Speed Camera

A traffic enforcement camera (also a red light camera, speed camera, road safety camera, road rule camera, photo radar, photo enforcement, Gatso, safety camera, bus lane camera, flash for cash, Safe-T-Cam, No contact apprehension camera depending on use) is a camera which may be mounted beside or over a road or installed in an enforcement vehicle to detect motoring offenses, including speeding, vehicles going through a red traffic light, vehicles going through a toll booth without paying, unauthorized use of a bus lane, or for recording vehicles inside a congestion charge area. It may be linked to an automated ticketing system.

A worldwide review of studies found that speed cameras led to a reduction of "11% to 44% for fatal and serious injury crashes".[1] The UK Department for Transport estimated that cameras had led to a 22% reduction in personal injury collisions and 42% fewer people being killed or seriously injured at camera sites. The British Medical Journal recently reported that speed cameras were effective at reducing accidents and injuries in their vicinity and recommended wider deployment. An LSE study in 2017 found that "adding another 1,000 cameras to British roads could save up to 190 lives annually, reduce up to 1,130 collisions and mitigate 330 serious injuries."[2]

Speed Camera

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The latest automatic number-plate recognition systems can be used for the detection of average speeds and raise concerns over loss of privacy and the potential for governments to establish mass surveillance of vehicle movements and therefore by association also the movement of the vehicle's owner. Vehicles owners are often required by law to identify the driver of the vehicle and a case was taken to the European Court of Human Rights which found that human rights were not being breached. Some groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union in the US, claim that "the common use of speed traps as a revenue source also undercuts the legitimacy of safety efforts."[3]

Some bus lane enforcement cameras use a sensor in the road, which triggers a number-plate recognition camera, which compares the vehicle registration plate with a list of approved vehicles and records images of other vehicles.[4] Other systems use a camera mounted on the bus, for example in London where they monitor Red routes[5] on which stopping is not allowed for any purpose (other than taxis and disabled parking permit holders).[6]

On Monday, February 23, 2009, New York City announced testing camera enforcement of bus lanes on 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan where a New York City taxi illegally using the bus lanes would face a fine of $150 adjudicated by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.[7]

In October 2013, in Melbourne (Australia), Melbourne Airport introduced seven automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in their bus forecourt to monitor bus lanes and provide charging points based on vehicle type and the dwell time of each vehicle. Entry and Exit cameras determine the length of stay and provide alerts for unregistered or vehicles of concern via onscreen, email or SMS based alerts. This system was the first of several Sensor Dynamics based ANPR solutions.[8][9]

A red light camera is a traffic camera that takes an image of a vehicle that goes through an intersection where the light is red. The system continuously monitors the traffic signal and the camera is triggered by any vehicle entering the intersection above a preset minimum speed and following a specified time after the signal has turned red.[10]

Red light cameras are also utilized in capturing texting-while-driving violators. In many municipalities an officer is monitoring the cameras in a live command center and records all violations, including texting at a red light.[11]

Speed enforcement cameras are used to monitor compliance with speed limits, which may use Doppler radar, LIDAR, stereo vision or automatic number-plate recognition.[12] Other speed enforcement systems are also used which are not camera based.

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 meters to several hundred kilometers apart) are called average speed cameras. These cameras time vehicles over a known fixed distance, and then calculate the vehicle's average speed for the journey.

In 2007, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), in California, installed the first stop sign cameras in the United States. The five cameras are located in state parks such as Franklin Canyon Park and Temescal Gateway Park. The operator, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc., is paid $20 per ticket. The fine listed on the citation is $100.[13] In 2010, a class action lawsuit was filed against MRCA.[14]

Noise cameras follow the same basic construction: a microphone linked to an ANPR video camera, mounted at a fixed location or on a mobile tripod. The ANPR camera is triggered when the microphone detects a passing vehicle emitting a sound signal above a pre-set decibel limit, capturing the vehicle registration and giving police or local government recourse to warn, fine or prosecute the registered owner. These cameras have been designed to respond to mass complaints about vehicle noise (in 2020 New York city recorded over 99,000 noise complaints specifically related to vehicles).[15]

Trials of noise cameras have been conducted in cities worldwide. In Taipei, fines range from US$65 to US$130, with additional fines for illegally modified exhausts of up to US$1000. The noise camera scheme won 90% voter approval; the national government then earmarked $4m to build a national network of noise cameras, including mobile cameras.[16]

In 2020 the UK Department of Transport published a feasibility study commissioned from a joint venture between engineering consultancies Atkins and Jacobs.[17] The Atkins/Jacobs noise camera setup was unable to consistently derive sound readings from cars travelling less than ten seconds apart from other vehicles. It should be noted this was a trial unit which hasn't since been deployed. Similar results were found in a trial in Edmonton, Canada undertaken in 2018. Local government cited technical shortcomings with the trial setup to explain spending $192,000 on noise cameras that recouped $98,000 in fines.[18]

Automatic number-plate recognition can be used for purposes unrelated to enforcement of traffic rules. In principle any agency or person with access to data either from traffic cameras or cameras installed for other purposes can track the movement of vehicles for any purpose.[19]

In the UK, 80-year-old pensioner John Catt and his daughter Linda were stopped by City of London Police while driving in London in 2005. They had their vehicle searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and were threatened with arrest if they refused to answer questions. After they complained formally, it was discovered they were stopped when their car was picked up by roadside ANPR CCTV cameras; it had been flagged in the Police National Computer database when they were seen near EDO MBM demonstrations in Brighton. Critics[who?] point out that the Catts had been suspected of no crime, however the police ANPR system led to them being targeted due to their association.[23]

In 2016, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) implemented the No Contact Apprehension Policy in apprehending traffic violations such as disregarding traffic control signs and other violations via their closed-circuit television camera or other digital camera and/or other technologies.[25][26] It was later adapted by other Metro Manila local government units such as Manila,[27] Paraaque,[28] Quezon City,[29] Valenzuela,[30] San Juan,[31] Muntinlupa[32] and Marikina,[33] and also in provinces LGUs like Cauayan in Isabela[34] and the whole province of Bataan.[35]

Fixed camera systems can be housed in boxes, or mounted on poles beside the road, or attached to gantries over the road, or to overpasses or bridges. Cameras can be concealed, for example in garbage bins.[39]

Mobile speed cameras may be hand-held, tripod mounted, or vehicle-mounted. 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.

The 2010 Cochrane Review of speed cameras for the prevention of road traffic injuries and deaths[1] reported that all 28 studies accepted by the authors found the effect of speed cameras to be a reduction in all crashes, injury crashes, and death or severe injury crashes. "Twenty eight studies measured the effect on crashes. All 28 studies found a lower number of crashes in the speed camera areas after implementation of the program. In the vicinity of camera sites, the reductions ranged from 8% to 49% for all crashes, with reductions for most studies in the 14% to 25% range. For injury crashes the decrease ranged between 8% and 50% and for crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries the reductions were in the range of 11% to 44%. Effects over wider areas showed reductions for all crashes ranging from 9% to 35%, with most studies reporting reductions in the 11% to 27% range. For crashes resulting in death or serious injury reductions ranged from 17% to 58%, with most studies reporting this result in the 30% to 40% reduction range. The studies of longer duration showed that these positive trends were either maintained or improved with time. Nevertheless, the authors conceded that the magnitude of the benefit from speed cameras "is currently not deducible" due to limitations in the methodological rigor of many of the 28 studies cited, and recommended that "more studies of a scientifically rigorous and homogenous nature are necessary, to provide the answer to the magnitude of effect." e24fc04721