From Tony Dymoke-Bradshaw
The idea of using a slave flash to defeat speed cameras has been around as
long as speed cameras themselves
(This Week, 12 December, p 19).
As I understand the law, however, not only is speeding an offence but so too is actively
avoiding being caught. Otherwise we could have a real technology race between
the offenders and the enforcers.
Should slave flashes become popular for avoiding capture by a speed camera,
the camera manufacturers will just modify their technology. An obvious next step
is for the camera flash to occupy a very narrow band (spectrally) and use a
filter over the camera. There could be many bands in use so that the offender’s
slave unit could not be similarly set up unless it was powerful enough to cover
the whole spectrum.
Perhaps a better method would be for the speed cameras to do away with the
flash altogether. An image intensifier could be used to obtain good images in
poor light. This would also avoid blinding the oncoming motorist who has done
nothing wrong but may be severely distracted by the flashes, as I have been.
This may be fun, but at the heart of it is the loss of life from automobile
accidents. It is a shame that all the people with these ideas cannot put them to
some better use.
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Didcot, Oxfordshire
