Coming out of Dewsbury up Webster Hill and past Mr Sparkles car wash, under the railway bridge and into Huddersfield Rd there is a speed camera on the left, a yellow box with two lenses facing oncoming traffic with 3 thin white lines on the road just before the camera. Coming out of Dewsbury in the early hours of the morning after delivering to our store in the town centre this camera flashed me full in the face with a very bright RED flash which dazzled me for a couple of split seconds. I believe via our traffic office that there is now a speeding ticket heading my way.
Can any one give me some good advice please as I don’t think that cameras should flash direct into your face because I was blinded for a couple of seconds and as far as im concerned its bloody dangerous.
what advice do want mate? the three lines on the road are verification of your speed, if you look at the photo evidence if your front tyres have crossed the first line your over the speed limit! you could try and plead mitigating circumstances i.e the flash momentarily blinded you so you couldn’t see the speedo but i think the court might say you had to be speeding to activate the flash in the first place!
just one of those things, take it on the chin and watch out for the bloody things in future.
Its a Truvelo camera
Truvelo camera system is designed to take photographs of the front of a passing vehicle, this allows the picture taken to show the driver of the vehicle as well.
These rely on 3 white-lines in the road, painted just before the camera, and are triggered by strips in the road, used to gain the vehicles speed. They have a magenta filter on the flash to prevent it blinding drivers.
Thanks chaps, I believe the ticket shows 36 mph, just what Ive been told by one of the chaps in the traffic office. Once again thanks for your advice much appreciated.
bubsy06:
They have a magenta filter on the flash to prevent it blinding drivers.
Correct, they don’t use IR as the popular myth states Sometimes the filter can be missing in which case it could arguably be dangerous although this isn’t the case here nor do I think it would invalidate the ticket.
leave it a few weeks, then ask for photo evidence, leave it a few more weeks, then ask for caliberation evidence, leave it a few more weeks, then ask for evidence that the repeaters are set at the correct distances, ( this is only relevent if you have come from a higher limit to a lower one). well hopefully they will run out of time to prosecute. it used to be six months, but now it’s twelve, so it’s harder to string it out.
Admit to [zb] all. wait for the evidence, then still deny it.
In yorkshire they seem to send a lot of letters out saying it is not our intention to catch people out but merely to keep the roads safe, I returned my details fairly hastily about 9 months ago and got the letter I’m mentioning, I thought - here we go, but then it said to please heed this warning and take more notice of your speed etc. and that was that. The camera was on the other side of the road facing me.
limeyphil:
leave it a few weeks, then ask for photo evidence, leave it a few more weeks, then ask for caliberation evidence, leave it a few more weeks, then ask for evidence that the repeaters are set at the correct distances, ( this is only relevent if you have come from a higher limit to a lower one). well hopefully they will run out of time to prosecute. it used to be six months, but now it’s twelve, so it’s harder to string it out.
Admit to [zb] all. wait for the evidence, then still deny it.
thats just ■■■■■■■ in the wind now mate, truvello’s are cut n dried, if you ask for evidence you’ll get a nice picture of your self in the companies wagon showing your front wheels are over the white lines, if you drag it on you’ll just get a bigger fine!
Thank you to everyone who have taken time to post a reply and for the advice given. And a big thanks to ROG for getting me the address to write to, Ive sent them a letter wether it’ll do any good only time will tell. Have yourselves a great weekend guys.
paul b:
thats just ■■■■■■■ in the wind now mate, truvello’s are cut n dried, if you ask for evidence you’ll get a nice picture of your self in the companies wagon showing your front wheels are over the white lines, if you drag it on you’ll just get a bigger fine!
I would agree with this. Also along with the bigger fine you’d get for losing in court at higher speeds you could end up with more than the 3 points you were originally offered.
Get yourself over to pocketgpsworld.com and sign up & download their camera database for you satnav (if you have one of course!!), at least it will warn you of cameras in the future!!
I do this run to our Dewsbury store on a regular basis and know where all the cameras are. I had been stopped at the traffic lights just before the bridge, and in the short distance from starting off from the lights when they went green I doubt I could have got enough speed up to be speeding through the camera. see what happens in days to come.
Sometimes the filter can be missing in which case it could arguably be dangerous although this isn’t the case here nor do I think it would invalidate the ticket.