Smile you’re on camera

New technology leads the way to safer roads, says Rebecca Hampson of Road Safety Support

Safety cameras mean nothing more to most people than yellow boxes at the side of road or devices operated by police officers to detect speeding drivers. But for manufacturers across the world, the production of new safety cameras is an ever expanding market and has seen the creation of a range of new technology with different capabilities.
    
As well as cameras that measure vehicle speed in one fixed location, there are also those that measure the average speed of traffic and those that can detect red light running. Some devices are permanent fixtures at the roadside, while others are portable and operated by hand, on a tripod or from the rear of a vehicle.
    
For Trevor Hall, secretary to the Association of Police Officers (ACPO) Roads Policing Enforcement Technology and Home Office Type Approval committees, safety cameras are a way of life. But his involvement in cameras does not end there.
    
Trevor is also the ACPO National Safety Camera Co-ordinator and works closely with each of the safety camera partnerships across the UK, giving them a voice in national strategy. He has played a pivotal role in the development and deployment of safety cameras since 1989, and over 12 years he set up and managed the Essex Safety Camera Enforcement Office.
    
For Trevor, the reason why he has dedicated so much of his working life to safety cameras is simple: “Speeding remains the single most important cause of traffic death and injury across Europe.”
    
“As a roads policing officer I witnessed first hand the horror and devastation caused by these crashes,” he added. “Safety cameras play such a vital role in slowing motorists down and encouraging them to drive more safely.”
    
Safety cameras must be rigorously tested and given formal approval by the Home Office before they can be legally used in the UK for enforcement purposes. Trevor plays a fundamental role in the Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) Process, dealing with manufacturers from the moment they submit their technology for approval until HOTA is actually granted. This can take anything from 12 months to five years to achieve.
    
The HOTA Process:
1.Manufacturers make an application to ACPO to enter the approval process.
2.ACPO assesses the application and considers if it has merit.
3.The manufacturer meets with Home Office scientists to demonstrate that the equipment meets the published Home Office enforcement technology requirements.
4.The manufacturer is then invited to present to the HOTA committee and if successful the manufacturer is formally accepted into the approval process.
5.The manufacturer must then provide high level technical information about the equipment.
6.The technology is rigorously tested for compliance with Home Office specifications at independent test houses.
7.The technology then undergoes stringent operational testing by selected UK police forces.
8.The results of these tests are put before the ACPO Road Policing Enforcement Technology Committee where a decision is made on whether the equipment should be given approval.
9.If recommended approval is given and legal contracts are drawn up with the Home Office and the supplier.
10.When this is completed the Secretary of State grants the technology HOTA.
    
The HOTA process is one of the most difficult and stringent approval systems in the world. But every year hundreds of motorists choose to ignore this fact and seek to escape a conviction by challenging the reliability of HOTA technology in court.
    
“Home Office Type Approval is legal protection that evidence from a device can be relied upon,” added Trevor. “Once granted, a defendant cannot challenge, in criminal courts, HOTA. The evidence must be accepted as accurate by the courts as long as the device was used in accordance with operating instructions. Many motorists have mounted challenges to HOTA technology without foundation and have ended up with large costs to pay.”

Currently in the HOTA Process
There is currently a range of new technology in the HOTA Process, all of which are digital and provide high quality images during the day and night. With the exception of portable cameras, all of the latest technology has the ability to download offence images to a central point replacing the need for routine visits to camera sites.
    
There are numerous portable speed systems in the approval process. Some are hand-held systems that integrate a laser speed measurement device with an integrated camera.
    
HOTA was recently granted to an in-car average speed camera system linked to video recording. Other manufacturers are currently seeking approval for similar systems.
    
There are a number of new generation digital fixed speed camera systems in the approval process. These are more technologically advanced than existing fixed cameras which use traditional wet film.
    
A number of average speed systems are now in the final stages of HOTA. These systems have proved to be very effective in slowing motorists down over lengthy periods. They are designed to measure all lanes, record multiple entries and exits and read number plates.
    
There are a number of new devices in approval that act as both red-light cameras and speed cameras when a green signal is displayed.  

Saving lives
Last year the total number of people killed on Britain’s roads dropped to 2,946 – the first time that the number had fallen below 3,000 in 80 years. Safety cameras have played a major part in this reduction.