SPECS - Floodlights?

[Darren]

A debate on a motoring forum where it was suggested that floodlights at the end of the SPECS where commonplace and used to ID drivers has prompted this post.

I argues that they were nothing to do with the SPECS but can I ask you to all keep an eye-out next time you pass through a SPECS install and let me know where it was and if it had or did not have one or more floodlights at the end of the zone?
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Darren Griffin

[GerryC]

Near the end of the Specs zone on the M6 between J5 and J4a the road is flootlit. There's a Specs camera pointing at the same spot on the road so it would definitely appear to be associated with the Specs zone. What it's use is for I couldn't be sure but taking photos of drivers would be my guess.

At other roadworks, where contraflow traffic is being moved to the opposite carriageway, there's also floodlights but the work being done on the M6 is on the hard shoulder and verge (installing ATM).
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Gerry
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[Darren]

I asked Speedcheck Services, their reply:

[Skippy]

Infrared illuminators light up numberplates with a very bright reflection. Perhaps the rest of the vehicle comes out very dark and it makes it difficult to identify the vehicle make and model as secondary evidence?
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Gone fishing!

[aerotec]

[ChristopherW]

I was wondering about the floodlights around the Warwick SPECS installation (and some interesting theories were bandied around when I first asked the question on here ;)) - interesting to get a confirmation from a manufacturer as to their reason for installation.

I wonder if anybody's considered making a numberplate which uses pigment ink (or some kind of process which allows the same amount of IR light through / reflects the same amount of IR light as the yellow backing) for the lettering so as to be unreadable under IR illumination? I know some people have come up with the stick-on transparent plates which are supposed to obscure IR, but they don't work too well from what I've heard...

[Darren]

[ChristopherW]

Oh of course, it would be illegal as per Their Own Rules... But as a purely scientific experiment to see how feasible (or achievable) it is, I'd be fascinated to see how vulnerable or good the technologies are.

[GerryC]

All I can say is that I saw a piece on TV a few years back where a Police motorbike was fitted with a dodgy plate and was then photographed going along the road. The "dodgy" plate was clearer to read than the real one.
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Gerry
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[HDRW]

[ChristopherW]

[Darren]

[WLMOATE]

As the number plate has to be to a BS standard. Then how about a line of IR LEDs just above it? Though the IR energy would need to be very high

Though the police could maybe argue perverting justice,

But without one of the camera units to see what the output is we can only wonder?


Wayne

Though a damaged number plate is a £20 fine no points shame, if water got in between the backing.

[DennisN]

Every time I see a floodlight at a Specs camera, I think it's there to illuminate the camera for my benefit. I recall that in my experience, it's rare to see a specs camera which isn't illuminated in this way. I'm probably talking about a different thing.
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

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