When you thought gatsos where bad.....

Zip · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:34

......helicopters now have been equiped with speed detection systems

Down here they have just started sending out helicopters with speed detection devices on them.
Ive seen upto 4 in the sky all at once in my region alone.
Now no road is safe

atpbx · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:35

Zip said:
......helicopters now have been equiped with speed detection systems

Down here they have just started sending out helicopters with speed detection devices on them.
Ive seen upto 4 in the sky all at once in my region alone.
Now no road is safe

How is that possibly economically viable?

Zip · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:40

atpbx said:
How is that possibly economically viable?

Im guessing that all the people they book should rake in the cash.
It might be just a thing for weekends and holidays but im not sure. Its oly just been happening. I should know how much they use them in a few weeks

Burned_Alive · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:42

I very much doubt they'll be using it for clocking your average motorist, probably just for greater evidence during high speed pursuits

Duke · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:42

I hope they are painted bright yellow

edit:

Zip · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:48

Duke said:
I hope they are painted bright yellow

2 of them are

And they arnt just for high speed pursuits, there is neve any high speed pursuits around here. They are definatly used for clocking people and telling ground police where motorists are speeding

iCraig · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:55

Hmm, where did I put my stinger missiles..

djbenjo · 9 Apr 2006 at 12:13

From what I have seen on TV speeding fines in Australia can be upto an average mans wages for a month. Is that right Zip?

Zip · 9 Apr 2006 at 12:16

djbenjo said:
From what I have seen on TV speeding fines in Australia can be upto an average mans wages for a month. Is that right Zip?

Im not too sure what they actually are but you can get an instant loss of licence for doing 40kph over the speed limit and i know people that have had to pay $200AUD+ for going over by bout 10-15kphs

Edit: Ive never been booked my self

Im on my Ps and if i do get booked for anything my licence is gone for 6 months then i have to take a retest

From about July last year the penaltys got even more strict then what they were aswell

penski · 9 Apr 2006 at 12:31

Hang on...How can they accurately measure the speed of a moving object from a moving platform?!

It's like hairdriers over here...they just aren't accurate. At all. MCN got one to read a stationary bike as doing 40mph.

*n

Bunka · 9 Apr 2006 at 13:18

penski said:
Hang on...How can they accurately measure the speed of a moving object from a moving platform?!

It's like hairdriers over here...they just aren't accurate. At all. MCN got one to read a stationary bike as doing 40mph.

*n

Work out the moving speed of the helicopter and subtract it from the speed the car is pulling away at?

Matt · 9 Apr 2006 at 13:24

Bunka said:
Work out the moving speed of the helicopter and subtract it from the speed the car is pulling away at?

Yeah but there's the angles of everything to take into account too...

Tdh1987 · 9 Apr 2006 at 14:32

I'm not so sure this is possible. I'll believe it if I see it.

<(Multi)> · 9 Apr 2006 at 14:51

Bunka said:
Work out the moving speed of the helicopter and subtract it from the speed the car is pulling away at?

But doesn't air speed and land speed mean something totally different. Air pressure means that speed vaires a lot in the air, as does the result of wind direction / speed.

Tdh1987 · 9 Apr 2006 at 14:56

Your right. But I assume they'd use GPS to calculate the helicopters speed. I still don't think its possible

Jokester · 9 Apr 2006 at 14:59

Totally possible, it's a common component in weapon systems for determining the lead you need to put on a moving target.

Jokester

cleanbluesky · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:05

1) How can they provide legal evidence of the speed of a moving vehicle, given the unsteadiness of the camera on a moving platform and the lack of any comparison objects available in any pictures taken?

2) How can they accurately measure speed given that the platform in moving?

3) How can they see your numberplate, and what angle would they need to get and what level of magnification would be required to ensure numberplate was accurately recorded in order to issue a penalty? Would the moving platform be stable enough and free of turbulance to take a picture at this level of magnification?

cdcopyman · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:12

ive also read somewere they do it in a plane

Jokester · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:13

cleanbluesky said:
1) How can they provide legal evidence of the speed of a moving vehicle, given the unsteadiness of the camera on a moving platform and the lack of any comparison objects available in any pictures taken?

The equipment will be certified to a certain accuracy under certain conditions. Basically if the machine says your speeding, your speeding. It's no different to a speed gun or speed camera in that respect. I believe that on board camera evidence is already used from police cars, a helicopter would be no different.

cleanbluesky said:
2) How can they accurately measure speed given that the platform in moving?

With the combination of radar, optic and GPS data you can easily get an accurate measurement of the helicopter speed and also by extension the speed of the target.

cleanbluesky said:
3) How can they see your numberplate, and what angle would they need to get and what level of magnification would be required to ensure numberplate was accurately recorded in order to issue a penalty? Would the moving platform be stable enough and free of turbulance to take a picture at this level of magnification?

Have you watched Planet Earth?, some of the close up shots from the air were taken from 100s of metres away (and in some cases miles away I think).

There's no technical reason why this wouldn't work.

Jokester

Burned_Alive · 9 Apr 2006 at 16:07

Jokester said:
Have you watched Planet Earth?, some of the close up shots from the air were taken from 100s of metres away (and in some cases miles away I think).

There's no technical reason why this wouldn't work.

Jokester

Very much doubt the police will be mounting High Definition cameras to patrol helicopters