Traps for people who pinch security cameras

[nightjar]

Cool Hand Luke occurs to me.

Colin Bignell

[nightjar]

Or whatever technology they use for average speed cameras. they are about the only cameras I can think of that read number plates without slowing the vehicles down first.

Colin Bignell

[Dave]

nightjar Or whatever technology they use for average speed cameras. they are about

How are you feeling Colin?

Have you had the opp, or is that to come yet?

Nice to see you posting in various news groups though.

Dave

[Phil Addison]

At night? During daylight I assume they have a long focus lens to take the pic at sufficient distance that the distance travelled during exposure divided by total distance is a small enough fraction not to cause blurring. But thats ust a guess.

Phil

[nightjar]

....

I would think that is when speeding is more likely to happen.

Colin Bignell

[nightjar]

I feel fine, thank you. In fact, apart from the event in February, which put me in hospital and lasted only a couple of hours, I've not felt ill at all.

Soon, I hope. I've just posted an update.

Colin

[Phil Addison]

Not sure about that, but do you reckon they work in darkness?

If this theory is correct its hard to see how they can sufficiently illuminate a number plate at a distance without a ginormous flash for every car that passes.

Phil

[Steve Walker]

All the Specs (average speed) cameras that I have seen have a pair of what I presume are infra-red lights with the camera in the middle. I think they are simply infra-red video cameras feeding a computer recognition and recording system. With sufficient lighting, the equivalent of shutter speed should be able to be quite high to minimise blurring.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

Viton seals.

If it was, we could just cut out the middle man and fit a swinging chainsaw activated by removal of the camera!

SteveW

[Dave]

Yes, I've just read it. Looks like you have a better medical team around you now.

Once again, I won't wish you well, but I will look forward to your future posts and plenty of them.

Dave

[Matty F]

I don't think I want to injure anyone, as they may retaliate. I've made a very strong fake camera out of 75mm steel pipe fixed on the pole with a 20mm steel bolt. It should be immune to even a sledgehammer. I could even put a camera in it to video a contorted face getting very close.

[Mike Barnes]

Hey, a fake camera with a camera in it! Brilliant!

[nightjar]

I don't think they would be much use if they did not. However, as I only see them in road works, where there is a speed restriction, I wonder whether there is a maximum speeed at which they are effective.

The ones I saw yesterday were just like that, some of them at quite oblique angles to the traffic. I wonder whether it is important that they get a picture that would be legible to the human eye or whether it is all down to clever software.

Colin Bignell

[Pete Verdon]

nightjar The ones I saw yesterday were just like that, some of them at quite oblique

As far as I know we're still some way from having software that's as good as the human eye/brain, let alone better. If a person can't read the plate a computer isn't going to be able to.

Pete

[Ian White]

You're forgetting the time constraint. ANPR equipment can snap an oncoming vehicle, identify and zoom into the number plate area, and then read it and be onto the next vehicle, all before you or I have had time to say "Uh?"

ANPR isn't completely reliable, but there's an uncomfortably high correlation between readings at independent sites when they are being used for calculating average speeds.

[Pete Verdon]

Not forgetting the time aspect - ignoring it as irrelevant to the question. Colin wondered whether the software was able to analyse images taken at such an adverse angle that a human would be unable to read the plate; I was giving my opinion that it was not. Time doesn't come into that.

Clearly where time (really, throughput) is an issue, the computer wins as you say.

Pete

[NT]

engine oil plus diesel should be just about spot on. Used engine oil for extra points. Mix in some standard household gloss for the pigment, but that will settle.

NT

[Matty F]

Enforcement authorities have the advantage of having the money to buy the equipment needed, and in some cases can position cameras in a good place to get good pictures. I'd like to attach my cameras to power poles or over the middle of the road, but I'm not allowed to! I'm happy to slowly enhance my video pictures until I can read the rego plate. On one occasion I resized 8 pictures of a moving car and averaged them together in order to read the plate successfully.

[Fredxx]

engine oil plus diesel should be just about spot on. Used engine oil for extra points. Mix in some standard household gloss for the pigment, but that will settle.

NT

I would say used diesel engine oil would be pretty good!!