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The Pub For General Automotive Related Talk |
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#1 | ||
Donating Member
![]() Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Heading thru Hell (Corner)
Posts: 8,150
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Just reading the thread from XR8-290 reminded me of a strange encounter I had with a speed camera just before Xmas.
We went down to Morwell for our work Xmas function, travelling in our 2008 TX Territory. We ended up leaving about 11pm (2300 hours) and the road home was pretty quiet, so used my high beams whenever I could. Just to set the scene, about halfway between Traralgon and Rosedale there are two sets of overtaking lanes, with overtaking lanes on both sides of the road. The first set is about a kilometre long, and begins just after a gentle downward-sloping corner. It ends just before another small hill, and then there is another set about 600 m long a further 500 m down the road. Anyway, I was pretty much travelling by myself, and had just passed a car coming in the opposite direction as I was coming down the hill into the first overtaking lane, so switched my high beams on. Almost instantly, there was a fairly bright flash emanating from the right hand side of the road, about 500 m in front of me. Instinctively, I turned off the high beams, back to low beams, thinking that the flash had come from a car coming in the opposite direction. It wasn’t until I got a little closer that I realised the flash had come from a camera car (I travel this road every day to work, and the silver Commodore Sportswagon is a common sight). Of course, my first reaction was to check the speedo, and I found that the car was sitting at exactly the speed that I had set the cruise to – 103 km/h, which I am pretty confident is actually around 100 – 101 km/h actual speed. The wife and I got talking about it on the rets of the run home, and we both thought that the flash had not come from the car’s lights, rather it was the flash of the camera flashes that are mounted on the front bar (it was more of a white light than the typical yellow of Commodore headlights). I kept a watch of the car that was travelling some distance behind me, and it appeared that the same thing happened to it, too. To this day, I have not received a fine (surely I would have got one by now?), but can’t really work out why the flash occurred. Sure, the operator might have been a little blinded by the high beams, but to flash me like that means he must have a manual button available to him. Anyone know anything about this or encountered something similar? ![]() Craig H |
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#2 | ||
Falcon RTV - FG G6ET
![]() Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: In Da Bush, QLD
Posts: 31,247
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Min, min light mate, lot of 'em round there!
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BAII RTV - with Raptor V S/C. RTV Power FG G6ET 50th Anniversary in Sensation. While the basic Ford Six was code named Barra, the Turbo version clearly deserved its very own moniker – again enter Gordon Barfield.
We asked him if the engine had actually been called “Seagull” and how that came about. “Actually it was just call “Gull”, because I named it that. Because we knew it was going to poo on everything”. |
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#3 | ||
FF.Com.Au Hardcore
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: brisbane
Posts: 1,316
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This happened to me a couple of years back
I was driving along Mt cotton rd in an 80 zone in the truck and was told by the CB that there was a camera car up ahead I sat on 75kph just to make sure and I was flashed well I did a U turn and went back and knocked on the door of the camera car here in QLD they use Mercedes vans or 4 wheel drives with a flash light on the front and back any way I asked what was going on as I was only doing 75kph and he told me it was a test and that every 10th flash was a test and was told not to worry about it so I left it at that of course nothing happened to me no fine or anything but it does make you think thanks john |
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#4 | ||
Irregular member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 3,941
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I often had a camera car parked out the front of my house when I lived in a bad main road. Every so often it'd flash for no reason, so I believe it was a test / calibration flash. It's great entertainment sometimes.
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2000 AU II FAIRLANE 75th ANNIVERSARY - big and shiny My hovercraft is full of eels! Movie Car Chase of the Week: Gene Hackman driving a 1971 Pontiac LeMans to chase an elevated train in The French Connection (1971). |
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#5 | |||
FF.Com.Au Hardcore
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Traralgon, Vic
Posts: 577
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Quote:
never received a fine either. i also thought that speed cameras weren't allowed to flash you from the front?
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1977 MkII Escort Ghia. 2006 MY07 Subaru Liberty GT Spec B wagon. my photo blog; http://www.jamesruff.net |
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#6 | |||
Former BTIKD
![]() Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Sunny Downtown Wagga Wagga. NSW.
Posts: 53,197
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Quote:
(don't tell them ![]()
__________________
Dying at your job is natures way of saying that you're in the wrong line of work.
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#7 | ||
Just slidin'
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Brisvegas
Posts: 7,791
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I had this a week and ahalf ago. Saw the camera flash a car about a km up the road, and I thought it was weird as I was sitting on 101-103, and was catching the car up ahead (100 zone) so I slowed to 98, and when I went passed it, it flashed me. I havent got a fine yet, but I was deffinately not speeding. If I was, I would cop it no questions asked, as I have done in the past, but if I get fined for this one, I dont know what to do.
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MD Mondeo - For the family
NP Pajero - For the adventure |
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#8 | ||
Regular Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 250
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Maybe it's just a ploy to make cars slow down? Still, if you aren't speeing in the first place, this would make it really annoying, to say nothing about the legality of it for no good reason. I'd ask the Traffic Branch about it to get an official response as to why this is happening.
MM
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Mad Maxine: Pray that she's out there...... somewhere ![]() 1977 XC GS Coupe |
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#9 | ||
zdcol71
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: brisbane
Posts: 1,095
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I use the term cop with no other conotation than the colloquial term, but surely we have some, if not many, cops on here who could anonomously enlighten us on this (and possibly many more) contentious topics?
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#10 | ||
Phantom cruiser
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Sunshine,Vic
Posts: 70
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All camera cars must do a start and end of session test photo plus one every hour, you could of been there at the end of there session.
All camera cars have a manual flash button this is to check that the flash is working, its part of there quality checks prior and during there sessions. |
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#11 | ||
Regular Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 494
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It certainly is a waste of a highly trained resource (the cop) killing time in a camera car when real crime is taking place all over the country. You don't have to be weapons trained and physcologically evaluated to sit in a van as a minder.
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#12 | ||
FF.Com.Au Hardcore
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: ...in the shed
Posts: 3,386
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I guess it saves them hiring more people, save money by rotating officers from the traffic branch to sit in the van.
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#13 | |||
Donating Member
![]() Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Heading thru Hell (Corner)
Posts: 8,150
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Quote:
Well, in Vic at least, there's no impact upon Police numbers as most of the cars are operated by private company contractors. Of course, in our area, these are mostly ex-police anyway. |
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#14 | |||
Former BTIKD
![]() Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Sunny Downtown Wagga Wagga. NSW.
Posts: 53,197
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Quote:
__________________
Dying at your job is natures way of saying that you're in the wrong line of work.
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#15 | ||
Regular Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 32
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definately a calibration flash, i do a lot of k's and every time i get flashed i pull up and ask why, 5 out of the 7 times in the last three months it has been a calibration flash
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