Mobile Speed Cameras

Who are the manufacturers of mobile speed cameras used by
Victorian police? Do they have an Australian office and telephone
number? if so, can you please list them.  What may be the causes of
error in their use e.g. angle alignment to roadway, servicing of such
units etc, and the magnitude of the errors likely for any of these
causes?

gene200..

Thanks for your question.  There are two manufacturers of the speed
cameras used in Victoria.  The first is Gatsometer, a Dutch company. 
They provided the first cameras used in the Victoria Traffic
Enforcement program.  In Australia, they are represented by Hadland
Photonics:

Hadland Photonics Pty Ltd
19A Hampshire Rd, Glen Waverley 3150 Australia 
Telephone  +61 (03) 9560 2366    
FAX +61 (03) 9560 8402 
http://www.hadlandphoto.com.au/

The home page for Gatsometer is http://www.gatso.nl/navigatie.html

The camera developed by Gatsometer is a wet-film, 35mm camera.  In
various tests, it appears that some issues regarding the accuracy of
the Gatso unit are eveident.  Reflections have been known to cause the
speed reading to be doubled and yet when there is a slight deviation
in angle or azimuth, the speed that is recorded is lowered, in the
driver's favor.  Other reports have shown that severe vibrations can
cause inaccurate readings as well even loud music creating speeds of
over 100mph.

Recently, due the reported inaccuracies of the Gatso units, Victoria
expressed interest and will probably be deploying camera's by Redflex
Traffic Systems, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Redflex Group. 
Their Australian contact information:

REDFLEX TRAFFIC SYSTEMS PTY. LTD.
AUSTRALIA
31 Market Street,
South Melbourne,
Australia, 3205.
Tel: +61 3 9674 1888
Fax: +61 3 9690 0705
Sales@redflex.com.au

Additional Locations:

REDFLEX TRAFFIC SYSTEMS INC.

15020 North 74th Street,
Scottsdale, 
AZ 85260, USA
Tel: +1 (480) 607-0705, 
Fax: +1 (480) 607-0752

5813A Uplander Way
Culver City
C.A. USA 90230
Tel: +1 310 642 0470
Fax: +1 310 642 0142

http://www.redflex.com.au/traffic/

The speed camera is the REDFLEXspeed system.  This is a digital
photography unit that can be either fixed or mobile via installation
in in police vehicles.  From viewing the literature about the product
(available at http://www.redflex.com.au/traffic/pdfs.htm ), it appears
that the technology they have developed limits the error window
dramatically.  They claim an accuracy of +/- 1 mpg or 2% over 60 mph. 
Once a deployment location is entered into the system, police can
simply call up the location again upon their next deployment and the
settings are remembered.  This lowers the human error factor
dramatically.  The system used to set up the cameras is all GUI based
and takes into account angle and location and the fact that they are
mobile allows law enforcement to ensure proper placement and angles of
the camera upon mobile deployment. Since the units are all digital,
the error rate is lowered considerably.  They are, of course, much
more expensive, ranging from $80,000 to $90,000 per unit.

This being said, according to the New South Wales Roads and Traffic
Authority:
"How do I know that the camera system is accurate and reliable?

The digital speed camera system (including the digital camera
recording device and the associated speed-measuring device) chosen for
NSW has undergone a comprehensive evaluation and testing procedure to
ensure its accuracy and reliability. Experts, authorised by the RTA,
inspect each camera system and verify its accuracy and proper
operation prior to the commencement of the camera operation and
thereafter at regular intervals. The camera recording device is
inspected every 30 days and the speed-measuring device is inspected at
least every 12 months in line with current legal requirements. An
inspection is also conducted following any maintenance or repair of
either of these devices."
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/fixeddigitalspeedcameras/howdofixeddigitalspeedcameraswork.html

This applies to fixed cameras.

Some other interesting notes about speed camera's:
"Hawaii's use of cameras to generate speeding tickets was halted last
spring amid complaints that most of the citations were issued to
drivers going less than 10 miles over the speed limit, which three
judges decided did not adequately account for potential inaccuracies
with the radar units. "
Court Upholds Mailing Tickets to 'Speeders' Caught by Camera
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/11/21/193147.shtml

Thanks again for your question and I hope the information I have
provided has been helpful.  If you need any additional clarification,
please let me know prior to rating my answer.

Regards,

-THV


Search Strategy:
speed camera victoria
accuracy speed cameras

References:
New About Photo-enforcement Sites in the United States
http://www.photocop.com/news.htm

Speed Cameras Make Up Their Own Speed!
http://www.pepipoo.com/Inaccurate_speed_cameras.htm

Fixed Digital Speed Cameras
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/fixeddigitalspeedcameras/index.html

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Request for Answer Clarification by gene200-ga on 10 Apr 2003 20:50 PDT

Dear THV,

I would appreciate clarification of your answer.

1. Are the Gatsometer currently the only mobile speed cameras used in
Victoria?  If not, when did the Reflex come into use? And have both
types of cameras been in use since?

2. What is the ideal alignment of the camera to the road way?  If for
example it is 15 degrees - if it is aligned incorrectly at 30 degrees
I can understand that it will record a slower speed, but why isn't the
speed recorded higher if the angle is less then 15 degrees?

3. How does the operator calculate the angle and how sensitive is the
speed detection for errors in angle?

4.  Were the Hawaiian speed cameras the same Gatsometer cameras and do
you have a copy of the judgement of the court or a record thereof?

Regards gene200

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Clarification of Answer by tar_heel_v-ga on 11 Apr 2003 12:17 PDT

Gene..

1.  Currently, the Gatso is the only camera used in Victoria.
http://www.netspace.net.au/~smack/traffic/spdcam.html

2.  The ideal angle is 20 degrees, which is good for about 40 or 50
meters.
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tco/html/camera.htm

Angle Error can cause both good and bad results for drivers.  This is
known as Cosine Effect:

"Moving Radar measures closing speed between the radar and target. The
radar also measures patrol car speed (from the ground echo) to
calculate the target speed. (Target speed=closing-patrol car). This
introduces additional sources of cosine error. In most situations the
angle between the radar and target is the major error source and
favours the target (measure too low). However if the antenna is
misaligned (off patrol car direction) the patrol car speed may measure
low resulting in target speed measured too high."
http://www.phantomplate.com/techinfo3.html

Example: at an angle of 15 degrees, a vehicle travelling at 40mph
would only be measured at 38.6mph

In theory, the reverse would be true mathimatically, but you are
getting to where the angle would be at a point where the radar would
not be able to "see" the automobile.

3.  The officer installing the system determines the angle using the
camera itself and is covered in the installation.  Here is a link to a
British site that covers the training received by British police using
Gatso:

http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/acpo.htm

4.  In the Hawaii case, tickets that were sent that were less than 10
mph over the speed limit were dismissed because typcially, police
officers would not issue speeding tickets to those that were speeding
by that low a difference.  The cameras used in Hawaii are manufactured
by Poltech International [http://www.poltech.com.au/]
Honolulu Star Tribune
http://starbulletin.com/2002/02/23/news/story2.html

Additional Reference:
How_it_Works
http://www.speed-trap.co.uk/Accused_Home/How_it_Works/How_it_works_Home.htm

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Clarification of Answer by tar_heel_v-ga on 11 Apr 2003 12:20 PDT

As a quick note regarding Hawaii:  They no longer use the cameras as
the Hawaii legislature shut down the program after complaints.

http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:BsvmDrxgVgMC:www.motorists.com/new/news.html+poltech+hawaii&hl=en&ie=UTF-8