Slow down you move too fast, got to make the morning last

New equipment designed to spot riders and drivers who slow down for the speed cameras is on test in Spain

Nathan Harrison in action above – lucky there are no speed cameras around 😀

In the spring of last year new speed cameras began to be trialled in Spain, which can detect, not only a vehicle’s speed but also if a vehicle is braking sharply just before it passes the fixed speed camera, to give a false impression of its overall speed. This is an initiative designed to tackle the high mortality rates on Spanish roads, by slowing drivers down and preventing them from exceeding the speed limit between cameras, when they think no one is looking. Currently Spain uses a combination of fixed roadside cameras and mobile cameras attached to drones, to patrol the roads and spot speeders. Apart from the drones though, it is generally easy for riders to evade speed camera attention, by just slowing down when one is spotted in the distance and then speeding up again once they have passed the camera. Riders and drivers who regularly use the same roads, learn where the cameras are and slow down when they are approaching them.

The new devices being trialled consist of two cameras a short distance apart, which can see further down the road and cover a greater distance travelled, thus spotting behaviours like vehicles driving over the speed limit and just braking where the speed cameras are. They are basically behaving more like average speed cameras rather than fixed speed cameras. They are reputed to be able to detect if a vehicle gets back up to speed after passing the camera, as well as when they are approaching it.

It will be interesting to know the follow up to this trial and whether drivers and motorcyclists will actually be more likely to be caught speeding, or whether they will just learn the range and whereabouts of the new camera system, perhaps after a couple of tickets, and simply adjust their behaviour accordingly to avoid them.

Any thoughts on this one? Do you always stick religiously to the speed limit or are you guilty of slowing down for the cameras? Done any speed awareness courses lately?

Let us know your thoughts on this one.