# New speed camera on the M50



## lamb (25 Mar 2007)

Hi All

I see they put a new speed camera just passed the tallaght exit heading North bound ( at the start of the roadworks).. My buddy as also told me there is another new camera as you leave the toll plaza heading south bound.. can anyone confirm this???


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## Niallman (25 Mar 2007)

Yeah, theres another thread already up about these two new cameras. They're not going to catch much at the rate the traffic moves on the M50.


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## damomac (26 Mar 2007)

Can confirm the one just after the bridge going southbound.


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## KalEl (26 Mar 2007)

damomac said:


> Can confirm the one just after the bridge going southbound.


 
Slightly off topic but not really worthy of a separate thread...what speed do you have to do to evade a speed camera? I can't remember is it 127mph or 137mph...the camera thinks it's two cars instead of one.


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## bacchus (26 Mar 2007)

They did the test in Top Gear last year or the year before... From recollection, they had to go over 270kms per hours or so to be undetected by speed camera.... Not a chance on the M50


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## Cahir (27 Mar 2007)

I don't think the southbound one works.  I drove by it the other day at the 60km/hr limit and loads of cars were zooming past in the other lane but there was no flash.


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## conor_mc (27 Mar 2007)

damomac said:


> Can confirm the one just after the bridge going southbound.


 
Yep, it's there just where the bridge wall ends.

It didn't flash anyone when I crawled past it this morning at about 2.67km/h so I'm not in a position to confirm whether it is working or not.


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## Gabriel (27 Mar 2007)

bacchus said:


> They did the test in Top Gear last year or the year before... From recollection, they had to go over 270kms per hours or so to be undetected by speed camera.... Not a chance on the M50



I'll remember that next time I'm in one of my Veyrons...


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## Trent (27 Mar 2007)

I'm pretty sure you need to be doing more than 300km/hr (186mph) to evade the cameras.


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## Welfarite (27 Mar 2007)

Are you sure these are speed cameras and not cameras to monitor traffic queues so that they have enough time to think up an excuse for the media?


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## RonanC (27 Mar 2007)

they are speed cameras alrite. Road markings there to prove it...


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## KalEl (27 Mar 2007)

Trent said:


> I'm pretty sure you need to be doing more than 300km/hr (186mph) to evade the cameras.


 
No, I checked it. 270km/h is what's required.
The southbound camera is not operational yet...I went through it at about 100km/h last night and there was no flash.


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## RonanC (27 Mar 2007)

KalEl said:


> No, I checked it. 270km/h is what's required.
> The southbound camera is not operational yet...I went through it at about 100km/h last night and there was no flash.


 
100km/h in a 60km/h zone??


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## Luternau (27 Mar 2007)

KalEl said:


> I went through it at about 100km/h last night and there was no flash.



Could you try it at 110kmph,120kmph and then at 130kmph for us all just so we are sure it is not working? !!! hee hee


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## JQ2002 (27 Mar 2007)

Welfarite said:


> Are you sure these are speed cameras and not cameras to monitor traffic queues so that they have enough time to think up an excuse for the media?


 
I think they are cameras to monitor the traffic as well. Well I hope they are...


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## RonanC (27 Mar 2007)

JQ2002 said:


> I think they are cameras to monitor the traffic as well. Well I hope they are...


 
The camera that is located  at between Tallaght and Ballymount is a speed camera, the Gatso variety.... Its not a traffic monitoring camera. Those are generally positioned above the road and facing on-coming traffic. Gatso cameras work the other way around.

Similar to this... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...tso.camera.arp.jpg/800px-Gatso.camera.arp.jpg


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## CCOVICH (27 Mar 2007)

JQ2002 said:


> I think they are cameras to monitor the traffic as well. Well I hope they are...


 
They are speed cameras.


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## KalEl (27 Mar 2007)

RonanC said:


> 100km/h in a 60km/h zone??


 
What recklessness...62.5mph on an empty motorway at midnight.
Lock me up and throw away the key!


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## RonanC (27 Mar 2007)

KalEl said:


> What recklessness...62.5mph on an empty motorway at midnight.
> Lock me up and throw away the key!


 
The condition of the road surface on the M50 around the road work section is not great. Rather you than me if anything goes wrong and you become good friends with the central "temporary" crash barrier!!!


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## KalEl (27 Mar 2007)

RonanC said:


> The condition of the road surface on the M50 around the road work section is not great. Rather you than me if anything goes wrong and you become good friends with the central "temporary" crash barrier!!!


 
You're probably right but I wouldn't consider 60mph fast on that stretch of the M50. I don't think the surface is a problem, it's more how narrow it is. It would be dangerous at high speed in such a tight formation. I slow down when the road is busy but there wasn't a sinner around last night. Having said that, as I went over the speed markings and remembered I was saying "Please don't flash please don't flash!"


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## CCOVICH (27 Mar 2007)

The inside lane (northbound) appears to be in worse condition than the outside (overtaking lane).


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## bacchus (28 Mar 2007)

bacchus said:


> They did the test in Top Gear last year or the year before... From recollection, they had to go over 270kms per hours or so to be undetected by speed camera.... Not a chance on the M50


 

The Top Gear video evidence is available here (bottom of the web page)


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## rob30 (28 Mar 2007)

M50 road surface is a joke, but to be honest, the north circular road is worse. I emailed the corpo, and it will be 3 years beofre it is resurfaced! 
I dont understand the disconnect between the NRA, who to be honest seem to do a good job, and the councils who think it is acceptable to leave the roads in such a poor state, even on an outer orbital route, like the NCR, or in those town we are forced to drive through, like Gort, Charleville and Tyrrellspass. They really should be able to force contractors to repair their damage properly.


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## Kendr (30 Mar 2007)

Are these new ones the familiar grey, big square box on top, type?

If so, when driving by see if there's two black holes in the back.

These are vents for the flash.

Most times you will make them out with grey covers slid back across vents-so no black holes.

No black holes at back = they aint turned on. 

About 1 in 20 fixed camera operational in Ireland.

Now,,,,,,,,,those gatso vans in 50kph three lane highways - always on!


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## jmayo (2 Apr 2007)

Did anybody notice the road markings for the Tallaght exit camera.
I thought they appeared much shorter than the usual.  I could be imaging it?
Rumour I heard is there are a total of 3/4 actual working speed cameras and they shuffle them around to various sites.  Probably put them at points that yield greatest revenue, sorry I mean places with greatest risk of accident.
Last night (sunday) on M50 at approx. 11.20, I saw car pulled over by unmarked cop car with nice blue flashing lights in/behind grill.
Where it was pulled over, there is very little if any hard shoulder.
And they are supposed to be concerned about road safety ??

The reason I believe the streets in towns/cities are left in such poor condition is that they work as an actual speed deterent of sorts.
Can there be any other reason why they leave them in such a state?


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## dave28 (3 Jul 2007)

In early April at about 2am I was returning from the airport heading Southbound. After passing through the Toll Bridge I forgot about the speed limit - I was accelerating up to about 70kph & the guy in the lane next to me overtook me at approx 75 - 80 & gaining speed fast. He was ahead of me by a nose when the place lit up !!
To date I havnt got word of a fine / penalty points - am I in the clear yet? 
Did the other guy take the brunt of it?
How does it work - is there a seperate camera for each lane ??

BTW I have learned my lesson - I am normally very careful but the road was very quiet (& I completly forgot about the camera)


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## eoinhealy (3 Jul 2007)

That camera on the toll bridge was moved from Ballymun exit. It rarely worked before it was moved so I guess if its the same camera box it will rarely work at its new home. I normally travel pretty early in the morning going to work and I pass the camera over the limit quite a bit (Not recless driving) and not once have I received a ticket in the door. I have a funny feeling it is still set to catch people going over 120kph instead of 80kph where it is now.


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## Mpsox (3 Jul 2007)

Read an article in one of the papers a couple of weeks back which said there was 20 speed cameras in Ireland of which only an average of 3 are working at any one time. However from September the Govt is rolling out these private contractor speed cameras of whihc they aim to have 600 around the country. 
Appaled that people on this thread are wondering about what speed you have to go to evade a camera. They are there for a reason and that's because we drive like lunatics in this country. Sooner they put some on the new Naas dual carriageway and all the boy racers and flash twits in big cars who don't know how to drive are put off the road, the better for the rest of us


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## aircobra19 (3 Jul 2007)

RonanC said:


> 100km/h in a 60km/h zone??



I think the speed limit is inappropriate myself. 

In many other countries you drive much faster beside central barriers thats with 3 or 4 lanes of traffic.  They don't seem to have a problem with it. In Ireland we allow unlicenced provisional drivers to drive anything including their parents powerful cars, unpoliced . But restrict one of the coutries major motorways to 60km/h. The roadworks should only have a minor impact if they were done properly. The focus should be on where the accidents are. 



Luternau said:


> Could you try it at 110kmph,120kmph and then at 130kmph for us all just so we are sure it is not working? !!! hee hee



LOL


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## lucan 07 (3 Jul 2007)

Cahir said:


> I don't think the southbound one works. I drove by it the other day at the 60km/hr limit and loads of cars were zooming past in the other lane but there was no flash.


this one does work have seen it flashin early in the morning and late at nite


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## Cahir (3 Jul 2007)

lucan 07 said:


> this one does work have seen it flashin early in the morning and late at nite



Yes, it seems to have been turned on since I posted about it in March.


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## Firefly (3 Jul 2007)

Mpsox said:


> Read an article in one of the papers a couple of weeks back which said there was 20 speed cameras in Ireland of which only an average of 3 are working at any one time. However from September the Govt is rolling out these private contractor speed cameras of whihc they aim to have 600 around the country.


 
Believe it when I see it...


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## Leo (3 Jul 2007)

Talking of speed cameras, Honest John article recently noted that the Government there had stepped in to cancel research into whether the introduction of speed cameras had a negative impact on road safety.


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## Mpsox (3 Jul 2007)

Firefly

they are actually tendering at the minute and have narrowed the list down to 6 suppliers. Think of all the lovely road fines they are going to collect as a result and who can complain if it improves safety and saves lives


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## dave28 (3 Jul 2007)

Mpsox said:


> Read an article in one of the papers a couple of weeks back which said there was 20 speed cameras in Ireland of which only an average of 3 are working at any one time. However from September the Govt is rolling out these private contractor speed cameras of whihc they aim to have 600 around the country.
> Appaled that people on this thread are wondering about what speed you have to go to evade a camera. They are there for a reason and that's because we drive like lunatics in this country. Sooner they put some on the new Naas dual carriageway and all the boy racers and flash twits in big cars who don't know how to drive are put off the road, the better for the rest of us



I have to agree with you - but as I said, Mea Culpa, I have learned my lesson - but I was wondering why I didnt receive a fine yet or did I get away with it . By the way, is the speed limit 60k or 80k at the south side of the bridge? Maybe i didnt break the speed limit sfter all ? I havnt been there since......


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## Frank (3 Jul 2007)

The two cameras on the road works section are there for a reason alright.

Crawl to the toll bridgegoing south, finally get to move a bit after the toll if the road happens to free up. 

Government gets another conviction and more money.

Very cynical. The limits should vary when there are no works goin on. Maybe not 120 kph but something more reasonable than 60.

There are 1 lane booreeens out there with 100 KPH limits.

Cameras are mostly situated for high yield not to save lives.


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## aircobra19 (3 Jul 2007)

Mpsox; said:
			
		

> 443690...who can complain if it improves safety and saves lives



I'll believe when I see the stats.


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## sinbadsailor (5 Jul 2007)

Mpsox said:


> Firefly
> 
> they are actually tendering at the minute and have narrowed the list down to 6 suppliers. Think of all the lovely road fines they are going to collect as a result and who can complain if it improves safety and saves lives



When this privateer speed trap situtation begins, we are all screwed!
The closest thing I can compare it to will be clampers with speed guns! More than likely similar companies in for the tender.

They will be hiding cameras in bushes, and targeting open straights with clear line of sight, hoping that the improved visibility will lull people into heading over the limit, which will probably be set too low in the first place for that exact reason.

Think of the UK, they have a lot, but to be fair, they are not cynical about catching people, with warning signs etc of upcoming camreras.

As for this sheethole of a country, the cynical greed/revenue driven attitude will ruin driving for us all!


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## sinbadsailor (5 Jul 2007)

aircobra19 said:


> I'll believe when I see the stats.



I think anyone with half a brain and who actually thinks about road safety in this country knows, that it is a mix of the shocking state of our roads, the lack of safety features on our vehicles as standard that dont protect drivers in a crash situtation that contribute greatly to our road death toll.

Yes speed is a factor, and young male drivers with their 'I'm invincible' attitude are a cause for concern.

People need to realise that the main contributors to road deaths are firmly in the control of the govt. Fix our roads, knock VRT off for stability control, multiple airbags and ABS to get these features as 'standard' rather than 'options' on our forecourts.

There is a long line of industy/govt decision makers to take the rap for road deaths before you get to the man behind the wheel, yet they are percieved as the dangerous ones who need 'controlling'......


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## dave28 (5 Jul 2007)

Can anyone answer my previous question - the incident happened in early April, and still no fine to date. Is it possible that the camera caught the guy in the next lane (who was travelling faster)? I was doing approx 70kph & we were both alongside each other when it flashed - I think its a 60kph limit. Is there an individual camera for each lane?


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## Guest127 (6 Jul 2007)

Dave28: think it works like this. cops process photos. two cars in photo. count the lines on the road to see which car is travelling over the limit ie which car triggered the camera. if the guy on the outside covers the distance between the little white lines faster than the inside car he/she gets the fine/points. I asked a speed cop ( relative) how they would distinguish between a motorist travelling under the limit being overtaken by another motorist over the limit as a point where a camera was situated and he said they had no problem as they simply looked at which covered the distance between the road markings the fastest. looks like you got an out of jail card


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## dave28 (6 Jul 2007)

Thanks Cuchulainn - thats interesting. I was guessing there's an individual camera for each lane but i thought that didnt make sense. As you say, i seem to have gotten a break this time ! But I'm usually very concious of the speed limits and would have paid my dues  if the fine arrived. It's been 3 months now so I reckon I'll relax about it now !!


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