Watch your speed pips!

Fuzz · 1 May 2011 at 19:50

Looks like we'll soon be seeing these PIPS camera systems on our roads according to www.itsinternational.co.uk. :mad:

Revenue generation at it's worst.

PIPS SpeedSpike receives UK type approval

Published: 22nd April 2011

PIPS Technology has announced the official launch of the UK Home Office Type Approved SpeedSpike average speed enforcement system. Developed as a cost effective distance over time speed enforcement system, the system can be deployed as main road speed enforcement on motorways, urban speed enforcement in town and city centres or local short distance speed enforcement outside schools and colleges. By linking anywhere up to 1,000 cameras in any one system, PIPS says that SpeedSpike can enforce speeds ranging from 20 – 140mph across an entire road network.

The SpeedSpike system, PIPS first within the average speed enforcement market, will consist of SpikeHD ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras and a server which is able to compute the average speed of every vehicle at every site and compare it with the enforcement speed.

When a vehicle passes a camera, the licence plate is read and time stamped and this, together with the site‐ID, camera‐ID and event‐ID form a Summary Record that is sent to the SpeedSpike server. This occurs at every camera which the vehicle passes. The SpeedSpike server can then compute the average speed of every vehicle detected at every site and compare it with the enforcement speed to detect violations.

“SpeedSpike is a completely new product to the market and we are confident that it will revolutionise the way local authorities enforce speed limits,” said Paul Negus, managing director of PIPS Technology. “These cameras are capable of being used in any location and deliver the high standards that are expected from PIPS Technology.”

L0rdMike · 1 May 2011 at 19:51

No worries here I cruise at 140+ :cool:

Zefan · 1 May 2011 at 19:55

Brilliant.

TaKeN · 1 May 2011 at 19:56

Oh **** off!!! :mad:

thepeteh · 1 May 2011 at 19:59

Moving abroad for work is looking more attractive...! :eek:

Scythe · 1 May 2011 at 19:59

Great.

realscot · 1 May 2011 at 20:00

meh they'll never be up this way.

Minstadave · 1 May 2011 at 20:01

What's the difference between this and SPECS? Is it just a lot more widespread?

Scrutinize · 1 May 2011 at 20:04

Sounds like marketing guff from the manufacturer. Can't see the local authorities installing the infrastructure when they can't even afford to keep the current speed cameras operational.

cheets64 · 1 May 2011 at 20:05

Should be great, lets face it anything to punish fast drivers in certain areas, not just see a camera slow down then speed back up..

InvaderGIR · 1 May 2011 at 20:05

Minstadave said:
What's the difference between this and SPECS? Is it just a lot more widespread?

Sounds like CCTV/ANPR/SPECS all combined into one.

Fr0dders · 1 May 2011 at 20:08

Minstadave said:
What's the difference between this and SPECS? Is it just a lot more widespread?

yes.

Imagine the nearest big city, with a camera at every enterance and every exit to its centre. No matter which road you leave the city at, it can backtrack to where it last saw you and work out if it was possible for you to get there whilst still averaging 30mph.

Scary stuff.

But MRK raises a good point. What will the uptake of it be ? yes they can put an ANPR camera linked up to this system on every road exiting a city, and around the city, but will they be able to afford to ?

SlyReaper · 1 May 2011 at 20:10

Minstadave said:
What's the difference between this and SPECS? Is it just a lot more widespread?

Sounds like it. A fantastic plan to make our roads safer: force drivers to go around glaring at their speedometers instead of the road. Brilliant plan.

EndlessSky · 1 May 2011 at 20:11

Let's hope they don't put these buggers out on the twisties!

RedvGreen · 1 May 2011 at 20:13

I'm sure a system like this was mentioned about a year ago - trialled in towns around Surrey or something.

Basically, SPECS systems tend to be quite merciless - they trigger a fine once a vehicle has doing 3-4MPH over the limit average - bearing in mind most speedos are calibrated within 5-10% accuracy, that doesn't leave you with much of a chance if you are on the limit.

This will track you for your entire journey and work out that if you did:
5mins to travel down a 20mile 70MPH motorway before it tracked you on a 60MPH country road 3mins later that you were doing way over the limit. There has been a few contraversial cases where several SPECS systems in unison have cost people 6pts + 2 fines on the some road, one system after the next.

GG everyone, no more creeping above the limit even when it is safe to do so anymore!

Minstadave · 1 May 2011 at 20:14

MrLOL said:
Imagine the nearest big city, with a camera at every enterance and every exit to its centre. No matter which road you leave the city at, it can backtrack to where it last saw you and work out if it was possible for you to get there whilst still averaging 30mph.

I've never really understood how SPECS works when it has a stretch of traffic lights in it, let alone how it would work on a more widespread system.

It wouldn't know which route you took or how many traffic lights you had to stop for, so to be done for speeding you'd have to be speeding over the shortest route and not stop at any lights to actually get done.

Scrutinize · 1 May 2011 at 20:17

MrLOL said:
But MRK raises a good point. What will the uptake of it be ? yes they can put an ANPR camera linked up to this system on every road exiting a city, and around the city, but will they be able to afford to ?

The problem is, that this assumes there are enough cameras for coverage, there won't be bar London and a couple of the big cities Birmingham, Notts, Bristol maybe and even then it won't have every route. Given each ANPR camera can cost anywhere from 20-100k plummed in and if the city doesn't have a traffic control centre capable of controlling / managing it add a few million into the mix, uptake will be limited for now.

Fr0dders · 1 May 2011 at 20:21

Minstadave said:
I've never really understood how SPECS works when it has a stretch of traffic lights in it, let alone how it would work on a more widespread system.

It wouldn't know which route you took or how many traffic lights you had to stop for, so to be done for speeding you'd have to be speeding over the shortest route and not stop at any lights to actually get done.

easily possible to average 40mph on a stretch of city centre roads in the quiet evenning, say after 7pm ish.

SlyReaper · 1 May 2011 at 20:21

Minstadave said:
I've never really understood how SPECS works when it has a stretch of traffic lights in it, let alone how it would work on a more widespread system.

It wouldn't know which route you took or how many traffic lights you had to stop for, so to be done for speeding you'd have to be speeding over the shortest route and not stop at any lights to actually get done.

It wouldn't be beyond the wit of man to link these cameras up to the local traffic light systems. Then it will know if you stopped at traffic lights and for how long, and factor that in to its average speed calculations (or if you arrive at the second camera really really early, it would know you skipped a red light).

Scrutinize · 1 May 2011 at 20:29

SlyReaper said:
It wouldn't be beyond the wit of man to link these cameras up to the local traffic light systems. Then it will know if you stopped at traffic lights and for how long, and factor that in to its average speed calculations (or if you arrive at the second camera really really early, it would know you skipped a red light).

I would rather see automatic speed limiters in cars for urban areas than to end up with this level of speed policing. Both draconian but at least one will prove 100% effective and guarantee results.

If they want to manage speed this much then it is time they limit cars.