Speed Radars - FWD or Rear facing.

[AnOther]

Many speed cameras are movable to point in either direction on the road but do they only flash and record forward facing or rear also ?

Successful prosecution hinges on the photograph I believe so it can only be the former - yes ?

[powerdesal]

Ernie,

If they only flashed when facing forward why would they ever be placed the other way round?

Ours here certainly take a picture of the rear number plate when set up that way, I can't imagine that the European ones would be any different.

Sorry to say, sounds like 'you are nicked' ......[:(]

[Dog]

I can assure you some are rear facing - I just got a ticket from my return motorcycle trip from the west coast of Italy.

It is totally unfair that most are focussed on the front of the vehicle as this lets motorcycles go free most of the time - but I have no regrets.

[Chancer]

Ernie are you asking the question regarding France or the UK?

[AnOther]

France of course JR, where else [;-)]

Steve, I think you misunderstand me. The camera is always facing forward, whether it's able to flash a departing car from the rear as well as an approaching one from the front is what I wondered.

[powerdesal]

Ernie,

I suspect that you have confused everyone, not just me. Or rather, perhaps we have all misunderstood.

Twin cameras ? One facing the the oncoming traffic, one facing the departing traffic, all in the same box of magic tricks? Possible I suppose but a bit of overkill surely. After all, why bother? Unless you have mega-brakes and slow down enough to avoid the forward facing one then accelerate like he** to get picked up by the rearward one. The mind boggles.

Or am I still confused ???????????????????????

[woolybanana]

There are those which face backwards now, too, Ernie, placed peeping out of a little window at the back of a car. Seen 'em on telly.

[cheminot]

Do you mean, Can a single camera on a single carriageway road record the speed of vehicles going in both directions at the same time, ie: from the front in one direction and from the rear in the other?

If so, not as far as I know. In the UK I have been flashed by speed cameras a couple of times when travelling on the opposite side to the one they were monitering with no result.

cheminot

[Chancer]

To my knowledge, and I stand to be corrected:

In the UK cameras are only operative taking pictures of vehicles and motorcycles going away from them, they can indeed be triggered by traffic going in the opposite direction but the camera lens is aimed to record number plates in the nearside lane going away from the camera.

There are some bi-directional ones (Purley Way in Croydon for example) that are mounted in the central reservation and catch motorists going one way in the morning rush hour and then turn 180 degrees to get them again on the return.

In France the cameras face the oncoming vehicle, if you are flashed at night it certainly gets your attention.

To date I have never received a summons whilst driving a UK registered car in France or a French registered one in the UK, ditto parking tickets.

[Ron Avery]

Jr said "In France the cameras face the oncoming vehicle"

No they don't, there are quite a few on the A75 and A20, the Paris ring road and other RD roads in central and SW France that face the direction of travel and would take a picture of the rear of the car.

[AnOther]

[quote user="powerdesal"]Ernie,

I suspect that you have confused everyone, not just me. Or rather, perhaps we have all misunderstood.[/quote]Ron seems to have it Steve but let me say it again slowly [:)]

Single carriageway road with bog standard French roadside camera facing you to catch you on approach.

Said camera can be pivoted to face the opposite direction.

When so pointed does it now:

A. Catch you from the rear.

B. Catch approaching cars in the opposite direction.

C. Both.

I'm sure it cannot be C. because firstly the doppler detection process will work differently for approaching and departing objects. Additionally, if it were able to detect in both directions simultaneously then what would be to point in turning it at all. Furthermore it would open up the possibility of a speeding car travelling in one direction triggering it but it actually recording another innocent car travelling in the opposite direction, or even both.

[quote user="J.Rs gone native"]To date I have never received a summons whilst driving a UK

registered car in France or a French registered one in the UK, ditto

parking tickets.[/quote]Are you saying you're an habitual offender now you know you can do it with impunity [Www]

[andyh4]

Pretty certain it's one direction only Ernie and my main basis for saying that is that the warning signs of the up-comming cmaera are only placed on one side of the camera.

 

And yes in France there are forward and rear facing cameras.

In Germany the camera has to have a clear picture of the driver as well as the number plate, so that the culprit can be identified (or not) in the case of it being unclear who was driving at the time.

[Pickles]

[quote user="J.Rs gone native"]To my knowledge, and I stand to be corrected:

In the UK cameras are only operative taking pictures of vehicles and motorcycles going away from them, they can indeed be triggered by traffic going in the opposite direction but the camera lens is aimed to record number plates in the nearside lane going away from the camera.[/quote]

Just on a minor point of order: you may have forgotten about the Truvelo speed cameras, which take a picture of the front of the car. They are "popular" on the A14 in the UK.

Regards

Pickles

[Bugsy]

I read a government report a few months ago that stated that ALL new fixed cameras in france will be rear-facing.

[Chancer]

another deleted posting

[Chancer]

I did say to the best of my knowledge and I stand to be corrected, thanks Ron and Pickles.

Ernie "je dit rien" but I do have a tendency to prefer pay and display car parks (especially in towns that rip the ar5e out of their shoppers and commerciants alike) and avoid car parks with barriers or wheelclamps, maybe its because my car feels more at home pared next to the Polish and Lithuanian registered ones.

Ernie are you sure that the camera you refer to does actually change its position (like the ones on the Purley way) or is not just a universal fitting that could be reversed?

[Quillan]

A9 approaching Perpignan has a forward facing camera on the dual carriageway. I have seen on or two more elsewhere but can't remember where but they don't seem to be that common. Perhaps these are old cameras and will be phased out and replaced with rear facing cameras.

[Pierre ZFP]

Forward facing (ie pointing towards the driver) around Lille.  In fact they are very suspect there as I have been flashed at 85kph (by gps) in a 90 zone.  Never heard anything about it though.

4 forward facing cameras between Thionville and Metz in 90 and 110 zones.  Plenty of warning so no excuse to be caught.

One thing though, these cameras are always flashing away like paparazzi on Oscar night due to motorcyclists blasting through at high speed with complete immunity

[andyh4]

More front facing cameras

A31 Thionville N Bound

A31 Metz North - Southbound

A31 between Metz and Nancy - Southbound

Lyon periferique Northbound between A43 and A42

 Lyon periferique Northbound between A7 and A43 (18 months old) - ditto South Bound

A7 between Vienne and Chanas - Southbound

 

Front facing will get the German speeders, rear facing the motorcyclists. - A case for both methinks

[andyh4]

Lots between Luxembourg and the A7 Valence

[allanb]

[quote user="ErnieY"]I'm sure it cannot be C [both directions] because firstly the doppler detection process will work differently for approaching and departing objects.[/quote]I'm not sure about this but it seems to me that the speed registered by the doppler system would be either positive or negative, depending on whether the object is approaching or receding.  E.g. the reading is either 140 kph or -140 kph.  Either way, you're nicked. 

Unless...

No, even if you're doing 140 kph in reverse on the wrong side of the road, it's still an offence.

[Pickles]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Forward facing (ie pointing towards the driver) around Lille.  In fact they are very suspect there as I have been flashed at 85kph (by gps) in a 90 zone.  Never heard anything about it though.[/quote]

Interesting: I was certain that I was "flashed" by a camera on the A61 westbound on the approach to Carcassonne a few weeks ago whilst doing a steady GPS-measured 127 kph in a 130 zone. The back-up navigator reckoned that there was a faster car ahead of us but I wasn't so sure. I've yet to find out whether it has led to any paperwork - it will have to await our return.

Well, it is now a couple of months and we have received nothing.

(update added on 11 June since someone else had added to the thread on that day)

Regards

Pickles

[loirelover]

It is my understanding that operaive speed cameras in Europe should be facing the direction of travel now, i.e capturing the rear of the car.  I have noticed over the past year or so that many in France and parts of the UK have been turned around. The basis for this is that a flash in the face of a motorist could cause a reaction if some one in the car was epilectic or similar problem - same reason as warnings given of flash photography. The single camears can only take pics in one direction, not the opposite carriageway.

At least in France the warning signs are large and generally mean that there is a camera within 1km or less - in the UK the signs are generally random!

[Patf]

[quote user="loirelover"]

 

At least in France the warning signs are large and generally mean that there is a camera within 1km or less - in the UK the signs are generally random!

[/quote]

Unless there's a gendarme hiding in some bushes with a hand-held camera. Which is how I was caught out once. Or in the back of an unmarked car, as Wooly mentioned earlier.

[AnOther]

[quote user="loirelover"]It

is my understanding that operaive speed cameras in Europe should be

facing the direction of travel now, i.e capturing the rear of the car.[/quote]What is your source for ?

[quote user="loirelover"]I have noticed over the past year or so that many in France......have been turned around.[/quote]Which was the point of my question [;-)]

[quote user="loirelover"]The basis for this is that a flash

in the face of a motorist could cause a reaction if some one in the car

was epilectic or similar problem[/quote]I find this hard to as a reason, anybody that sensitive should definitely NOT be behind the wheel of a car! Again, what is your source for this ?