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Spec Camera Loophole Closed?

Keith
Keith Posts: 2,924
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Has the reported loophole that these cameras can't track you if you change lane been closed?

I'm seeing more and more used on sliproads and if the above still happened, it would be a pointless camera.
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  • vikingaero
    vikingaero Posts: 10,921
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    There is a new generation of SPECS camera that claims to be able to track you even if you change lanes. It's still possible to shield yourself behind an HGV in lane 1 if you are slightly behind it in lane 2.
    The man without a signature.
  • Wig
    Wig Posts: 14,139 Forumite
    Whether or not the cameras can track you or not is, I think, irrelevant because the legislation does not allow for the cameras to be used in multi lane cases. AFAIK
  • anewman
    anewman Posts: 9,200
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    They're often used in roadworks on motorways I believe.
  • Wig wrote: »
    Whether or not the cameras can track you or not is, I think, irrelevant because the legislation does not allow for the cameras to be used in multi lane cases. AFAIK

    Correct. .
  • Thomas_Crown
    Thomas_Crown Posts: 961
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    Wig wrote: »
    Whether or not the cameras can track you or not is, I think, irrelevant because the legislation does not allow for the cameras to be used in multi lane cases. AFAIK

    This is puzzling because as anewman says Specs cameras are used on motorways in areas where roadworks are being carried out.

    I remember watching the BBC TV series 'Traffic Cops' when it featured the South Yorkshire Police. There was a road shown in the programme & it had the reputation of being ''the road with the highest number of fatalities per annum in S.Yorks''. At the time of filming this road had recently had Specs cameras fitted to bridges over the road. The road in question was a dual carriageway with 2 lanes in each direction.

    I have never seen Specs cameras on a single carriageway road with either one or two lanes in each direction.
  • The Woodhead Bypass has SPECS and is at times single carriageway.
  • headpin
    headpin Posts: 780
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    Wig wrote: »
    Whether or not the cameras can track you or not is, I think, irrelevant because the legislation does not allow for the cameras to be used in multi lane cases. AFAIK

    Can you please quote the legislation that you are relying upon. Thanks.
  • It isn't down to legislation. It is type-approval. The type-approval for SPECS does not include monitoring vehicles that change lanes between cameras, even though this is technically possible.

    Type-approval on GATSO cameras allows them to only photograph a vehicle after it has passed the camera - they could easily photograph the front of the vehicle but are not allowed to.
  • Thomas_Crown
    Thomas_Crown Posts: 961
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    Type-approval on GATSO cameras allows them to only photograph a vehicle after it has passed the camera - they could easily photograph the front of the vehicle but are not allowed to.

    Are GATSO cameras banned from photographing vehicles from the front because they emit a very bright flash which could temporarily blind a driver?

    I ask this because Truvelo cameras photograph vehicles from the front. I have only seen a few of these cameras & I don't know how bright the flash is. I don't particularly want to find out the hard (expensive) way.
  • They are not banned from doing anything. They simply do not do it in the first place, they're not designed to.

    Truvelo cameras have a forward facing flash normally covered by a magenta filter, but there is the odd one that doesn't have the filter.

    Speed cameras in France are foward facing, with a bright flash.
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