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I've often thought about, and have been asked by others, "how far can a mobile speed camera capture a car?" Now I don't have any definitive answers, but I have analysed quite a few mobile speed camera fines. You can do this yourself, but hopefully my best guess based on analysis is a good indicator. We often read in the media that speed cameras can capture cars kilometres aways. The standard line is, if you can see the speed camera, then it's already too late. But really, is this reality, or just something to make people worry. I think possibly the latter. There's a couple of things that lead me to feel this way. It really is a feeling, as I don't have any proof. In the past I reviewed footage of a speeding car that was less than 200m from the mobile speed camera and they received no fine. By about 150m they were closer to the speed limit and less than what I'd expect people to get booked for doing.The second piece of information is the GTASO RT4 RADAR spec sheet available on the internet (we use GATSO RT cameras in Victoria) which states the range is 150m. Not sure if that's the same for cameras used in the mobile speed camera cars. I've read on the internet that mobile speed cameras are set at 22 degrees and if this is true, on a four-lane road with a medium strip, the furthest car would be around 65m. Don't know if 22 degrees is fact or fiction. When I see a picture of a mobile speed camera speeding fine on the internet, I'll analyse the photo of the fine as best I can and determine the distance. In the Whirlpool forum recently, this post showed a person's wife who had been fined for doing 67 in a 60 zone. From analysing the photo my estimate of the distance from the car to the speed camera was around 25m. Less than what I would have thought. This was in QLD at the GPS location: -27.5760068, 153.0253598.
Out of interest, the person also shared the following: Received letter Monday 6/1, Letter is dated Friday 3/1, Photo is dated 7/12. This shows us it took 30 days, or a little over 4 weeks from being detected to receiving the infringement. One picture we can all see and analyse is on the Victorian Cameras Save Lives site. The following is a mock-up using a photo I took (not wanting to infringe on copyright). Check out the government's site to see the actual picture. I approximately lined up where I thought the camera would have been on the nature strip with the Novotel Hotel in Bell Street. I was just behind the concrete gutter shown in the government's mobile speed camera picture. I measured the distance to be around 41m so 40-50m to the speeding car which would not be unreasonable.
In the past people have forwarded their photos to me and I've analysed the photos and if I recall correctly, I don't recall the distance being over 80m. So, my gut feeling is the distance from the mobile speed camera to the speeding car is probably under 80m, but let's say 100m to provide a margin. It is natural to slow down if you see a mobile speed camera or police car and that's really a good thing. By slowing down safely you can potentially reduce your speed sufficiently to avoid a speed fine altogether or reduce the fine from a higher to low bracket. For example, let's say you're doing 70 in a 60 zone and you spot a mobile speed camera at 200m away. That's 10 seconds until you pass the mobile speed camera car and possibly 5-6 seconds before you are in range of the mobile speed camera. Gently applying brakes if it's safe to do so (a mirror check takes about half a second) and your response time takes around 1 second (which occur in parallel), leaving plenty of time to reduce your speed. At 5-6 seconds that's usually more time than you're given on amber to stop at traffic lights, and you're not trying to stop, just trying to slow down. In fact, the amber setting in Victoria for turn arrows is reportedly 3 seconds which allows you to supposedly stop. I personally feel this is too short, but that's a different conversation. Now you might wonder why I'm sharing this information. I was speeding once as a P-plater and the police handled the situation well, with a warning and I didn't speed for years. I try not to speed at all but there are multiple ways I can still speed in error. If you have a lucky break, it's a good reminder to improve your driving skills. On this site you'll find a Speed Limit Alerts web app that can help drivers stay within the speed limit. I always use the Speed Limit Alerts web app when I drive to keep me within the speed limit. Kelvin |
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