Smile for the camera

We received this today, it may be true but it may not.!!!!!

New Type of Speed Cameras on M1 & M20 Speedcheck (SVVD or SPECS) went online at the end of June on the M1, netting 4,300 offenders in a single day.

The system does not use instantaneous speed like the cameras we're all familiar with, instead measuring the average speed of every vehicle over a distance of about a mile. How? By reading your license plates and matching them up camera-to-camera. Kent and Leicestershire police are so impressed with it that systems are being erected in their enforcement areas too. This is a new system which has now entered service after successful trials on the M1 and M20 in the UK. Speedcheck SVDD (Sureway Video Detection Device) is a system similar in concept to the GATSO, but with a new twist. SVDD deploys cameras at either end of a measured baseline (up to 500 metres) to monitor vehicles 24 hours a day. Using machine vision, vehicle number plates are read, and the precise time of each observation recorded and as a vehicle passes the second camera, the number plate records are matched, and an average speed for the vehicle is calculated. If this is above the trigger speed, then the vehicle's identification is recorded along with it's speed. It is also flashed up on a huge illuminated sign further down the road to embarrass the driver into slowing down. When triggered, the detection technology used in these cameras automatically records the date, precise time, location and speed of the offending vehicle, along with a full colour image of the front of the vehicle, which clearly records the number plate, make, model and colour of vehicle. There's five overriding reasons for the habitual speeder to be afraid of this system:

1) It works 24 hours a day, needs no film, uses no flash, and uses no radar....so bad luck all those of you who think that radar detectors work.

2) It's been proven to be over 99% accurate in almost all weather conditions.

3) It doesn't do spot-speed checking. A GATSO can only check the speed of a vehicle within a certain range so the tactic most drivers use now is to slow down for the camera and then speed up again once past it. Speedcheck measures average speed over a known distance. So if you do 60mph under each camera and then speed up to 80mph in between, your average speed is likely to be near 70mph - 10 over the limit imposed - you're nicked. SVDD say this means that the system can impose a far smoother flow of traffic eliminating slow-fast driving that GATSO cameras provoke.

4) Because it's automated, the system is entirely self-sufficient.It's hooked up to the DVLA computers, and can automatically process the fines and send out notices in the post. It's Big Brother. Don't believe for a moment that this technology will only be used to catch speeders.

5) It could eventually be used to keep track of where every single car in the country is at any given moment in time once the network of these things becomes broad enough.

Warning to M25 Motorists If you are a driver then this is important! Even if you aren't you know people who are, so it is still important!

There are 60 new cameras that started operating on the M25 on Monday 14 June. These are between the A3 and M40. They are digital and linked direct to computer, use no film or flashgun.They can deal with 60,000 tickets EVERY HOUR. The cameras are also (apparently) linked and can work out your average speed between them. So, if you speed up between them and slow down as you approach them, if your average speed is over the "legal limit+N%" threshold you may well get a ticket.

Source: Dave Hayward

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