Speed camera's in Croydon!

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Alfie

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Returning home from an install yesterday evening, business partner was driving:) and we went through a speed camera at 30mph or very close to it. the camera flashed twice at us. This camera was one of the first as you come out of Croydon on the A23.

My question is, does anyone know if these cameras at this location are 'active' and contain film or just there to scare the motorist?
 
I don't think any cameras are permanently 'live' or permanently 'not live' - they rotate which ones have film in on a regular basis. But I think the odds are in your favour, was reading in the paper yesterday that only 25% (?) of cameras in the 'London area' are live at any one time. Outside London the percentage is higher.
 
BTB 500 said:
I don't think any cameras are permanently 'live' or permanently 'not live' - they rotate which ones have film in on a regular basis. But I think the odds are in your favour, was reading in the paper yesterday that only 25% (?) of cameras in the 'London area' are live at any one time. Outside London the percentage is higher.

Also, I don't think the films are very big - so on the Gatso type cameras, once 'X' people (I recall 100) have been caught, camera is useless until the bloke comes and risks his life by filling it up again.

And, if the camera is set that close to the speed limit, its going to fill up quick

Those new fully digital revenue grabbers are a different matter - they even put them up a tall pole to stop people setting fire to them (like someone did to a few of the Gatso on the northbound A3 as it approaches Tolworth Tower). The 'idiot' repairing one of the burnt gatsos decided to cone of 1 lane of the road in morning rush-hour as he couldn't be bothered to park his van 100 yards up the road - I guess he's used to 100s of drivers honking at him ..


R
 
They've got CCTV on many of the speed cams too, to catch anyone who tries to sabotage them.
 
KillerHERTZ said:
If you were driving towards is, your fine

Unfortunately it was as we passed it! It flashed the rear of the car!

Business partner was more worried about telling his wife who's name the car is in!! He delegated the task of telling her to me!!

Still, if we havn't heard in a couple of weeks, I guess he's in the clear.
 
If it was a GATSO the lines on the road should put you in the clear.

Thats presuming that the lines are correctly spaced, and that the timing of the GATSO unit is correct.

www.pepipoo.com is your best bet from hereon.
 
I guess that you're talking about the first speed camera that you pass when leaving Croydon in the direction of central London (as opposed to the first one on the A23 when heading south).

If so, for what it's worth, both a friend and I have been flashed by that camera at different times. Like your partner, I was doing just over 30 when I was flashed. Neither of us received a ticket. Obviously, that doesn't mean that the camera is fake, but there is hope!
 
I always thought that if the camera flashes once, then it does not have film loaded. If the camera flashes twice, then it is loaded with film and you have been caught. The first flash works out your speed and the second takes a picture of the car (if in excess), both to review your reg plate as well as working out the speed using the lines painted on the surface of the road as then the offence can not be objected to.
 
littlenick239 said:
The first flash works out your speed and the second takes a picture of the car (if in excess), both to review your reg plate as well as working out the speed using the lines painted on the surface of the road as then the offence can not be objected to.

The flash does not work out the speed, the radar takes care of that, which triggers the system to take 2 photos. They must have 2, in order to photographic evidence and to calculate manually with the white lines on the road. As far as I know, even if there is no film, it will flash twice.
 
Update

Well its been over 2 weeks now and no NIP has arrived so I guess its all clear! He is a relieved man.
 
Alfie said:
Well its been over 2 weeks now and no NIP has arrived so I guess its all clear! He is a relieved man.

Unless it is a lease car and the Fleet Manager has only just got the NIP from the Lease Company... :eek:
 
Swiss Toni said:
Unless it is a lease car and the Fleet Manager has only just got the NIP from the Lease Company... :eek:

Nope. Its owned outright.
 
I ventured down this particular highway on Saturday in the other half's runabout Astra diseasal estate which despite being slower than continental drift still managed to trigger this camera whilst driving towards it.

Fingers crossed no breakthroughs have been made in Gatso technology recently...
 
richard said:
The 'idiot' repairing one of the burnt gatsos decided to cone of 1 lane of the road in morning rush-hour as he couldn't be bothered to park his van 100 yards up the road - I guess he's used to 100s of drivers honking at him ..


R

Interesting perspective here..

Presumably if someone hadn't set fire to the camera it wouldn't require repairing. In addition the parts are presumably reasonably heavy so carrying for a distance is a problem, the lane would need to be coned off for driver safety anyway and probably the engineer doesn't shedule his work rosta.

I bet the works were more effective at slowing the traffic than the camera was.;)
 
Dieselman said:
Interesting perspective here..

Presumably if someone hadn't set fire to the camera it wouldn't require repairing. In addition the parts are presumably reasonably heavy so carrying for a distance is a problem, the lane would need to be coned off for driver safety anyway and probably the engineer doesn't shedule his work rosta.

I bet the works were more effective at slowing the traffic than the camera was.;)

Theres a bay 20 yards before the speed camera - where the chap servicing it (presumably film change) last week was parked. (I had thought it was much further before that)

They didnt have to change the body of the camera, it looked like a clean up (and presumably, new electronics) job. I saw them cleaning/fixing up the camera before that on the A3 a few days after my original post. (it too had black marks out of it)

Yes, it was much more effective - all the way down to 10mph !!

Richard
 

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