Speed Camera Vans - How do they work

[Simon]

Drove under a bridge today which had one of these Speed Camera Vans on the top. Also further up the road in another County was another one parked in a lay by at 45 degrees to the road.

How do they work? Does a flash go off if you are speeding and are they forward or rear working? Do they use a mini gatso, video or laser?

Cheers

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Think most of them measure speed by laser and take photographs / video of the on-coming vehicle / plate. There is no flash hence why you dont see any operating in low light.

 

[Simon]

So a radar detector that picks up laser as well should give an alert even if the laser gun is up on a bridge?

 

[Cup172]

Depends if the laser is pointed at the detector. Ive been past a few vans and nothing from my Road Angel. Not sure if the Road Angel is knackered or they werent using the laser, just pointing the camera, thus no pitcures = no work.

 

[jonnyboy]

lazer/rader triggers the camera to take pics at exact intervals. The distance you have travelled between the first and seconds pics is used to calculate your speed (this is what the markings on the road are for. They have you by the short and curlys cos theyve effectively cought you on the radar and verified it by the pictures.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

Yep but some cameras work without road markings. Think they use laser / doppler shift techniques to work out the speed similar to a hand-held radar / laser gun

 

[ChavyBoy]

Si,

Your radar detector should pick the camera up if as it uses radar.

It works by sending a signal then recording the time taken for the signal to come back, then it send another signal and records the time and so on. It works out an average distance and time taken then it can calculate your average speed.