Technical

Safecam currently uses five different applications of camera detection of speeding and red light running in the Avon and Somerset area.

• Gatso Cameras
• Gatso Red Light Cameras
• RedSpeed Digital Cameras
• RedSpeed Red Light Digital Cameras
• Lti 20-20 TS/M Speed Scopes

All these camera types are approved by the Home Office as accurate, reliable and able to provide evidence leading to safe convictions.

Home Office approval is granted only for enforcement devices that have been manufactured or supplied to the strict criteria laid down in handbooks produced by the Home Office, Police Scientific Development Branch (PSDB) and are intended for police use. You can view the Home Office Type Approval legislation at http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/road-traffic.html?version=1

You can visit the manufacturers websites by clicking on the following links: for Gatso thechnology www.gatso.nl for RedSpeed technology www.redspeed-int.com and for LTI technology www.teletrafficuk.com

Gatso speed measuring cameras

The cameras used in the familiar yellow painted fixed housings are type 24 Gatsometers.

When a car passes at excessive speed, the camera takes two photographs of the rear of vehicle at an interval of 0.6sec.

It uses cassettes of 35mm colour film 30 metres in length, enough for 800 exposures (400 pairs).

The Secretary of State first approved this type of camera on June 24 1992, with an extended approval in November 2000.

Every camera set is required to be calibrated at the factory in Holland once a year.

Gatso red light cameras

Red light cameras are designed to prevent drivers "jumping the lights" at busy road junctions, putting lives at risk.

Loops that detect vehicle movement are embedded in the road surface at the junction.

These are attached directly to the camera so if a vehicle crosses the solid white line when the traffic lights are at red, it will automatically take two photographs one second apart.

Two photographs are taken to prove that the vehicle has continued through the junction and therefore not just crossed the line and stopped.

The pictures will show the time, date, speed (not for enforcement), amber time and the time that the traffic lights were on red. It will also show the traffic lights and all the vehicle details.

The camera can cover two lanes and the photograph will show which lane/vehicle has activated the system.

Red light Gatso cameras, also use cassettes of 35mm film, and are calibrated at the supplier's factory once every year.

Static Gatso secondary check marks

A series of short white lines are painted on the surface of roads covered by the fixed unmanned roadside cameras - as a way of verifying the speed reading on the film.

Because two photographs are taken of the speeding vehicle (0.6 sec apart), it is possible to compare the two photographs and work out how far it has travelled in the interval using the check marks on the road.

Using a simple formula, the viewer can confirm the speed reading given by the camera.

It must be stressed that secondary checks marks are there to safeguard the motorist against a faulty or false camera reading.

The speed given in any prosecution is the speed recorded by the camera.

It should be noted that there is no requirement to have secondary check marks on stretches of road where mobile teams operate, as the equipment is being used to back up the enforcement officer's opinion.

RedSpeed speed and red light digital cameras

This equipment is fully digital - and does not require the use of film.

The cameras - both speed and red light - are activated by a loop embedded in the road surface and will take three pictures.

The first and second photographs will show the movement of the vehicle, either for speed or red light offences, and the third is a close up of the vehicle to determine the make/model, colour and registration number.

The time and date, speed or red light time will all be recorded with each image.

These images are down loaded direct to the viewing office for processing via a standard ADSL line.

This equipment was type approved by the Secretary of State in May 2003 for detecting speed and red light offences.

RedSpeed secondary check marks

As in the case of fixed roadside Gatso cameras, there is a requirement to have secondary check marks painted on stretches of road covered by RedSpeed digital speed cameras.

The marks are placed exactly one metre apart, so the distance travelled by the speeding vehicle between the two photographs can be calculated.

This is done purely as a safeguard for the driver - to ensure the speed registered by the camera is accurate.

With digital cameras, the speed between the check marks is calculated automatically by the processing equipment.

Where there is a discrepancy - or the equipment fails to produced the secondary check speed - no action will be taken against the driver.

Photograph not yet available

Lti 20-20 TS/M Speedscope

This is the speed measuring equipment currently used by the mobile enforcement teams of which there are six operating within the Avon and Somerset police area.

The laser device is linked directly to a VHS video system that will run constantly during the whole period of operation.

The Speedscope can be trained on vehicles up to 1,000 metres away and will record the time/date, speed, distance, site coding and whether the vehicle is travelled towards or away from the checkpoint.

All this data is stored on to a "tape logger" which is downloaded onto the tape at the end of each check.

This equipment was type approved by the Secretary of State on the 1st November 1993.

The laser is a class 1 eye safe product. A TV remote controller emits a stronger light source.

Processing Offences

All reported offences are entered into the EROS operating system.

Films are then viewed to obtain correct offence/data details.

The registration number is checked, using the Police National Computer, to obtain the details of the keeper of the vehicle.

All data/offences are exported onto the computerised Vehicle Procedures Fixed Penalty Office (VPFPO) system.

These details are sent overnight to the DVLA at Swansea where another check is made of the keeper details.

The notices of intended prosecution are then sent out, within the statutory 14 day period , to the REGISTERED KEEPER RECORDED ON THE DVLA DATA BASE.

Road signs

These are some of the road signs you can expect to see at the roadside warning drivers where cameras are operating.

Box camera logo sign:	Box camera sign plus speed limit:
Blue back sign with a box camera logo sign above the speed limit sign:	Yellow back speed limit sign above a box camera logo sign:
Black boarder with white background sign with wording "Speed cameras":	Black border, white background with wording "Traffic signal and speed cameras":

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