... the ones that you drive towards?
Am I facing a long painful wait for the fine to go to the leasing company, to the fleet manager, to my boss and finally to me, or does the fact there was no flash mean I'm safe?
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I put Truvelo into Google - here we are:
The forward facing 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.
To avoid the 'flash' which is given out by a rear facing Gatso camera the Truvelo system uses an infra red flash which produces no visible 'flash' to the approaching driver. 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.
Truvelo cameras are becoming increasingly more commonplace, counties such as Northamptonshire use predominately only Truvelo cameras.
Points and Penalties
Being prosecuted in the UK by a Truvelo speed/safety camera can result in a minimum of 3 penalty points and a £60 fine. This fine amount is currently under review by the government and may increase in near future.
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Oh dear.
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But I'm sure you weren't going too fast so you should have nothing to fear......:)
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I only wish I had your faith!
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Well, isn't that nice? To 'avoid a visible flash'.
Now, I wonder why the filthy, lowdown, money-grabbing, car-hating, lousy, stinking scumbags do that then?
Really sorry, PoloGirl. I've no doubt it was a heinous crime for which you should be banged up for life. Not.
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But she is not being banged up for life?
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I saw one flash on the A1 (not for me!) a couple of months ago
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I've certainly seen a visible flash from them.
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I got caught by one once and yes, it did flash...
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Surely it is rather dangerous for a forward facing camera to flash, especially with the intensity of a Gatso?
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Surely it is rather dangerous for a forward facing camera to flash
If it was really a truvelo that hillman, adverse camber, and Big John saw flash, then I suppose their eyes must be sensitive to infra-red.
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According to the official gumpf the Truvelo flash is invisible to the naked eye.....however, i (and many others if you believe what you read on t'internet) will swear blind that I have had them flash me (at least twice). Both times I was (marginally) exceeding the 40mph limit but neither time did I recieve a NIP so perhaps it was just my guilt playing games with me..........but it bloomin' well flashed me, I'm telling you.
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"To avoid the 'flash' which is given out by a rear facing Gatso camera the Truvelo system uses an infra red flash which produces no visible 'flash' to the approaching driver. 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."
www.speedcamerasuk.com/truvelo.htm
Along with plenty more website's found just by putting the word 'Truvelo' into google that all say pretty much the same thing.
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But can you rely on a site which uses a phrase like "counties such as Northamptonshire use predominately only Truvelo cameras"?
Grammarian hat off.
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There are two other makes of approved cameras besides Gatso & Truvelo.
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The forward facing cameras do flash and if your eyes have a wide enough range you can see it.
I can see it!
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Lets all drive past the cameras at high speed and compare our findings as to whether they flashed or not.
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"The forward facing cameras do flash and if your eyes have a wide enough range you can see it.
I can see it! "
So if your eyes are sensitive to infra-red can you see people/animals/anything giving out heat in the pitch dark? Useful.
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Adam on here used to say that some Truvelos have a white flash with a magenta filter, which is visible but not bright enough to dazzle??:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=t&t=34...3
Never seen a Truvelo flash myself, and I thought they used proper infra-red. On the ones close to our office the flash does not look like it could be a 'white light with magenta filter'? And I'm not going to trigger one deliberately to find out..
Sorry PG if the latter doesn't help! Fingers crossed and good luck. ;o)
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Although Truvelo's have an IR flash, you should still be able to see it under most circumstances. Perhaps if the sun was shining directly at the flasher, this is the only time that it may not be so visible. MY wife got done by one and even she noticed the flash, which is remarkable.
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I was flashed by a Truvelo camera a while back and never received a ticket. If you do receive a ticket argue it. i did this a with a fixed camera ticket and due to the lack of warning signs in the approach to this camera i got a letter back saying in this instance they will not be taking the matter any further. So it always pays to question everything i belive.
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confession time. went through one in blackpool town center at aprox 38 mph about 3 weeks ago, no flash and so far no brown envelope through door. there is a % that at any time only so many are working. cross fingers.
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Saying a forward facing camera shouldn't flash for saefty reasons is a little odd though isn't it. If you're driving towards a Gatso when someone speeds past in the other direction you will see the flash of the Gatso anyway.
Pologirl, do you think you were going fast enough to trigger the camera? If you think you were going fast enough (faster than speed limit + 10% + 2mph) then I'd personally assume I was had and face up to 3 points and £60. And when it doesn't come it's a bonus.
Best of luck.
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Might they do the same with Truvelos as they go with Gatsos. Due to the limited number of cameras they fit flash units to some empty Gatsos. Do they do this for Truvelo cameras too?
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There is no requirement to have any signage regarding the presence of a camera, a man in a van, a gatso or an officer with a radar gun. Truvelo's do flash in the magenta visual wavelength ( some IR) content and the camera lens filter compensates for the magenta to correct the photo taken. It flashes once and captures the car that just touched the centre of the 3 white lines first, so that if this was a dual carriageway they can identify the offending vehicle. The Truvelo ( True Velocity ) does not emit any RF or laser so can not be detected. The sensors are in the road and take the form of two sets of Piezo-electric axle sensors in the road and a time measurement detected between seners 1 and 3 and 2 and 4 are compared and if they are within 2 mph then the flash timing is determined and fine such that you should be on the centre white line. I hope that clears it it. Regards Peter
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I should add that is the sunlight is behind you, and some other lighting conditions you may not notice the single flash. Regards Peter
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Here is the official word from the "horse's mouth".
www.truvelo.co.za/traffic/pdf/Combi_IFS-web.pdf
"For the flash-light and/or camera a magenta or orange filter, allows for best license plate legibility. These filters avoid blinding the motorist if front vehicle photography is used. The Truvelo Combi, together with the Intelligent Flash Simulator, offers a complete solution to speed and/or red light recording ."
"The IFS can also simultaneously act as ?Dummy Flash? unit which activates the flash when a vehicle exceeds a preset speed limit or runs a red light. The flash is visible to motorists and will assist the traffic authorities by deterring drivers from speeding and/or committing traffic light violations, even when the speed/red light camera is not on the site. Simultaneously, the statistical data, which is gathered and stored into a memory card on site, can assist the traffic authorities in managing their speed/red light sites. This data will determine:
? When it may become necessary to re-insert the speed/red light law enforcement camera into the housing,
? how effective a particular traffic law enforcement campaign has been, or
? if applicable speed limits might have to be re-evaluated on that particular stretch of road. "
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As I said in my previous post I was flashed by one and did receive a fine and 3 points. I was momentarily blinded by it, and thought about complaing how dangerous it was, but knew that had I not been speeding it wouldn't have happened!
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"If applicable speed limits might have to be re-evaluated on that particular stretch of road."
I like the sound of that.
Just get *everybody* to speed past a 'dummy' site, and the statistics will indicate that there's nothing else for it - the limit ought to be increased. ;-))
Does an Intelligent Flash Simulator give out a real flash, or just a simulated flash then??
That must be why we can't always see them...
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I saw a Truvelo flash at night when an ambulance sped past it. Two bright magenta flashes in quick succession.
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yesterday on the A1 while travelling north I saw gatso on the southbound side flash just once all by itself; there were no vehicles in its vicinity. How or why? does it do a self-test? or just faulty?
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I was once flashed on my face by a forward facing Truvelo while going at 20 mph in a 30 mph zone. Never received any ticket though.
Then can flash sometimes of their own because of:
1. faulty
2. Self test
3. let people know that they actually work
4. ??
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If a Truvelo is one of those grey boxes with an orange light next to the lens opening, mounted on top of a pole, that take a photo of the front of your car, then I can confirm that the flash is visible. It's not very bright and kind of an orangy red colour.
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Read an article in this weeks Motorcycle News which is very relevant to your situation.
Basically and I think this is what they were saying .... when the cops writie to your fleet manager he writes to them with your details and home address they then contact you to confirm you were the driver ... you say yes (taks as long as you can to send paper work back) then they offer you a fixed penalty which you simply ignore ... it will time out after 6 months (I think) .. then you are in clear.
Basically the gist of the article says they are too busy to chase up (not all police forces im sure) the ones who drag their feet /// apparently .... but worth a shot.
get dowen to newsagens and get last weeks issue or log onto their website i think it was written by Kevin Ash ??
Good Luck
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Somebody at work saw one flash magenta.
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".... when the cops write to your fleet manager he writes to them with your details ... they then contact you to confirm you were the driver ... you say yes .... then they offer you a fixed penalty which you simply ignore ... it will time out after 6 months (I think) .. then you are in clear."
I think if you ignore the offer you'll end up in from of a magistrate. And what if they cannot offer a fixed penalty.
I knew someone who genuinely forgot about replying to the offer of a fixed penalty in time (private motorist) and he ended up in court. I think the points tayed the same but the fine went up a lot. This was in 1999 so fewer speeding prosecution due to fewer (s)cameras.
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Don't forget the other joy of a company car if they write to the leasing company your fleet management and also your management will be made aware.
In the big blue computer company I (and some others on here) work for not doing everything by the book when you are caught could have job consequences.
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As above, the infrared flashes. It is noticeable, especially in the dark. Every time I've set one off, you couldn't possibly say that you hadn't seen it, if you see what I mean.
As for ignoring a ticket - don't. Most of the system is computerised now, so the ticket goes off, and then is timed. 28 days later it'll pop up again, and if the file hasn't been updated, then it's off to court. The days of people sitting on their backsides chasing it up manually are, by and large, gone.
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