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Indestructible! The speed camera that will defy bombs and bulldozers
Last updated at 09:52am on 29.08.07They have been demolished with diggers, destroyed by fire and even blown up with explosives by angry motorists.
Now a speed camera billed as the toughest in the world has been designed in an attempt to repel vandals.
The device towers 13ft above the road and features strengthened glass as well as a fire-resistant body and a stiffened steel base.
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The 13ft speed camera is designed to survive attacks by vandals
It is fitted with smoke and vibration sensors which can detect an attack.
If someone does try to damage the camera, it triggers an alarm at the nearest police station and automatically downloads all its vital digital photographic data back to base so that no evidence is lost.
The camera's enforcement technology is just as hi-tech.
It can monitor four lanes of traffic at once, take front and rear facing images and, unlike the UK's current fixed speed cameras, can patrol both sides of the road simultaneously.
The IDEE machine - it stands for Innovative Digital Enforcement Environment - is already in use in Holland. According to the car magazine Auto Express, the Dutch manufacturer is hoping to bring it to the UK.
Mat Watson, news and features editor of Auto Express, said: "We've spoken to the maker and have found out they are keen to sell it across the rest of Europe including Britain.
"This would be done through their UK operation. The camera would need to go through Home Office-type approval before it could be put to work on the roads here, but this process could take less than a year.
"And the device should certainly appeal to the authorities here because it's the toughest speed camera in the world thanks to an array of anti-vandal counter measures."
The most significant of these is its fire-resistant properties.
The camera's internal design insulates the important enclosed electronics against extreme heat allowing them to survive most fires unharmed.
The camera, which costs between £30,000 and £50,000 depending on specification, is mounted in a thick steel base which is driven direct into the ground without the need for concrete foundations.
This set-up provides added strength against being rammed or pulled out of the ground.
The camerasand flash equipment are protected behind impact-resistant polycarbonate glass.
The anti-vandal features should leave the camera free to detect speeders which it does using induction loops in the road, although it can also operate with radar technology.
There are four separate high-resolution digital cameras which use infra-red technology to flash twice so rapidly that even in very busy traffic no incidents should be missed.
The flashes are also invisible to motorists who won't know they've been snapped until they receive a fine through the post.
Changes to the rules mean speed cameras in the UK no longer have to be bright yellow, but can be painted to blend in with their surroundings at the discretion of the local authority.
Reader views (31)
wow glad I looked up this info, so as not to incur a fine.
- Pam Christiansen, brackley, 01/09/2009 21:25
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When people arent getting vital treatments on the NHS which needs more money, and the soldiers in afghanistan arent getting equipment on par with the americans, i find it vulgar why anyone would consider spending this much money on a device meant to catch out innocent citecens who are looking at the road instead of the spedometers. earlier at the park a women was robed and the two thiefs sped off on bikes, two people phoned the police immediately after and they didnt lift a finger, seems odd how lively they are when people stray a few mph over the limit.
- Thomas, Morden, 08/08/2009 23:51
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Anyone with a paintball gun could easily block the lense with pretty colours, or anyone with a plasma cutter or diamond saw could bring that to the floor within seconds!
Why not just hide the cameras in trees or on lamp posts?
- Sam Thurlow, Ipswich, 28/07/2009 01:00
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I would buy a pint to someone that has destroyed a speed camera and even better 2. It is ridiculous as many drivers that speed and drive unsafe are the ones without a licence, tax or insurance who therefore cannot receive a ticket. Smash as many as possible people!
- Damian Lewandowski, London, 27/07/2009 01:19
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In Arizona they manage to create traffic jams in the middle of the desert.
- Moss Greene, Arizona, USA, 16/04/2009 09:58
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the queens right, dont stand for it, fight for your freedom to drive! learn how to bring em down!
- Chiz, Grimsby, UK, 03/01/2009 02:44
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The government spend our taxes on spped cameras & war and then bail themselves out when the country is bankrupt.
- Queen Elizabeth, Britain, 23/12/2008 00:45
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About time, painting them bright yellow, just encourages some people to speed between them.
- Andy, West Yorkshire, 02/01/2008 00:34
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It's things like this that make people want to move abroad.
- Mark, Essex, England, 15/10/2007 09:22
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Cameras are the way the government makes money, of course they want the most effective tool. Post a sensible limit and we will actually slow down. Otherwise, you might as well spend your money on something more important, like say street crime. Heck while they're at it, put more money into increasing driver licensing, and we would have safer drivers who are capable of driving faster. Efficient, safe, and people won't hate you for putting up cameras everywhere. Has anyone else read 1984? Or is it just me?
- Scott, London, UK, 01/09/2007 19:03
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We just have had the same model put up on a street in our town.
You really have to be careful with this one, as it works with radar and therefore has no flash! After you have passed it, you hit the throttle anyhow.
- Wenum, Apeldoorn, Netherlands, 01/09/2007 10:14
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I am convinced that this will become a competition to see who can disable/work around these cameras first. I am all for cameras in the correct places, dangerous places (notoriously difficult roads), safety conscious places (school routes) but it is not going to be long before some joker fires an electro magnetic device at the machine. I'd like to see it detect that one coming.
- Dan, Swindon, England, 30/08/2007 16:43
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Couldn't someone just paint the lens or put an obstruction in front of it to render it useless? Being indestructible wouldn't be much of a benefit then.
- Doug, Boston, MA - USA, 30/08/2007 14:28
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Wouldn't it be great if the government put this much effort into catching muggers thieves burglars, etc instead of those wicked criminals the motorists!
- Brian, Wiltshire, 30/08/2007 00:23
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The reason we have this sort of instrumet is because of the morons who think they can ignore the speed limits and choose their own safe speed that may be in excess of the limit. The problem is if they cannot control their speeds without checking their speedo as a hazard they really shouldn't be driving at all.
The sooner these idiots are removed from the road the sooner we can spend council money on looking after sensible people rather than self opinionated lunatics.
- Seren, Sunderland, England, 29/08/2007 19:07
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What a great idea for promoting public co-operation with the Police.
- Brian, Bristol, 29/08/2007 17:53
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If it comes to this police can no longer offer the pretence of being on the side of the motorist. Why not paint speed cameras in the colours of the local tax revenue office and be done with it.
- Michala, Guildford, Surrey, 29/08/2007 16:26
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So someone will just superglue something over the front of it then?
- Bobdobbs, Bigglesworth, Sussex, 29/08/2007 15:23
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Wow, that's pretty impervious to taping a piece of paper over the lens.
- Liam, London, 29/08/2007 14:33
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A worrying thing is that the people who design, build, buy, and install public horrors like this don't see what they are doing is so deeply wrong, or if they do, do not allow their conscience to rule and say no.
- Anon, Roskilde, Denmark, 29/08/2007 13:58
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I trust as much effort has been taken to ensure this 'safety' camera will protect the occupants of a car that accidentally crashes into it as has been taken to ensure the data and cameras are protected.
- Mike, London, 29/08/2007 13:32
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Doesn't really stop gun crime though, does it?
- Stuart W, London, 29/08/2007 12:28
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It continues to surprise me that catching someone speeding is viewed as 'thick skulled state supremacy' when catching someone stealing would be viewed as a requirement of the police.
Bad driving in general and speeding in particular kills 3,500 a year in the UK alone and maims many others.
I'm more interested in my civil liberty not to be mown down by some libertarian speeder than I am about having my photo taken while I'm breaking a socially agreed law.
- Mike, Bristol, 29/08/2007 12:20
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Speed cameras like that are just plain creepy. These are not instruments of road safety, they are instruments of state supremacy and warfare.
- Mike K, London, 29/08/2007 11:10
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They're allowed to blend in now because TRL have proved that a yellow speed camera only has an influence on speeds within 200m of the camera. Everyone brakes for the camera and speeds up again straight afterwards often to higher speeds than they were doing before braking. If they hide the cameras, as they used to, people are more compliant on the whole road. Conversely, the braking can be more severe as drivers see them at the last second, hence the black lines you used to see by the Gatsos when they were still painted grey.
The only way around this is currently with average speed systems where people have to slow down for the entire scheme. These systems collect the least revenue as they have the highest compliance.
- Brian, London, 29/08/2007 11:01
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Now I'll bet there will be a small local competition to see who can be first to damage the untouchable speed camera. When will the Government get it into their thick skulls that we don't want to be spied on. Like Neil said, these robotic policing measures are no replacement for the copper in a car.
- Isabel, Woking, England, 29/08/2007 10:56
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Why are the cameras allowed to 'blend in' now? I thought that one of the arguments for installing cameras was that they act as a deterrant to speeding -by being highly visible.
Clearly the Government realised that they aren't making as much money from the fines now.
- Paul Reynolds, Southampton, England, 29/08/2007 09:47
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A great idea, anyone who breaks the law should be punished, laws are there to be adhered to and thus improve society. Although putting more traffic police on the roads would be a much better solution.
- Terry Roll, London, 29/08/2007 09:43
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Why do people destroy speed cameras? Perhaps they don't want to be spied upon. Perhaps they see them as revenue raising devices that have nothing to do with enforcing safety. Perhaps they feel that all roads should show the speed limit, not just those at 40mph and above. Perhaps if the roads were repaired or junction design improved then speed cams could be justfified. But not until then.
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 29/08/2007 09:22
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Local authorities are going to snatch this one up, you can see them rubbing their hands together already, I don't even drive and am incensed by this robot policing that simply monitors speed. It'll never catch the young driver with the dangerous car, the rep still on their mobile, the old person wandering around the lanes paying no attention to the road, the person without a valid tax disc or licence plate, the person driving around with fog lights blazing, or the person running in a bus lane on their bike without lights or reflectors.
A copper, in a patrol car, sat by the side of the road would... but oh yes, they can choose to administer a ticking off and re-education, as opposed to just sending out a bill to boost the council and government's coffer's.
- Neil Evans, Notting Hill, 29/08/2007 09:13
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It would be nice if they could put as much effort into catching murderers, burglars and muggers as they put into fleecing motorists who stray a couple of mph over the speed limit, often on clear and empty roads where the 'need' to place a camera for 'safety reasons' is questionable at best. If we must have speed cameras everywhere, why can't we have speed limits on motorways and major roads that reflect the improvements in car design and performance (which includes brakes and stopping distances) that have been made since the 'temporary' 70mph blanket limit was introduced?
- Paul, London, 29/08/2007 08:43
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