A traffic enforcement camera is a system, including a camera and a vehicle-monitoring device, used to detect and identify vehicles disobeying a speed limit or some other road legal requirement. Examples include:
- Speed cameras for identifying vehicles traveling over the legal speed limit.
- Many such devices use radar to measure a vehicle's instantaneous speed.
- Sets of multiple cameras with number-plate recognition software which can check the average speed of a vehicle between two points.
- Red light cameras to detect vehicles which cross a stop-line or designated stopping place after a red traffic light shows.
- Bus lane cameras for identifying vehicles traveling in lanes reserved for buses. In some jurisdictions, bus lanes can also be used by taxis and/or vehicles engaged in car pooling.
- Toll-booth cameras for identifying vehicles proceeding through a toll booth without paying the toll.
- Level crossing cameras for identifying vehicles crossing railways at grade illegally.
- Congestion charge cameras for recording vehicles inside the chargeable area.
- Double solid line cameras for identifying vehicles crossing these lines.
- High-occupancy vehicle lane cameras for identifying vehicles violating the occupancy requirements.
- Turn cameras at intersections where specific turns are prohibited on red. This type of camera is mostly used in cities or heavy populated areas.
- Parking Cameras which issue citations to vehicles which are illegally parked or which were not moved from a street at posted times
There are systems that are combinations of the above; for example, some systems detect both red-light and speed infringements.
Existing traffic cameras, as well as special purpose ANPR cameras, can also be used for non-traffic-enforcement related activities, notably for mass surveillance of motorists by government agencies.
History
The concept of the speed camera can be dated back to at least 1905; Popular Mechanics reports on a patent for a Time Recording Camera for Trapping Motorists which enabled the operator to take time-stamped images of a vehicle moving across the start and end points of a measured section of road. The timestamps enabled the speed to be calculated, and the photo enabled identification of the driver.
The Dutch company Gatsometer BV , founded by the 1950s rally driver Maurice Gatsonides, invented the first automated road-rule enforcement cameras. Gatsonides wished to better monitor his speed around the corners of a race track and came up with the device in order to improve his time around the circuit . The company developed the first radar for use with road traffic, and is the world's largest supplier of speed camera systems. Because of this, in some countries all makes of speed cameras are sometimes generically referred to as "Gatsos". They are also sometimes referred to as "photo radar", even though many of them do not use radar.
The first systems introduced in the late 1960s used film cameras to take their pictures. From the late 1990s, digital cameras began to be introduced. Digital cameras can be fitted with a modem or other electronic interface to transfer images to a central processing location automatically, so they have advantages over film cameras in speed of issuing fines, and operational monitoring. However, film-based systems may provide superior image quality in the variety of lighting conditions encountered on roads, and are required by courts in some jurisdictions. New film-based systems are still being sold, but digital pictures are providing the greater versatility and are now significantly more popular. abb
Technology
Vehicle-detection systems used in conjunction with road-rule enforcement cameras include the following:
- Piezo-electric strips - pressure-sensitive strips embedded in the roadway (a set distance apart if speed is to be measured - typically 1-3 metres).
- Doppler radar - a continuous radio signal is directed at a stretch of road, the vehicles and the change in frequency of the returned signal indicates the presence of a moving vehicle and the vehicle's speed.
- Loops - inductive loops embedded in the roadway detect the presence of vehicles, and with two loops a set distance apart vehicle speed can be measured.
- LIDAR - the time of flight of laser pulses is used to make a series of measurements of vehicle position, and from the series of measurements vehicle speed can be calculated.
- Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems that use a form of optical character recognition to read the vehicle's licence or registration plate.
Mobile systems
Mobile systems can be vehicle-mounted, hand-held, tripod mounted or even concealed in items such as garbage bins. In vehicle-mounted systems, detection equipment and cameras can be mounted to the vehicle itself, or simply tripod mounted inside the vehicle and deployed out a window or door. If the camera is fixed to the vehicle, the enforcement vehicle does not necessarily have to be stationary, and can be moved either with or against the flow of traffic. In the latter case, depending on the direction of travel, the target vehicle's relative speed is either added or subtracted from the enforcement vehicle's own speed to obtain its actual speed. The speedometer of the camera vehicle needs to be accurately calibrated.
Fixed-speed and red light cameras
Most red-light cameras, and many speed cameras, are fixed-site systems mounted in boxes or on poles beside the road. They are also often attached to gantries over the road, or to overpasses or bridges. In some areas such as New South Wales in Australia, there are more pre-configured fixed camera sites than actual cameras, with the camera equipment being rotated periodically between the sites.
With the introduction of digital technology, it is becoming more common for red-light cameras to also function as fixed speed cameras.
ANPR
Fixed or mobile speed camera systems that measure the time taken by a vehicle to travel between two or more fairly distant sites (from several hundred metres to several hundred kilometres apart) are called automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. These cameras time vehicles over a known fixed distance, then calculate the vehicle's average speed for the journey. The name derives from the fact that the technology uses infrared cameras linked to a computer to "read" a vehicle's registration number and identify it in real-time.
In principle, it is not possible (as in the case of a single speed camera) to slow down momentarily while passing one of the cameras in order to avoid prosecution, as the average speed over a distance rather than the instantaneous speed at a single point is calculated.
In the case of the Australian SAFE-T-CAM system, ANPR technology is also used to monitor long distance truck drivers to detect avoidance of legally prescribed driver rest periods. The state of Victoria has recently introduced an ANPR system for monitoring passenger vehicles.
In the United Kingdom, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) average-speed camera systems are known by the Home Office as SVDD (Speed Violation Detection Deterrent). More commonly, they are known by the public by their brand name - SPECS (Speed Enforcement Camera System), a product of Speed Check Services Limited, or just as speed cameras/traps. They are frequently deployed at temporary roadworks sites on motorways, and are increasingly being used at fixed positions across the UK.
Use of ANPR is not limited to traffic-related law enforcement. Under the UK Home Office's "Project Laser", ANPR cameras log all the vehicles passing particular points in the national road network, allowing authorities to track the movement of vehicles and individuals across the country. A similar system is being introduced in Australia.
Verification and system testing
In the UK, every speed camera must be calibrated and certified before the images from it are acceptable to the court, including the cameras used in police vehicles. Several speeding prosecutions have failed in the UK due to out of date calibration certificates.
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