window... Unfortunately, the obstructed plates
loophole was closed some time back, used to be the case that it was merely a
slap on the wrist if they caught you. Now extract your teeth and take your
first-born. Only remaining "safe" option in this is James Bond style plates.


Dunno about other states, haven't been outside since fixed cameras have
reportedly appeared in WA and QLD. Adelaide has some red-light only cameras
that look very much like the speed camera boxes, but as far as I know, they
only operate in the capacity of red-light cameras.