Speed camera

Paulg · 30-09-2002 8:38am #1

I just got caught by a speed camera on the N7 around the turn off to baldonnel... Be warned!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 30-09-2002 8:40am

yeah! don't speed!

Kalina · 30-09-2002 10:01am

Those cameras are a pain... we were racing to the airport last year at about 4.30 am and we got caught... nearly blinded by the flash!!!:D

alb · 30-09-2002 10:59am

yeh coz speeding is so cool, you know what teh best bit is? when you crash and ppl get killed. I wish they'd do away with all the speed cameras so we could all speed whenever we liked

Thanx 4 The Fish · 30-09-2002 11:17am

Thanks for the warning there, I'll remember when I am doing 120 to slow down for a couple of seconds before that one. Have you any idea how many people have been killed on the roads this year Paul ?

:mad:

Paulg · 30-09-2002 12:12pm

I have been driving that road now for over a year and a half. I am always going over 60 when i can. This is my first time i got caught.. and its about time.

I don't understand why they dont have more speed cameras, i'm sure they would more than pay for themselves in a few months of operation. And it would save lives...

This post wasn't to help people, i hope it makes a few people slow down. I certainly drove slower today on my way to work. Can't afford to get too many speeding tickets.

Hellrazer · 30-09-2002 12:23pm

Originally posted by Paulg
I certainly drove slower today on my way to work. Can't afford to get too many speeding tickets.

Yeah well when these penalty points come in it wont be the money you`ll be worrying about,but the fact that if you get too many speeding tickets you loose your license!!!!!!!

Paulg · 30-09-2002 12:29pm

Then I'll be back on here to ask if anyone can give me a lift to work. When is the penalty points system due to start? What will you get points for when it first starts up?

thegills · 30-09-2002 1:34pm

The penalty points system is planned for next year. You will probably be able to buy off a cop anyway. I know a seargant and I give him a bottle of whiskey each Xmas as a thank you for wiping my monthly fines for me.

Check out this site if you want to drive like a madman but not get caught - http://www.speedtraps.ie.nu/

Mercury · 01-10-2002 10:49am

Originally posted by Kalina
Those cameras are a pain... we were racing to the airport last year at about 4.30 am and we got caught... nearly blinded by the flash!!!:D

ssame thing happened to me about two years ago when I was dropping someone off at the airport - didn't know what the hell the flash was behind me. On the return journey though I passed an irate motorist busy pulling said GATSO camera down with a length of chain connecting it to the back of his jeep - a la Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon II. Never did get that ticket

On a happier note, it is worth noting that statistically those GATSO cameras are loaded with film about 20% of the time, although the newer ones are digital and have a higher capacity.

buddy · 01-10-2002 11:09am

I think if it flashes it has film, reallt difficult to figure that one out!!

Some roads have ridicolous speed limits which I think is what annoys people the most - the N32 should be at least a 50 zone, any time I'm on it people go at least 60!!

Never been unfortunate enough to get a ticket from a cam - oh right - thats cos I obey the speed limits (except maybe on the N32)!!

Paulg · 01-10-2002 11:39am

Where does the money go when you pay those fines. Does my €60 help improve the roads, or go into the budget for the Garda. Or could it be used for anything?

Mercury · 01-10-2002 4:02pm

Originally posted by buddy
I think if it flashes it has film, reallt difficult to figure that one out!!

Not necessarily - it's not exactly a kodak camera. If you take a look at the camera sometime, you'll see that it consits of three seperate units - radar detector, camera, and huge flash gun mounted on a pole. The radar gun triggers both the camera and the flash gun to fire above a seperate speed. Being seperate units, the gun will fire whether or not the camera contains film.

thegills · 01-10-2002 4:19pm

I knew a guy who worked in Fuji who supply the Garda with the film. In typical Irish fashion, the film is non-standard and has to be imported. The sole supplier was way behind on orders so the Garda were waiting months for their order. Even now less than 20% of non-digital camera's have film installed.
If you plan to travel at speed at night, just put a CD facing outwards on your back windscreen.

Beany · 01-10-2002 4:29pm

Originally posted by thegills

If you plan to travel at speed at night, just put a CD facing outwards on your back windscreen.

Why...to reflect the flash back on the lens?

I've got it on good authority that speed cameras are set to trigger at about 10 or 12 mph above the designated speed limit, so if you're doing 50mph in a 40mph zone you probably won't get penalised.

Mercury · 01-10-2002 4:31pm

Originally posted by thegills
Even now less than 20% of non-digital camera's have film installed.

sweet!! I wasn't that far off the mark after all

If you plan to travel at speed at night, just put a CD facing outwards on your back windscreen.

Unfortunately that doesn't work, unless you are extremely lucky. The idea is to reflect the flash back towards the camera, so that the car is underexposed in the film and therefore appears black. Anyone who has ever taken a photo into a mirror will know what I mean. Unfortunately for this to work, the CD would have to be facing the flashgun at exactly a right angle to the direction at which the light would be travelling towards the car (if that makes sense), otherwise the light gets reflected off to one side.

However, a similar principle has been applied electronically. If a small flash with a photoelectric cell is mounted pointing across the number plate, it'll fire when it detects the light from the flash and will underexpose the number plate. I've seen these things in action, and they do work.

Another commercially available product is a diffraction grating taht fits over the number plate. When viewed head-on, it is perfectly legible, but from an angle outside 15-20 degrees from perpindicular (in other words, from the side of the road) it is hazy.

Wolf · 01-10-2002 4:55pm

Iv been caughty speeding a few times, however just remember SPEED KILLS dont be at it lads plz. It not funy when you hit someones wee sister or brother

The_Bullman · 01-10-2002 5:02pm

just wondering how many of the people who are anti-speeding actually drive at the requested speed limit all the time...

this means 30 in built up areas.. even at night.

Samson · 01-10-2002 5:55pm

I would like to correct a points made.

All of the 20 (fixed mount) Gatso cameras on Irish roads are non-digital.
As the cameras are non-digital, they need to be regularly reloaded and are therefore prone to running out of film.

Only 3 or 4 of them are fully working units; Swords road (near Statoil, Lucan by-pass (across from Spa hotel) and at least 1 of the units on the M50 (airport end) are definites.
The rest are dummy installs.

How to tell a dummy from the real thing:
The most expensive components of the system are the radar unit and the camera. A dummy install will have a cheapo radar unit installed but no camera.
The reason that any radar unit is installed at all is so that the flash can be activated to make motorists think that they have been snapped by Gatso, if they are speeding.
However, the cheapo radar unit is less accurate and can be set off by oncoming (speeding) traffic, so if you pass a Gatso on the far side of the road and it flashes at you, then you know it's a dummy.
Another way to tell is how many times the flash pops.
If the flash pops once, it's a dummy. If it flashes twice it's the real thing. The reason a real Gatso must flash twice is for backup evidence, the camera takes two shots exactly 0.5 seconds apart which are then compared to see how far you have travelled using the calibration marks on the road (otherwise you could simply argue that the radar unit could have been defective/misread your speed).

No fixed mount Gatso camera is installed on the N7. Paulg, you were most likely caught by a Gatso van parked up on the hard shoulder.
See:
http://www.speedtraps.ie.nu/gatso.htm

A CD will do no good at all against a Gatso camera, the main reason people put a CD in their windscreen is to deflect the beam of a laser speed gun (although it won't help with that either to be honest).

mocar · 01-10-2002 6:48pm

just a question. If you are on the fast lane of a dual carriageway and you are speeding and a truck is on the inside lane (nearer the camera) How does it spot you? If you catch my drift...
mo

Samson · 01-10-2002 9:43pm

Originally posted by mocar
just a question. If you are on the fast lane of a dual carriageway and you are speeding and a truck is on the inside lane (nearer the camera) How does it spot you? If you catch my drift...
mo

It probably will not.

buddy · 02-10-2002 9:29am

But once again your timing would have to be right - to pass the camera when the truck is blocking its view of you!

mocar · 02-10-2002 5:49pm

thanks, I was in one of my "just wondering moods last night"

You have answered my wonderings.
mo

Turner · 02-10-2002 6:17pm

Originally posted by thegills
If you plan to travel at speed at night, just put a CD facing outwards on your back windscreen.

I remember when some spa thought this up about 4 years ago to deflect the lasers on police radar guns. Total bollix tbh.
You still see some truck drivers with their cab plastered with cd's.

Samson · 03-10-2002 8:38pm

One thing I forgot to mention, in response to the question by Paulg.
Speeding fines go into general exchequer funds, they do not go towards funding road safety measures/road improvements/Garda equipment etc.

Nevyn · 03-10-2002 9:35pm

Slowing down just as you reach the cmaera is not going to do you any good for much longer as they will be soon with the digtal camera feeds is comparing the time gap between the pics on known speeding areas.

So you pass camera A under the speed limit and camera B ;
but then they work out the time difference and there fore your average speed is ested and a ticket and points awarded .

Samson · 05-10-2002 4:32pm

Originally posted by Thaed
Slowing down just as you reach the cmaera is not going to do you any good for much longer as they will be soon with the digtal camera feeds is comparing the time gap between the pics on known speeding areas.

So you pass camera A under the speed limit and camera B ;
but then they work out the time difference and there fore your average speed is ested and a ticket and points awarded .

That system is in use in certain parts of England at the moment.
However, I can't see it being introduced in this country any time soon.
Costs an awful lot of money.

More info here:
http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/specs.htm

Speed camera

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