Police speed camera stolen near Tauranga

[jrandom]

...safer in terms of not getting photographed...

Or just wear overalls, gloves and a balaclava, they'll never identify you from the photo then. They would have just paged through the photographs on West Auckland firearms licenses to get his ID...

Er.

Not that I think about this kind of thing on any regular basis, mind you

[James Deuce]

The English Gatso system works differently to ours.

They take 2 shots to confirm the speed and the offender. On Top Gear they showed that you need to be doing at least 171MPH to be absent from the second photo which means no offence notice is issued. However on the English motorway system the cameras are linked and can recognise plates and record the average time between cameras. So even if you are travelling at a legal speed past the installation you can still get pinged if your average speed exceeds the speed limit between cameras. Yukky.

Here they take the shot, pick the "obvious" offender and ask for cash.

[GPz]

ahhh... this deserves a cut 'n' paste, IMHO.

...

Police suspect an audacious speedster may be responsible for the theft of an $80,000 speed camera from a roadside just outside of Tauranga.

Police were left scratching their heads, after yesterday discovering the camera had disappeared from its Pyes Pa site, 15 kilometres from Tauranga.

Senior Sergeant Tim Masters said sometime between Sunday and yesterday, someone smashed their way into the control box and took the device.

"Obviously someone was not happy and may have had a grudge after being caught on camera. But at this stage it is not clear exactly why it has been taken."

Mr Masters said it was unlikely the camera could have any useful purpose apart from its intended function of snapping speeding drivers.

Officers believe the camera would have snapped up to 400 motorists since being placed there four or five days earlier.

This speed camera is about 200 metres inside a 70k zone coming down from 100k zone.
It is in a new and quite heavily populated area. The camera also sticks out like dogs balls. For the residents who live in the area, it has made it slightly easier to pull out from driveways and side streets. In this instance it seems to be trying to do the job cameras are supposed to be for and that is slowing people down where there is the potential for an accident. The people who damaged/stole this camera have not only made it somewhat more dangerous and also cost the taxpayer a shit load as it will have to be replaced.

[James Deuce]

This speed camera is about 200 metres inside a 70k zone coming down from 100k zone.
It is in a new and quite heavily populated area. The camera also sticks out like dogs balls. For the residents who live in the area, it has made it slightly easier to pull out from driveways and side streets. In this instance it seems to be trying to do the job cameras are supposed to be for and that is slowing people down where there is the potential for an accident. The people who damaged/stole this camera have not only made it somewhat more dangerous and also cost the taxpayer a shit load as it will have to be replaced.

You have a point about Pyes Pa. I go through there when I come up from Wellington to see my Grandfather in Greerton, and I always get tailgated through the 70km/hr zone - There's a school there too isn't there?

[GPz]

There is a new school, Aquinas college, the whole area is growing at the moment . I think a new subdivision has just been oked by the council. It is for over 600 sections!

[Jackrat]

Apparently that Waikumete camera is the most active fixed camera position in the country. From a Herald article a while back. I notice that unlike most other positions it's *never* empty, always has an active camera sitting in there when you look at it.

Yeah, hitting it from 300m out would be safer in terms of not getting photographed but the dude was probably trying to use a subsonic .22 or .45 or some such round to avoid being noticed, so it would have had to be <100 or preferably <50 metres. Would you want to be hanging around Waikumete holding a rifle after the residents heard the crack and phoned the cops? I suppose you could lift it outta the boot of the car, take your shot, stuff it back in and scarper...

Oh and there's no such bloody thing as a silenced .50BMG, OK? They do fit *suppressors* to reduce muzzle blast but you just can't silence that much hot supersonic expanding gas, quite apart from the sonic crack of a 700gr projectile travelling downrange at upwards of 2500fps. Even with a FOAD can on the end of the barrel you'd want earplugs and muffs and all the friendlies standing well rearwards of the muzzle.

Anyone who has actually fired a .50 of any sort is welcome to come along and tell me I'm wrong

Nope you ain't wrong,I seen one of Nelson Collies .50s being shot at a meet in the South Island.It was being fired prone an flatend the grass for a hundred meters in an arc in front of the shooter

[k14]

Yeah, the barret would still make a hell of a bang, but that is mostly from the bullet breaking the sound barrier.

It has a special "thingy" at the end of the muzzle that aims the gases back at a 45 degree angle to try and reduce the recoil. But a decent shooter with a .22 would easily take it out. Just need it to break the lense and those look to be quite big on the mounted cams.

[wkid_one]

Apparently that Waikumete camera is the most active fixed camera position in the country.

Yes - but the camera that earns the most money is the one in Nguaranga Gorge in Wellington

[Lou Girardin]

Does anyone know how bulletproof these things are, will a .22 do the job or do they need more muscle?
Lou

[spudchucka]

400 motorists at say a minimum of $120 a ticket - that is $48000 for 5 days work.

This then amounts to 3.33 drivers per hour - then generating $400/hr in revenue to the police. No wonder they are pissed that it has gone missing - they may actually have to pay a policeman to do the work - Oh - hold on - they are all out doing this anyway? Shit.

This means in 10 days work - this camera has paid for itself - how many business would love that return on their assets - most I would say would love that ROI.

Actually the police don't see any of that money. It goes to the great Govt slush fund, undoubtedly to keep the increasing population of beneficiarys in there expected standard of living.

[jrandom]

It has a special "thingy" at the end of the muzzle that aims the gases back at a 45 degree angle to try and reduce the recoil.

That's called a muzzle brake, and it makes it LOUDER, dude, because it pushes the gas right back at ya. It *does* effectively reduce recoil.

I have to disagree on the 'mostly the bullet noise' thing with the 50cal. Look up 50BMG loads in a reloading manual, read a couple of texts on fluid dynamics and then come back with a design for a suppressor that'll effectively handle the volume of gas generated by that much powder burning. Without running any numbers, I'd feel pretty safe guessing that you'd need a rubbish can...

[Slingshot]

It's simple, to avoid a speed camera fine all you need to do is pop a wheelie so your number plate is obsured

I used to know a guy that ran one of the mobile cameras, he said...the mobile camera's have a maximum frame rate of 1 frame per second...so if your tailgating you probably won't get caught.
Also, the mobile cameras have to take a photo with no other cars in it before they can give you a ticket, so, you you could fly past a car at 200kph and if you timed it right you wouldn't get a ticket.

[Jackrat]

Does anyone know how bulletproof these things are, will a .22 do the job or do they need more muscle?
Lou

Lou, I don,t know about the ones here but when I lived in Sydney I noticed a lot of the camera boxes had some pretty big dings in em' so I imagine an FMJ Center fire would be needed.Unless a direct hit on the front glass cover was achieved I doubt a .22 rim fire would do the deed.Now I would like to buy a sharpes 45-70 an I,m pretty sure that would take the whole box off the pole.Of course this is all just talking about it,I could never really consider doing something like this as us fire arm owners have enough to live with as it is now.Interesting subject to a student of ballistics but.
Hmmmmm, an then a .22 swift with an FMJ round would probably smoke em' good.They are one of the few small arm rounds that will take out the front sceen on a fighter air craft.

[sAsLEX]

Aluminium powder + powdered rust = thermite

Just need some magnesium ribbon to ignite then it will burn through just about anything

[What?]

I used to know a guy that ran one of the mobile cameras, he said...the mobile camera's have a maximum frame rate of 1 frame per second...so if your tailgating you probably won't get caught.

How long ago? If over two years your info may be obsolete