Gatso Cameras

Borderfox

Hi, just a quick question about gatso cameras. The side of the road they are on is the one that gets pictures taking. I only ask because the one on the N3 just after the turn for Batterstown seems to be taking pictures of cars coming towards it which I thought was 1. Dangerous 2. Illegal.

Any thoughts or experiences appreciated

:rolleyes:

silverside

not sure what you mean, the gatso vans (unless they have redesigned them) have a camera pointing out the back window only.

Do you mean they swung around to park the opposite way to the traffic?

leeroybrown

I presume Borderfox is referring to the fixed cameras at the side of the road.

silverside

doh! I read that as 'Gatso vans' for some reason.

Don't see how a camera in itself could be dangerous or illegal.

woosaysdan

i always thought that they have to get the front of the car to do you for speeding!!!

Gmodified

woosaysdan wrote:

i always thought that they have to get the front of the car to do you for speeding!!!

gatso vans do get front of your car as camera is pointed at upcoming traffic

DaveD

A gatso on the opposite side of the road that i was driving towards flashed me before - nearly blinded me !! Didn't get any speeding fine though.. Those cameras take pictures of the rear of your vehicle.

cormie

how long does it usually take for a ticket to be processed and arrive in your mail?

Seth Brundle

Jebus!
Can people not distinguish between the idea of a camera in a van and one stuck onto a pole beside the road?

John R

Gmodified wrote:

yeah , you nearly went blind when passing gatso van which was taking picture of the rear of your car.

what you where doing ? driving in reverse?

camera could be positioned in different positions depending on van type.
i have seen good few gatso vans which were positioned on the same side of the road monitoring upcoming traffic.

It took nearly two months to process my ticket which has front of my car printed on it

READ the posts properly. He is talking about the fixed cameras NOT the vans.
It flashed him in the face because it was on the other side of the road positioned to take pictures of the rear of cars travelling in the opposite direction.

The vans can take a picture of the front of cars because they do not use flash, the current fixed cameras use flashes and are only supposed to take rear photos.


I am not sure if it is the same one but I got flashed by a wrong side camera at about 3am one morning on the N3, scared the crap out of me. It is very dangerous, I don't know about illegal but if a crash occoured I can imagine a lawsuit would not be difficult to win.

AFAIK this only happens because the gatsos contain a dummy detector and flash unit but no camera, the detector is not sensitive enough to differentiate between traffic coming and going so it flashes at both. They use these dummys because of the cost of the real units and of the film.
Real gatsos only flash at traffic going in the correct direction and flash twice to give a time delayed reading based on the road markings so any reading can be verified.

Gmodified

kbannon wrote:

Jebus!
Can people not distinguish between the idea of a camera in a van and one stuck onto a pole beside the road?

yeah, you are right , i just can't get this gatso van out of my head which got me and as per flash from opposite side by fixed camera , I remember it actually happened to me just before turn to duleek( coming from ashbourne)
but wasn't sure if this was flashing me or traffic on the other side of the road .

and i wasn't going in reverse:)

ShiverinEskimo

If it flashes at you its because it detects an object moving at more than the speed limit on its radar - regardless of direction or lane. if you were in a field off the road going more than 60mph or whatever it is set to you would get it to flash. If you crashed as a result of getting flashed coming towards it and tried to sue you would get a speeding fine because you broke its radar speed threshold.

There is a simple remedy. if you see one pointing toward you and don't want to get blinded, go less than the limit, or approximately 167mph* or more. they don't have good enough radar to pick up objects that fast.

*source: Top Gear - tested it on their airfield. Was deadly.

John R

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

If it flashes at you its because it detects an object moving at more than the speed limit on its radar - regardless of direction or lane. if you were in a field off the road going more than 60mph or whatever it is set to you would get it to flash. If you crashed as a result of getting flashed coming towards it and tried to sue you would get a speeding fine because you broke its radar speed threshold.

A properly calibrated gatso will not flash oncoming traffic, nor will it flash at cars speeding in nearby fields.
I have driven past enough of them in the opposite direction in the UK to know this.

KinchTheBlade

My brother had the same thing the other day
Heres my guess (for what thats worth)...
If the measurement lines (the white calibrated lines) are not on your side of the road irregardless of where the camera is positioned then it cannot make the speed measurements in a way that is demonstrably correct. Defined start position minus defined end position over time = speed (acceleration's not normally a constant rate around speed cameras ;-))
If you can't define the start position and the end position because the lines are missing then you can't determine the speed with any degree of confidence.

On the M1 near Dunleer there is a camera and there are calibration lines on both lanes which might imply that they can't use a single set of lines as a measurement for multiple lanes and by extension; for opposing lanes either.
Furthermore if you are going the opposite direction then you enter at the end line and exit at the begin line - this means you're moving at a negative speed and I'm reasonably sure the road traffic act doesn't cover speeds to the left of zero on the number line.

Anyhoo good luck with that - personlly I wouldn't worry about it
Kinch

VenusDiablo

The Gatso Vans can catch you speeding if your driving towards them, so they get a picture of the speeding from the front.
The statioary cameras that are on the poles, like the one on the far side of the road oposite the Spa Hotel in Lucan can only catch you speeding if your on the same side of the road as the camera, so it takes a picture of the back of the speeding car as you pass it. You'll notice when your driving past one of these cameras the road is marked with lines, this helps calculate what speed your going.

I know all this because my friend is a sargent in Dublin

John R

The lines on the road are not used to help calculate your speed, they are there as a seperate verification. The automated speed detection is done by the radar unit in the box, this speed is printed onto the photo and a ticket is issued, if you question the accuracy of the reading then the distance you travelled between the fixed time of the two photos being taken is measured using the road markings, and your speed is calculated from this. This will either prove the initial reading correct or not.

The verification was added when people started challenging tickets in court because the accuracy of the detectors at the time of the reading could not be proved. This was long before the cameras were used in Ireland.

impr0v

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

*source: Top Gear - tested it on their airfield. Was deadly.

I remember that episode, was a TVR something or other that they finally were able to beat it with, don't think it was a Tuscan, perhaps a Cerbera or whatever you call them. 'Twas good alright.

ShiverinEskimo

I lived in the uk for 2 years with 2 speed cameras between me and work. (science park,Camridge) anytime i did over the limit going towards them they flashed me. when i wasn't speeding no flash.

I have noticed the same here at home in dundalk ireland. There is one on the bypass going past the race track facing town. flashed me plenty while accelerating out of town while speeding. but never while not speeding. This is what led me to my conclusion that their radar is not uni directional or intelligent enough to distinguish the object's vector.

Tommy Vercetti

'twas with great sadness I noticed some fixed cameras had been vandalised with spray paint in the North County Dublin area the other day
All over the lens part they got it...bastards!

Seth Brundle

One opposite Dalgan Park on the N4 near Navan seems to have spontaenously combusted also. Sad, sad loss!

Colly

Quick question how long does it take for the letter to come in the post before you can breath easy?

thanks

Seth Brundle

I think it is a max of 6 months between offence and notification of said offence.

Colly

kbannon wrote:

I think it is a max of 6 months between offence and notification of said offence.

Thanks are you talking from experience as I read on another thread that someone got it a week later through registered post. Anyone got any experience first hand? Would appreciate hearing how long it took from snap shot to post being received so I can know when to breath again.

Seth Brundle

Nope - no points here (somehow)
however, judging by recent posts IIRC the initial notice often arrives about 6-8 weeks after the offence.