Police Camera Van Disguise

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#1200926 20-Dec-2014 08:18

gmball: Speed camera vans are nothing more than revenue gathering devices. I'd be surprised if they have any effect on reducing the road toll.

You only have to be in the flow of traffic to notice everyone slowing down and then speeding up again once past the camera.

Having a disguised camera van seems completely pointless, no ones going to slow down, having nil effect in reducing the road toll, plus to add to the cheek, I seem to recall the North Western motorway having areas of reduced speed to 80kmh, no doubt that's where the van is hiding.

i read a comment the other day somewhere.

if there is zero tolerance for speeding why is there not zero tolerance for:
alcohol
downloading
child violence
adult violence
immigration
[insert anything you like]

Dingbatt

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#1200934 20-Dec-2014 08:28

Reanalyse: On the Northwestern Motorway this afternoon in the other lane I noticed a dark blue speed-camera van. Complete with magnetic orange light above the drivers door to fit in with the surrounding construction cars. I applaud the marked van they use, and can understand the need for unmarked vans but feel a step too far has happened when the camera vehicles are "disguised"

This makes me feel the police are being less than fully honest and does reduce my respect, re-enforcing the revenue concept.
I have no bias, never having had a camera speeding ticket , but do think the "contract" between police and public is stretched by this behavior

What do you folks think

I don't know how often you travel on the north western but that van has been stationed there, off and on, for the last 6 months. It also featured as the number one revenue gatherer in a recent press report. That was after 4 months in operation, and it beat the second 'best' one's (Cambridge) 12 month total by a reasonable margin.

Having worked on a highway construction site in the past, and also watching dickheads weave across 3 lanes of traffic on the NW Mway to thread though traffic obeying the speed restriction, I have little sympathy for anyone who gets pinged.

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kingjj

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#1200939 20-Dec-2014 08:35

Jase2985: i think there should be a 10% tolerance for your speed while on the roads. This accounts for inaccuracies in your speedo and in the measuring equipment police use. anyone outside those tolerances gets a ticket.

Unlike the vast majority of speedo's out there, Police actually have calibrated equipment. There should not be any 'inaccuracies' in 'the measuring equipment police use' and you can request to see the certification if you recieve a ticket (speedo/radar/operator).

As for individuals speedo 'inaccuracies', perhaps people should compensate for that when driving (speedo's are generally set to over read not under read so if you are going 100 on your speedo, you're probably sitting closer to 95).

MikeB4

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#1200941 20-Dec-2014 08:39

joker97:
gmball: Speed camera vans are nothing more than revenue gathering devices. I'd be surprised if they have any effect on reducing the road toll.

You only have to be in the flow of traffic to notice everyone slowing down and then speeding up again once past the camera.

Having a disguised camera van seems completely pointless, no ones going to slow down, having nil effect in reducing the road toll, plus to add to the cheek, I seem to recall the North Western motorway having areas of reduced speed to 80kmh, no doubt that's where the van is hiding.

i read a comment the other day somewhere.

if there is zero tolerance for speeding why is there not zero tolerance for:
alcohol
downloading
child violence
adult violence
immigration
[insert anything you like]

There is a zero tolerance for child abuse and violence. Immigration???? Why its not a crime its an advantage.

Stu

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#1200949 20-Dec-2014 09:19

scuwp:
coffeebaron: I think the zero speed tolerance has done more harm than good. There seems to have be a bit of an upsurge in accidents these past few weeks. Driver behaviour has become very erratic. Came over the Kaimai's the other day and I'd say that would have to have been the scariest trip ever. I do a lot of driving and I have never seen such poor driving as I have in the last few weeks since the zero tolerance. Dumbest idea ever!

So reminding people to comply with the speed limit suddenly turned everyone into crazy nut jobs behind the wheel? The logic totally escapes me....

The speed limit has always been the upper limit, and police have ALWAYS had the right to stop cars and where appropriate issue a ticket for 1km/h over the limit. A bit of publicity just reminded the public of that. Hell they can in certain circumstances give you a speeding ticket even though you are under the speed limit.

And of course the holiday period has the 4km/h tolerance in place as has been the case for a number of years. I think they should keep it there permanently. IMHO 10km/h is too much leeway and if your speedometer is more than 4km/h out you should get it calibrated.

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#1200960 20-Dec-2014 09:59

kingjj:
Jase2985: i think there should be a 10% tolerance for your speed while on the roads. This accounts for inaccuracies in your speedo and in the measuring equipment police use. anyone outside those tolerances gets a ticket.

Unlike the vast majority of speedo's out there, Police actually have calibrated equipment. There should not be any 'inaccuracies' in 'the measuring equipment police use' and you can request to see the certification if you recieve a ticket (speedo/radar/operator).

As for individuals speedo 'inaccuracies', perhaps people should compensate for that when driving (speedo's are generally set to over read not under read so if you are going 100 on your speedo, you're probably sitting closer to 95).

Easy solution to this is find a nice quiet street with one of those digital speed check signs, crank up your GPS app and test till your hearts content, for me i discovered my speedo runs +4kph @100kph

One thing to keep in mind with speedo readings is this is relative to the tires on your car, i.e. they must have be equivalent rolling diameter to OEM size, and even then a brand new correct sized tire will cause the speedo to read differently than the same tire at minimum tread. Normally these things would not be of consequence but apply a zero tolerance and it could make the difference between further funding the govt coffers or not

Batman

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#1200962 20-Dec-2014 10:01

is the GPS calibrated to the police? (i have an iphone)

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gmball

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#1200966 20-Dec-2014 10:18

I still fail to see the point of hiding a camera van or having a van in disguise. If the Police want people to slow down, they should be out in force in marked cars, I'd much prefer to see them pointing their radar gun out their window as this will clearly cause people to slow down.

Most drivers who get ticketed from a camera van probably have no idea until the ticket arrives in the post, no reason to slow down on the day they were ticketed, and for those who can afford it, having no demerit points probably means they have no reason to slow down in the future either.

The whole point of a camera van or speed camera's in general are of no benefit in reducing the road toll, they only serve to generate revenue, end of story.

networkn

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#1200967 20-Dec-2014 10:20

benokobi: It shouldn't matter if you follow the speed limit.

Well this is the same argument as "it shouldn't matter if the government is spying on you, if you aren't doing anything wrong?

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#1200969 20-Dec-2014 10:26

gmball: Most drivers who get ticketed from a camera van probably have no idea until the ticket arrives in the post, no reason to slow down on the day they were ticketed, and for those who can afford it, having no demerit points probably means they have no reason to slow down in the future either.

The new speed cameras also have an IR flash. The absence of any visible flash denies those of us with dash cams and other GPS data the ability to archive evidence in case a ticket arrives. I have on multiple occasions been 'flashed' due to drivers in adjacent cars speeding, and simply keep the relevant video (usually with the other speeding vehicle in the video, showing they are going faster). The police can claim all they like that their systems can correctly identify vehicles in lanes, but I do not trust them to get it right.

raytaylor

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#1200984 20-Dec-2014 10:40

KiwiNZ:
nathan: i look forward to the Police rolling out cameras to detect slow drivers and trucks in the right hand land....

The slow driver thing is tricky, what is slow? the code refers to "slow inconsiderate" but thats a open ended statement. Given the speed states the Maximum permitted speed is 100KMH it does not specify a minimum and there word from the authorities is the 100KMH is not a target.
I agree though the slow inconsiderate driver is dangerous.

I would think any more than 11% less than the posted limit would be inconsiderate slowness.

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ilovemusic

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#1200987 20-Dec-2014 10:58

bring back the cardboard policemen-women and put one on every street !

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#1200994 20-Dec-2014 11:08

kingjj: Police actually have calibrated equipment. There should not be any 'inaccuracies' in 'the measuring equipment police use' and you can request to see the certification if you recieve a ticket (speedo/radar/operator).

As for individuals speedo 'inaccuracies', perhaps people should compensate for that when driving

If you are familiar with measuring equipment you'll know that there's no such thing as absolute accuracy. There will be some tolerance then if it is a digital readout there will some imprecision with the least significant digit (s). The policies shouldn't target people who aren't deliberately trying to speed while there are others that are. Maybe new tech will give the Police an eye in the sky that is ideal for spotting the outliers fast and slow.

Jase2985

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#1201014 20-Dec-2014 11:39

kingjj:
Jase2985: i think there should be a 10% tolerance for your speed while on the roads. This accounts for inaccuracies in your speedo and in the measuring equipment police use. anyone outside those tolerances gets a ticket.

Unlike the vast majority of speedo's out there, Police actually have calibrated equipment. There should not be any 'inaccuracies' in 'the measuring equipment police use' and you can request to see the certification if you recieve a ticket (speedo/radar/operator).

As for individuals speedo 'inaccuracies', perhaps people should compensate for that when driving (speedo's are generally set to over read not under read so if you are going 100 on your speedo, you're probably sitting closer to 95).

calibrated for something coming straight at it, not something coming at a slight angle. but moot point everything has a margin of error

Batman

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#1201016 20-Dec-2014 11:40

i wonder if the IR flash could be used by clever lawyers if photo shows another car in line of sight

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