New speed cameras

1 May 2006

This just in, direct from a GATSO office.

Digital Speed will be appearing around London over the next few months. All new camera sites approved from February 2006 will now be digital and no longer supplied by Gatso, but a company called Redspeed. There will be several sites across the capital with a high accident rate in their vicinity that will be converted from wet film technology to digital as part of this programme.

The camera pole is two and a half times the height of the current one to deter vandals, and the head is similar in size to a red light camera. They are still reflective to comply with the current guidelines.

The police camera technicians and the police officers in this office have no control of these new cameras whatsoever. The cameras can be live 24/7 and 365 days a year. All offences are downloaded via ISDN line direct to a secure computer room at Marlowe House and NIP's will be generated automatically. Due to the quality of the lenses fitted to these cameras, they do not have to use flash during daylight hours.

These cameras have just been installed on the A41 just north of Finchley Road LT Station, north and south. I suspect they will rapidly take over from GATSO cameras as they need no film or human intervention, and can be left on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I do not know what threshold they will be set at, but ACPO guidelines are at present 2mph + 10%, which means >35 mph in a 30 mph zone.