Oct 17, 2006 10:00:47 AM
- Alex_997TT
- Rennteam Master
-
- Loc: Reading , United Kingdom
- Posts: 3320, Gallery
- Registered on: Nov 20, 2005
UK - SPECS Scameras can be duped!
Thanks go to Daro911 from my PCGB site for this handy bit of information:
Change lanes and you'll be safe from SPECS, the cameras that calculate your speed over a distance. And it's been officially confirmed too.
SPECS work by measuring your speed over the distance between two cameras, rather than at a single point where you pass the device. But according to the Mail, the Home has admitted that if you pass the second SPECS camera in a different lane to the one in which you passed the first, you cannot be prosecuted.
That's because they're linked and set up to monitor only one traffic lane at a time. In other words, if the system is to monitor a three-lane carriageway, it would need three sets of the pricey cameras.
According to the story, this characteristic of the system was confirmed by the system's maker, Speed Check Services, which said that the system was approved for use only one lane at a time.
SCS technical director Graeme Southwood said that there was neither enough time nor money to test the system under Home Office rules to monitor multiple lanes when the devices were first introduced in 1999. And so the situation has remained.
However, Southwood introduced an element of doubt into the solidity of this method when he said that the loop-hole was not foolproof, and that some drivers who use it could still be prosecuted. SCS said that it discouraged people to lane-change on safety grounds.
Roads policing chief Med Hughes said that it would be dangerous for drivers to swap lanes in order to evade detection. "It is irresponsible for motorists to deliberately seek to evade detection and speed", he said.
The fact remains however that the cameras monitor speed at the expense of other driver behaviour, potentially compromising safety. And now we find that, as has been shown with respect to other types of camera, they could actually be making the roads less safe by encouraging lane-changing.
Road safety campaign Safe Speed said: "We know for sure that road safety hasn't improved as expected in the speed camera era. I believe that this is because speed cameras come with dangerous side effects. All cameras cause side effects, but the side effects of average speed cameras appear to be especially subtle and insidious. Speed camera side effects are everywhere, but none of them have been adequately studied."
The trouble is that, if you disapprove of them, there's no political remedy: the Tories introduced them, and New Labour loves them. No-one is a change in policy.
Change lanes and you'll be safe from SPECS, the cameras that calculate your speed over a distance. And it's been officially confirmed too.
SPECS work by measuring your speed over the distance between two cameras, rather than at a single point where you pass the device. But according to the Mail, the Home has admitted that if you pass the second SPECS camera in a different lane to the one in which you passed the first, you cannot be prosecuted.
That's because they're linked and set up to monitor only one traffic lane at a time. In other words, if the system is to monitor a three-lane carriageway, it would need three sets of the pricey cameras.
According to the story, this characteristic of the system was confirmed by the system's maker, Speed Check Services, which said that the system was approved for use only one lane at a time.
SCS technical director Graeme Southwood said that there was neither enough time nor money to test the system under Home Office rules to monitor multiple lanes when the devices were first introduced in 1999. And so the situation has remained.
However, Southwood introduced an element of doubt into the solidity of this method when he said that the loop-hole was not foolproof, and that some drivers who use it could still be prosecuted. SCS said that it discouraged people to lane-change on safety grounds.
Roads policing chief Med Hughes said that it would be dangerous for drivers to swap lanes in order to evade detection. "It is irresponsible for motorists to deliberately seek to evade detection and speed", he said.
The fact remains however that the cameras monitor speed at the expense of other driver behaviour, potentially compromising safety. And now we find that, as has been shown with respect to other types of camera, they could actually be making the roads less safe by encouraging lane-changing.
Road safety campaign Safe Speed said: "We know for sure that road safety hasn't improved as expected in the speed camera era. I believe that this is because speed cameras come with dangerous side effects. All cameras cause side effects, but the side effects of average speed cameras appear to be especially subtle and insidious. Speed camera side effects are everywhere, but none of them have been adequately studied."
The trouble is that, if you disapprove of them, there's no political remedy: the Tories introduced them, and New Labour loves them. No-one is a change in policy.
and my local dealer says that the boys in blue have checked certain customers to see if they do open their garage doors-no prosecutions yet I hear. But the park assistant?? Hmm. 
I'll probably stick with my door opener for now.
