surveillance cameras

[TimW]

The Parish church is on a sharp bend and more and more often a lorry or trailer or something damages the wall and the railing getting round the corner. The Church Warden gets (expensive) repairs done often and charges or claims against the driver IF he has the reg number and their cooperation but often they are gone and untraceable.It gets expensive and the suggestion is that a camera is mounted maybe on the house across the road which might record the damage and maybe the vehicle reg. This is a rural location - not a lot of traffic or movement.

So what is required to do that job? A quick look online is a bit bewildering. Alexa and Google Home? surely not. some kind of simple recording camera, could it be infra-red or motion activated? or is that needless? Could it just be mounted and work without the faff of mains connection and wifi and things, although both of those could be available?

Anybody have a simple solution?

tw

[nick]

Do you really mean low volume of traffic? Couple of cars per hour sort of thing? A motion sensitive trail camera, designed to record wildlife visits might be a cheap and easy solution. But if there is so much traffic that it's going to always be on then there will be better ways.

Nick

[chop]

Yes, that will work but the church would need access to the PVR,

While wifi is possible, that isnt likely to do all the reg numbers almost all the time.

There are solar powered cameras, but its not clear how reliable that would be in that location.

Wifi is less likey to be able to reg number recognition all the time.

[alan_m]

Get a couple of RSJs. Mount them vertically (deep hole with plenty of concrete) in the positions that get damaged.

The damage will be mainly to the vehicle when it hits the RSJ

You can get £50(ish) outdoor cameras that run from a 5v or 12V mains adapter that can take SD cards to continuously record or be triggered for recording on movement etc. When the sd card gets full the most historic data is overwritten. Example

The gotcha may be is that they have a wide field of view and so to be able to record (and read afterwards) something as small as a number plate they may have to be mounted close to where the vehicles are likely to hit. Maybe in a position that a vehicle passes close by before travelling a bit further to cause the damage.

Notes: With a SD card in the device you don't need cloud storage. The video shows a little washer - this goes in the power connector to provide a waterproof seal. You probably will note use notifications to your phone which will trigger on every vehicle passing :)

[Paul]

Do you have a Google Earth of the corner to be recorded ?

Where do you propose, or, where are you allowed, to place cameras ?

Perhaps the scene cannot even be effectively monitored, if the camera can't be positioned in the right location.

Options would include installing a guard rail (the pillars for the rail functioning as bollards), or the fitting of bollards. We've even had guard rails bent by villains. There are no limits really. The latest guard rail design here, has stopped using creosoted square wood posts and uses steel I-beam pieces as the upright for the guard rail.

This is what some stores have done here, to keep vehicles off their walkway.

And barriers attract the strangest people. You can see one fool has managed to roll the vehicle on its side, while trying to mount the rock. This is why, when designing barriers, you have to consider the craziest nut in the bunch. This is not the only "rock near parking" that has resulted in these hang-ups.

Paul

[John J]

If you can get a 12volt dc supply to a camera position there are a number of low cost ptz models with both Wi-Fi and close comms with a mobile phone plus a memory card. However be aware that night time number plate recognition is unlikely to capture the information as on camera illuminators reflect from the reflective number plates and blind the camera. True number plate cameras are available but don't fit the concept of low cost. You might overcome the blinding effect with off-camera illuminators but how much do you want to spend? Maybe a 10 foot long vertical length of heavy gauge 12 inch diameter steel pipe embedded about 5 feet into a buried concrete block and filled with more concrete would cause the offending vehicle to come off second best in an impact? Who owns the ground outside the wall?

[maus]

I have experience with the motion sensing things. It's amazing what moves around at night, you will need a large amount of storage.

I would recomment the RSJ's (which I have heard described as Irish Js, when working in England). Even if you detect the vehicles that hit things, it can be a devil to recover damages ("Our van never left the yard that night. Turn the other cheek!

[Andy Burns]

A big lump of cast iron is less of an eyesore

[Andrew]

Downing St is well known for attracting nutters, both inside and visiting

[Andrew]

But I suspect the church wall is the immediate boundary with the road, which is why it gets clobbered.

This means it may not be possible to place an object anywhere that does not obstruct the road.

[Colin Bignell]

Is the wall actually necessary? On a bend near here where a wall kept getting hit, they simply removed the wall.

[Alan J. Wylie]

Years ago I used to cycle to work along a country lane that should have been "access only". HGVs would, however, regularly use it and get stuck on a narrow bend.

Here's Google's streeview:

A could of steel pipes filled with concrete. Note the scrape marks and the demolished wall on the outside of the bend.

Part of the responsibility for the problem might be the limited height railway bridge on the A6025 and the turn up Exley Lane also being the end of an off sliproad from the bypass, so HGVs often come down it, encouraging ones heading east on the main road to go up.

[TimW]

Here:

wall on left, camera on houses to right? On telegraph pole? Lorry always get stuck going in this direction, don't know why not the other.

[TimW]

Yes, it retains the graveyard. All kinds of bones and old coffins would spill out onto the road.

TW

[Tricky Dicky]

You may need two cameras, one to capture the number plate and another to note the damage for proof. I think I would also opt for a permanent recording system. Motion detection cameras can often have a hysteresis and fast moving objects may be out of shot before the camera records anything

[alan_m]

And metal bollards protecting the wall

[Colin Bignell]

From the pole thickness, yellow warning sign and insulators, that is an overhead power line. You would need permission from the electricity company responsible, probably UK Power Networks.

Because it is a left hand bend, so they start out closer to the wall. A vehicle coming the other way would only encroach on the roadway if part of it cut the corner. A traffic mirror on the house opposite might help. If drivers of large vehicles can see that the road around the bend is clear, they will know that they can safely take a wider swing.

I can see why the wall is needed, but another option might be to rebuild it with a pronounced batter. It would be stronger as a retaining wall and would give greater clearance from the road at the top.

[TimW]

No they are plastic, lightweight things and in the wrong place. They get run over by a tractor wheel.

[Peter Johnson]

Ask the highway authority if there's anything they can do to keep the traffic further away from the wall.

[Davey]

And they will quote current 'budget constraints' as the reason they can't/won't do anything. They will suggest you ask your Parish Council, who will in turn talk to the County Highway Authority, and so on round and round, i.e. rinse and repeat.

I write from experience.