Gatso's on the A68

[dan_burdock]

They have a list of requirments for gasto on
www.ca-automtive.co.uk
plus a rather nice T5R
Dan

>Do the Gatsos on the A68 all flash, and how many cameras are there?

I can't answer the first bit, but I make 19 cameras (total of both sides).

Graeme

I have just purchased a Road Angel, off Ebay.
I recomendation to all R drivers.
You have to do what you can for those moments when your not thinking...

[steventoon]

Gatso do take pics of cars travelling towards them and they CAN be used to prosecute. I did my advance driving course in the borders regions and the A68 is notoriously bad for GATSO'S. I think you'll just have to wait 14 days to see if your NIP comes through the post.

Road Angel etc are effective but completely usless against speed detection equipment like VASCAR.

Steve

[Peter Milnes]

I am surprised that any police force would still be using Vascar. It was all down to the policeman's eyesight which was not considered to be that accurate, leading to most forces dropping the use of Vascar in favour of more accurate camera based and laser operated equipment.

All the best, Peter

[pettaw]

A couple of things:

The cameras on the M6 at Thelwall ARE speed cameras. They're the evil SPECS, which take your number plate at camera 1, and then take your number plate at camera 2 and calculate the time in between the camera posts. That means you have no chance if you speed and then slow down for the cameras, because the camera system calculates the AVERAGE speed, so watch it. I used to drive there pretty often and was there when the roadworks cameras first started. I'm sure that there were loads of people prosecuted because within a few weeks everybody was slowing down. I consider myself lucky because I realized what they were and kept slow the whole time.

A Gatso can't, AFAIK, take a picture from the front, even if there are markings on the other side of the road. Those lines are to catch the idiots who used to avoid being prosecuted by purposely crossing to the wrong side of the road whilst speeding so their speed couldn't be calculated.

Peter, you're dead right, but I have one comment to make. When you're going at 40mph in a 40 zone and you know there are cameras there, the people behind you still stack up and tailgate to within an inch, and you're so busy watching the speedo and their looming motor right up the back end that it's very easy to drift over the limit slightly.

[steventoon]

Vascar is in use in all Northumbria Traffic cars and an equivalant called Speed Marshall in my new force Devon & Cornwall and is very accurate and my prefered device.

Gatso can take pictures from the front. I've seen the photos from the camera and was once given an equiry from Lincs Police to identify a driver from their pic who said he had sold the vehicle at the time of the offence. This was a few years ago and as far as I'm aware nothing has changed. I was constantly setting off the cameras when travelling towards them on the A68. I will enquire re this just to clarify when im back at work

steve

[Philip Fisher]

I take it from your responses Steve that you are a traffic policeman.

Perhaps you could, and I hope that I am not asking you to compromise yourself here, tell me some info. If a camera flashes twice, could this be a dummy unit? I was led to believe in the past that a dummy unit only flashed once, but have they been improved since? Also, any idea how many cameras are moved around the 19 boxes on the A68? Do Gatso's still rely on film, and being emptied and processed, or have they gone fully digital these days?

6 days and still waiting for "the letter"....

[Al115]

Philip,

I understand your interest in the area, but I do think it is a bit of a liberty to ask Steve to divulge this kind of information.

I would imagine that it would be in the interest of police forces NOT to reveal operational details such as the functioning of "dummy" cameras (which after all are supposed to appear real to the motorist) and the number of live cameras being rotated around sites.

Steve of course can speak for himself, this is just my opinion. No offence intended.


Alastair

[steventoon]

Phil,

If the camera flashes twice then it is possible it does not have a camera in. I have no idea where the cameras are sited especially in Scotland or whether they are digital or have to be manually loaded, the only thing I do know is that the Scottish camera people are very proactive and the A68 seems to be a favourite for them. It may be worth checking the relevant forces web site as some forces actually put the locations of speed cameras on there. I personally was flashed by a camera outside Edinburgh last year whilst doing 60 mph in a 70 mph area.
Sorry I can't help any further, I'm not a fan of cameras either but I know thats no consolation if the NIP arrives through the post.



Cheers

Steve