Roads in Croydon and Sutton are to be among the sites for a trial of radar-based speed cameras.
New tech: Croydon and Sutton roads are to have the new radar-based speed cameras installed
Given that this scheme is being brought in by the Met Police and Transport for London, motorists can expect it to be legally watertight, with little chance of multi-million-pound refunds down the line because of any “unlawful” introduction, as might have been the case were Croydon’s failed Mayor Jason Perry and the council’s chief legal official involved.
Croydon has had 20mph zones on many of its roads for around a decade, but the limits are routinely ignored by many motorists, and there has been little, if any, enforcement to get the speedsters to mend their ways. The new radar-based cameras might just change all that.
According to TfL: “Evidence shows that exceeding the speed limit or travelling too fast for the conditions is a factor in around half of all fatal collisions, and TfL and the Met remain committed to enforcing safer speeds and modernising and expanding London’s safety‑camera network.”
The cameras will be installed over the coming weeks in Haringey, Tower Hamlets, Havering, Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent, Hackney and Ealing, as well as Croydon and Sutton. “All sites are located on 20mph or 30mph roads and have been identified on the basis of suitability and risk,” TfL says.
The current spot speed cameras at these sites use sensors embedded in the road surface to detect the speed of all passing vehicles. The new cameras combine 4D radar and a 4k colour camera that requires no visible flash or white light and no in-ground sensors or road markings, “offering increased reliability and a more effective method of detection”, TfL says.
Coming after you: the Met say that they ‘will use every tool available… to deter dangerous driving’
The cameras also provide better quality images, which in turn improves the police enforcement process for drivers caught speeding.
They can provide coverage of up to five lanes of bi-directional traffic flow from a single camera, whereas the current spot speed cameras can only monitor up to three lanes of traffic, requiring sensors in each of the lanes.
All enforcement signage will be checked and cameras will be calibrated before the police begin enforcement, the authorities say, offering a bit of a schooling to the chancers in Croydon’s error-prone highways department.
The cameras are part of the measures being introduced under City Hall’s Vision Zero plan, which is trying to eliminate deaths on London’s roads by 2040. The rollout of new cameras, the transport authority says, is “based on speeding risk and or persistent community concerns about speeding”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Donna Smith, of the Met’s roads and transport policing command, said: “It is tragic whenever anyone is killed or seriously injured on our roads, and speeding remains a major factor, which is why our officers are totally committed to reducing that risk.
“Working alongside TfL, the Met will use every tool available, including new radar‑based camera technology, to deter dangerous driving… helping our officers hold offenders to account and ensuring we have a modern and effective enforcement system that saves lives.”
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