Speed cameras (UK)

Can one be done by a speed camera on the opposite side of the road?

I was driving south on the A34 between Stoke and Stafford yesterday (a
road with cameras every 100 yards it seems), and passed one in the
south-bound carriageway at the 40mph limit. As I accelerated away,
the camera in the north-bound lane flashed despite no car in that
carriageway. Could I get a ticket from a camera pointing in the
'wrong' direction?

 

Nope not if its the normal GATSO cameras the grey ones u see, Tho even if
you do get a speeding ticket just dont sign the form and return it to them
as there is no legal obligation to sign th eform but there is to inform them
who was driving but without a signiture there is nothing that can be
done.....

 

Isnt that a myth? Perhaps once you could, but i'm sure you can just get
taken to court now.
If the camera was a Truvelo one then it works the opposite way round to
Gatsos ie Gatsos flash after you pass them, Truvelo flash before you pass
them, and hence get a photo of your face too. Do you remember if there was
3 white strips close together on your side of the road just before the
camera?

 

No its still active see the article belwo or
http://www.minbu.freeuk.com/spcam.htm

Taken from the western mail:
Magistrates' courts could grind to a halt if thousands of motorists exploit
a legal loophole unwittingly exposed by a Welsh driver.
Magistrates had no choice but to find Phillip Dennis, of Whitford,
Flintshire, not guilty of speeding when his case was heard on Thursday.

He had omitted to sign the standard form which is sent to the owner of each
vehicle caught by a speed camera - and Mold magistrates said they couldn't
accept the form as evidence.

Police have no power to compel car owners to sign the form and have been
expecting someone to spot the loophole.

Yesterday the Association of British Drivers, representing about 2,500
motorists, predicted drivers would soon get wind of the court case.

"Motorists are always very quick to seek any way to avoid paying for their
speeding ticket, particularly when they've been caught by cameras because
they resent very much the way the cameras operate," said spokesman Tony
Vickers.

"The cameras have very much reduced public respect for the police and local
authorities.

"People are only too glad to find a way to beat the system."

He said motorists who receive a speeding ticket after being caught on camera
could opt to have their case heard in court, rather than pay the fine
without quibble.

"If a lot of people take up this option it will have another side-effect,
which will be to clog up the magistrates' courts with hundreds or thousands
of motorists all trying to avoid paying the fine.

"The implications for the legal system are interesting, to say the least."

Although the ABD did not condone breaking the highway laws, it said it would
place details of the loophole on its own website for other drivers to read.

"I'm sure a lot of people will try it on and see whether it gets them
anywhere."

The prospect of using the loophole could look especially appealing to people
who already had endorsements on their licences, said Mr Vickers.

"They should bear in mind that if they fail, they will end up paying the
full fine rather than the 50% they would pay if they put their hand up."

When a police camera takes a photograph of a speeding vehicle, the vehicle's
registered owner is sent a form asking who the driver was at the time.

It is an offence not to complete the form and name the driver - but the
owner does not have to sign it.

If the form has not been signed, the courts cannot take any notice of it.

Magistrates in Mold were asked to prove a case of speeding against Phillip
Dennis, 34, of Gwibnant Farm, Downing Road, Whitford, near Holywell.

But clerk Paul Conlon pointed out that the form naming the defendant as the
driver was unsigned.

The driver had provided the information required of him but there was no
requirement under that section of the law for the form to be signed.

Magistrates said they were not happy but had to find the defendant not
guilty in his absence.

Chairman John Beard suggested the police should go back to defendants and
ask them to sign the form.

But he was advised that as the law now stood the only requirement was to
stipulate the name of the driver, and that there was no legal requirement to
sign it even if police did go back and request a signature.

Nobody was available from North Wales Police to comment yesterday.

But one police source said there had been concern that once the loophole was
spotted "it could open the flood gates."

He said, "The police generally have been waiting for someone to appeal
against a conviction on this point but no one has yet.

"We have basically been keeping our heads down.

"Some of my colleagues say we should just make sure people sign the forms
but others are a bit concerned that to do that is tricking people into
something they do not have to do.

"The trouble is when this is highlighted they will all be sending the forms
back unsigned."

 

There's no date on that page, and who knows when that article was written
that you quoted.
However this quote was from August this year:
"As a spokeswoman for RAC Legal Services says: "If there is a repeated
failure to sign the notice, it is highly probable that an alternative charge
will be made: eg failure to supply details of the driver at the time of the
alleged offence, an offence which carries the same penalty points and fine
as the original speeding charge.""
From what i can gather, after a bit of googling, you may get away with it,
or you may get done as bad or even worse. Its a risky thing to do!

 

Can one be done by a speed camera on the opposite side

If it was a normal gatso one (grey box on side of grey post), then they
sometimes get confused when a car drives towards them.

Don't worry. If there were no registration marks and you were driving
towards it, you will not get anything.

MS

 

It looked like a normal Gatso. It was on the grass verge on the
opposite side of a dual carriageway, and there were no road markings
on my side of the road.

 

It looked like a normal Gatso. It was on the grass verge

You're fine then. I don't think Gatsos ever flash on-coming traffic unless
they have an infra-red flash (like the Tuvelo ones).

The same happened to me in Eastbourne and I enquired on a speed camera
website and they confidently said that it was the camera getting confused by
oncoming traffic.

MS

 

I'd imagine you'll be ok then. Must have just been the camera having a fit

 

the rules regarding cameras can be daunting, however this is certain, the
police, or anyone else for that matter are forbidden to take a physical
photograph of yourself without your permission, this being the case gatso's
take an image from the back of the vehicle which is permitted, some of the
newer cameras can get away with it because they are infa-red images and not
photographs so these are acceptable under uk law.
there is also the case that approx 60 - 70% of cameras may flash, but do not
contain any (expensive) camera equipment inside in which case you will get
away with it, they are a detterent more than anything, although good revenue
for the government when you are finally caught.
one simple rule really, if you get caught speeding then cough up like
everyone else has to.
if people are so dead against paying and refuse to sign the form or plead
guilty etc etc then why bother to even slow down when you see one
approaching ???

 

On the A338 into Bournemouth there are some Gatso cameras situated on the
central reservation of the dual carriageway, when you drive along you see
that the camera is pointing at you so you think you are OK, HOWEVER there is
a camera in both sides of the box! Well my suspicion is there there is 1
camera in the box and they can make it face either way but you just cant
tell. Could it be that the box that flashed you had a camera on each side?

 

Theyve replaced those now with cameras either side, so i reckon they only
worked one way at a time, and now they've made enough money to put cameras
on both sides. Well that was my theory when i saw they'd all been dug up
the other week.

 

you can't get 'done' driving towards a n old type GATSO. it works on a
spring that compresses (sort of).
BTW you can't get away with not signing/overpaying/ignoring etc the penalty
notice. you just incur court costs for wasting time. If you don't name the
driver the registered keeper gets the fine by default.
was all covered on sky TV programme 5th gear a few weeks ago.

Simon

 

when you drive along you see that the camera is pointing

There's one like this going into Eastbourne, athough I tend to agree that
there is only one 'occupied' side of the box as it is very slightly angled
down one side which I assume to be the working side. Haven't ever seen it
flash to know though.

That wouldn't happen as it wouldn't flash approaching it, and if it did, it
would again be a case of a 'confused' camera.

MS

 

you can't get 'done' driving towards a n old type GATSO.

GATSO cameras work by radar, hence they occassionally get confused. The
radar emits from the grey panel halfway up the box.

The ones that use the loops in the road are the Tuvelo ones which are the
ones that take the picture from the front. I think there is only one, maybe
two areas in the country that use these. GATSOs are by far the most popular,
and I've seen a lot of Specs cameras up North.

MS

 

Funnily enough I had an argument with a Gatso this evening.

Was following prevailing traffic in Eastbourne past a well-known Gatso. The
gap between me and the prevailing traffic widened as we approached the
camera and I watched my speedo. I'd say that the traffic in front was going
over 30mph, but only marginally.

Never the less, I was surprised that the camera did not go off for them
(there was about 45ft between me and the two cars in front), but when I
passed the camera and was in the registration marks by the curb... FLASH,
FLASH.

"Hmm" I thought. I remember not braking (as it would be pointless) and
looked at my speedo - 25mph on the dot, and I know my car couldn't have
slown down that quickly by me subconsiously easing off the gas.

I know cameras can get confused when you drive towards them, but can the
same be said when driving in their 'catch area'? Also, how are fines issued?
Will they verify that I was going under 30mph before issuing it?

MS

 

Wrong, Truvelo cameras don't flash at all, but they do take a picture
of the car before it passes rather than after. However, the original
poster said it flashed, so it must have been a gatso.

I used to live near a gatso camera which you could set off by going in
the wrong direction too fast, I used to do it all the time and never
got done, dunno about the poor folk who were travelling in the
opposite direction to me at the time though....
--

The project:

Put this - http://mi16.miknik.co.uk

in here - http://pug.miknik.co.uk

 

I very much doubt it, my mate got hounded for ages about going through
a Gatso in his green Mondeo at the other end of the country, it took
several months before the police sent him a copy of the photo showing
a silver Porsche 911 wearing his Mondeo number plates and agreed they
had made a mistake. If they can't tell a Porsche from a Ford then it's
a miracle they manage to address the envelope properly to send you the
fine!
--

The project:

Put this - http://mi16.miknik.co.uk

in here - http://pug.miknik.co.uk

 

But what about the points? The fine is no big deal....
--

The project:

Put this - http://mi16.miknik.co.uk

in here - http://pug.miknik.co.uk

 

OK I'm ignorant about these things!!

Which Cameras flash as you approach them??

There are a couple of Cameras in a Village near me that have TWO
Cameras, both facing the on-coming Traffic. On one occasion I got
flashed by one of them (fortunately I didn't get the follow-up ticket)
but it temporarily blinded me!! Now that is what I call a contribution
to road-safety - if any Pedestrian had chosen that moment to step out in
front of me, I wouldn't have seen them!!!!

Regards,
John