Another use for Gatso cameras

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

Mr_Sukebe

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Apart from being a good spot to put a Xmas tree, I was thinking whilst driving back to London of some of the things that really annoy me on the road, and it did occur that with a bit of work, a Gatso might be able to do the following:
- Calculate gaps between cars and their actual speeds, then automatically send a fine to anyone caught tailgating too close. I personally believe that this is one of the biggest causes of accidents on the roads.
- Spot cars with blown bulbs. Should be able to work on the number plate to identify whether that single light is a car or bike, if it's a car, send them a fine.
- Spot cars with their fogs on when it's not foggy. Would need more work on the optics to define whether it's foggy when the picture is taken, but I'm sure it's possible.

Thoughts? Should we suggest the above?
I personally would advocate only fines for the two light scenarios, and a single point on the license for everytime a person is caught tailgating seriously close.
 
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So you are on your way somwhere, and a bulb fails. Before you even pass anywhere that sells bulbs, or pull over and replace it if you carry spared, bang, you get a fine. Don't really think that would work.

The foglight thing could be a good idea though, although open to the same. I can think of places where it gets foggy, then all of a sudden no fog, then back into fog again a few hundred meters further along the road. If the camera happens to be in a clear patch between two patches of fog, changes are your fog lights will be on and you get fined. Surely that can't be right or fair?
 
On both light ideas, a max of one fine a day would make it rather more easy, and I'm not suggesting massive fines, say £25.
As for the bulb just having gone, I don't really think it's a great excuse. For one thing, would encourage people to actually have some spares around and check their car more thoroughly before driving it.
With regard to the fog, yes I do expect people to turn off their fogs on the way out of fog.
 
I wish my car had some way of informing the driver that one of the bulbs has failed from the inside. My car passed its MOT straight through a few weeks ago, yet one week later there was a number plate bulb and a tail light out. I don't have time to check every single bulb before every journey sadly so I don't think the fining people for bulbs out is a good idea.
 
divine_madness said:
Also, how would it work out what was a foglight and what was a driving light?
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Lets assume you're only working on the rear fog lights. Should be possible to differentiate between the type of lights.

Actually, might be possible on the front lights aswell. Imagine this scenario, car numberplate gets scanned, as such, the type of car is known and also the layout of the lights on that model. Would be possible to check which lights should and shouldn't be shining. So technically there is a way to do it.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
With regard to the fog, yes I do expect people to turn off their fogs on the way out of fog.
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Don't be daft. If I have my fogs on its very heavy fog. I'm not turning them off if it gets lighter if I can see 50 yards ahead its dense fog again. For a start the people around me could be confused by it.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Lets assume you're only working on the rear fog lights. Should be possible to differentiate between the type of lights.

Actually, might be possible on the front lights aswell. Imagine this scenario, car numberplate gets scanned, as such, the type of car is known and also the layout of the lights on that model. Would be possible to check which lights should and shouldn't be shining. So technically there is a way to do it.
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The back end way would work I suppose, but I can't see the whole image recognition + databse of every car on the roads thing working :p
 
Personally I like the governments current plan of halting speed camera rollout for a couple years. Making them detect more things? :eek::mad: Are you nuts!? :p

The tailgating one is OK though :) Patent it! :p Although what happens if the guy in front spots the camera, brakes sharply and you end up straddling his bumper trying to match his braking? You'd get busted I'd expect...
 
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Mr_Sukebe said:
Lets assume you're only working on the rear fog lights. Should be possible to differentiate between the type of lights.

Actually, might be possible on the front lights aswell. Imagine this scenario, car numberplate gets scanned, as such, the type of car is known and also the layout of the lights on that model. Would be possible to check which lights should and shouldn't be shining. So technically there is a way to do it.
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theres tons of rare car about with log books that say nothing at all. my own log book, all it says is daihatsu rigid two axle. :o
 
Hey, come on guys, be more positive.
So many people moan about gatso's and how they don't actually prevent accidents, which is NOT something I'd argue with.
I'm just throwing around a few ideas that might actually reduce the instances of accidents. How about being creative and not destructive.

Put it another way, if the above ideas reduced the chances of your beloved motor being rear-ended because it encouraged people to have realistic braking distances and also yourself to make sure that you had a full set of working lights to help the situation. Wouldn't that be a good thing?
 
That would require some hardcore digital image analysis... Certainly not the kind of thing a gatso could manage.

Prehaps a new type of camera.

I would love to see the tailgating one at work though, you'd have to somehow average out the distance as what if the driver infront thought it was a speed camera - slams on brakes at the moment ** passing the camera - u close on the rear of the car ahead and suddenly a letter hits your doormate informing you of points and a fine!
 
just seems like a lot of mess on just to fine people for having a light out. like someone said, what happens if one blows while your driving or something. id object strongly to that costing me 25 quid
 
The light/bulb idea is as bad as the foglight one. The tailgating one isn't bad, apart from the amount of work that went into the development of the ANPR system and still goes into the maintenance of it, I dread to think how much time and money it'd cost to get the tailgating one going. And how about those being towed?

Ideas about other things to do with Gatsos are things I'd like to hear. I'm not being negative about the initial premise, its just that the ideas you've put forward are either bad or unfeasible.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Put it another way, if the above ideas reduced the chances of your beloved motor being rear-ended because it encouraged people to have realistic braking distances and also yourself to make sure that you had a full set of working lights to help the situation. Wouldn't that be a good thing?
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Surely a better solution than fining people for things would be for car manufacturers to include systems to detect blown bulbs and warn the driver so that they know they need replacing.

Not sure on the fog light one though.
 
The tailgating idea is a good one but would be tricky to implement. What would work better would be to make it mandatory for all new cars to be fitted with a device which emits an audible warning when you're travelling at a distance from the car in front which is inappropriate for the speed you're doing (so that it didn't give false warnings in heavy traffic, around town, etc).

I don't think many people tailgate intentionally, it's just peoples' personalities subsciously exhibiting themselves through his/her driving. If the car gave them a ticking off every time, they'd probably learn rather quickly. It seems to work with those flashing "slow down" signs as you enter villages.
 
Why do we need all these systems to baby-sit us?
Id hate to see a point where everything I do in a car is monitored and regulated down to inane points like fog lights and blown bulbs.

Why cant drivers, as a whole be trusted?
 
Agent_Smith357 said:
Why cant drivers, as a whole be trusted?
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Because they're a bunch of idiots who drive around with sidelights and fog lights on ;). How about cars that won't allow the foglights to be activated when you only have sidelights on?

I'm sure my Astra only allows the rear ones on when headlights are selected (maybe not though, I haven't had to use them yet :)).
 
I have to disagree about the car "blown bulbs" idea as for some cars, it is ridiculously difficult to replace the bulbs. Take my Corsa's front lights as an example: you need to loosen the front wheel arches, loosen the front grille, drop the front bumper, unscrew and completely remove the front light just to change any one of the bulbs located there (except for the indicator bulb). If the bulb happens to blow out at night on my way home, how am I suppose to get all that done? Seems harsh to get done for something that can't be resolved without a visit to a local garage.
 
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