[speedbird1969]

Anyone who is a regular traveller through Heathrow will no doubt have seen the recently installed boxes that flash your speed up and tell you to slow down should you be a naughty driver.

As of yesterday (1 May) these have been supplemented by new ANPR cameras which, in addition to keeping an eye out for the bad boys, will double up as average speed cameras.

The cameras are small, yellow and mounted high up on lamp posts with a small warning sign attached. They are nigh on impossible to see in dark conditions. They are positioned roughly where the current warning boxes are.

The cynical side of me had a thought that as most people going to an airport will be in a rush/running late that this is a tremendous revenue raising opportunity.

I know others will say stick to the limit and you’ll be fine. Whatever your view, allow more time when getting to the airport!

3 users thanked author for this post.

LuganoPirate, Polly, DerekVH

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=932207]Anyone who is a regular traveller through Heathrow will no doubt have seen the recently installed boxes that flash your speed up and tell you to slow down should you be a naughty driver….[/quote]

Thanks for the warning, but could you please give a little more detail about where they’re installed? On approach roads to some or all Terminals? Thanks very much.

[speedbird1969]

I use one side of the airport perimeter road and can confirm they go from Pod Parking at The Thistle hotel past terminal 5 to the Quarrentine roundabout before terminal 4 (up the long straight with the Esso garage), so I assume they carry on to Hatton Cross all the way round to complete the circle. There is one situated at the large roundabout for M25 and Stanwell as you exit Southern Perimeter Road.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Polly, GivingupBA

[LuganoPirate]

I wonder who gets the revenue that will be generated?

[Adrian1978]

Are they just average speed cameras on the perimeter road by terminal 4 or are they fixed ?

[speedbird1969]

Adrian1978 my journey doesn’t take me past T4 often but if it’s the same all the way round they are fixed mainly to lamp posts and ring the entire airport. As said, they are small and almost invisible in the dark. As a general rule the speed limit on single track roads is 30 and on dual carriageway 40. I haven’t personally heard of anyone who has been pinged yet.

[Angerengineer]

I use the perimiter road regulary as part of my work. We received a correspondence from HAL landside, it was in my opinion, very misleading, deliberately.

It inferred it was from or at least twinned with the police and stated the new cameras were speed cameras, average speed cameras and ANPR cameras.

It also stated anyone triggering the cameras would be delt with under section 59 of the police rules. Section 59 is the part where police issue warning and confiscate vehicles from boy racers wheel spinning in car parks, parked up smoking drugs, wheelying on mopeds etc. (vehicle ASBO).

I have contacted Westcotec, the manufactures of the smart signs and installers of both the smart signs and the new cameras.

I have also contacted HAL airside. Neither have responded as yet. I contacted them both 2 weeks ago.

Some obsevations, average speed cameras in every other installation I have seen are installed one per lane and capture the rear of the vehicle (to include motorbikes). I believe fixed speed cameras need the white lines on the road to be legal.

For clarity I believe 40mph is the correct speed limit for the Southern perimiter road and 30mph the correct limit around terminal 5, the car parks and up to the motorway spur road. However from the spur road in an Easterly direction round to hatton cross should be (and most was until quite resently) a 40mph limit, not 30mph.

Police with portable speed radar guns have been operating around the perimiter road since the installation of the new cameras.

My conclusion is that the new “speed” cameras are neither average speed cameras or static speed cameras. I beleive they are purely ANPR cameras. It would appear many black cab drivers agree with my conclusion. However, as most people will not have come to this conclusion I believe the installation actually make the North Eastern section of the perimiter road more dangerous than it was without them, a ridiculous low speed limit with some ignoring it and some not, in cases I have already observed suddenly slowing down. Just for the record, I have no issue conforming to reasonable speed limits, driving along an empty duel carridge way at 6am with no parking, crossings, pedestrians, schools, houses or side turnings, other than ones controlled by traffic lights is pointless and very annoying.

[openfly]

It’s amazing that the police can spend days catching easy prey….drivers, but won’t go out and catch burglars!

[Angerengineer]

[quote quote=935214]It’s amazing that the police can spend days catching easy prey….drivers, but won’t go out and catch burglars![/quote]

For clarity Openfly, the cameras were installed by a contractor (Westcotec) for HAL landside. They are not recognised speed cameras of any sort used by the police in this country. The police may be connected to them for ANPR purposes, they may not. If HAL airside were to pass on information from the cameras to the police your guess is as good as mine as to if the police would attempt to pursue any action.

It has also been observed, post installation, that the police have been active on both Southern and Northern perimeter road with hand held radar guns. You decide what you think that means about the abilities of the ANPR cameras. For me the purpose of an ANPR camera is to check a vehicle by its plate, automatically identifying vehicles of interest, for policing purposes or to automatically incur some sort of fee for using a particular road.

There is the possibility that the cameras are a test installation for the up coming low emmitions zone around Heathrow , due in 2022.

It is to the depriment of road safety that HAL has left all these questions up in the air with their poor and misleading communication relating to the installation.

[SimonS1]

Like most ‘safety’ initiatives it is all about cash raising.

Ideal place to do it….people concentrating on getting their flight, picking people up or just disoriented after a long flight.

[transtraxman]

What are ANPR cameras?

[Angerengineer]

ANPR cameras- automatic number plate recognition. Whether these particular cameras are actually capable of anything else is open to conjecture.
I suspect airport workers in work vehicles may be told off at work if HAL contact their employer about higher than marked speeding. At worst they may send details to the police of members of the public and the police may send letters to repeat “offenders”. (This is my opinion only and is conjecture). I find it very unlikely members of the general public will recieve points or fines from these cameras.

The cameras were installed by a company called westcotec, I believe the smart signs put in before the cameras are a product of theirs, but I believe the cameras are not as the cameras are not on their website or brochure. They were not forthcoming with any useful information when I contacted them. If anyone has any info on the actual manufacturer or distributor of the ANPR cameras I would be very interested. I believe the cameras are capable of recording the speed of passing vehicles and transmitting them, again, just my opinion based on partial information.

2 users thanked author for this post.

GivingupBA, transtraxman

[openfly]

If they are ANPR cameras on private land what right does HAL have to access the government number plate details….and my personal information??
If all drivers slowed to 10mph in protest and caused chaos things would soon change!

1 user thanked author for this post.

MartynSinclair

[Angerengineer]

Hi Openfly, one thing I am almost certain about is that they are ANPR cameras. Your point is a good one but do HAL need access to your personal details to send pictures of your car to the police, if you were a naughty boy and consistantly drove past them at a higher than marked speed? Sorry my earlier post was unclear.

[MartynSinclair]

The part I do not understand is whether the cameras are on lamp posts on public or private (HAL) land. If of course HAL land is private (?)…

I also don’t understand the basis for HAL being able to apply for my personal details to pass onto the police – unless they are contracted by the police to provide private speed monitoring.

I am sure someone is in the know….

[Author]

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