Spalding’s new digital camera will catch speeders in an instant

A new, £60,000 digital speed camera on Holbeach Road, Spalding, will catch speeding drivers in an instant and immediately pass offences to a control centre.

Another feature of the camera, which replaces the traditional Truvelo model, is that it looks both ways at once and will detect all offences at the spot, while the Truvelo had to be manually swung to point at traffic travelling in or out of town.

Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership spokesman John Siddle said the digital system runs over 4G instead of images being captured on 35mm film to be processed at a later stage.

Some traditional cameras have been burnt out by people trying to stop their speeding offence from being discovered. But Mr Siddle says attacking digital cameras for that reason is “pointless” because the offence is instantly passed to the control centre.

The two-way eye in the sky is expected to be a greater deterrent for people pressing the pedal to the metal.

Mr Siddle said tests were carried out at a spot in Lincoln where most drivers were obeying the speed limit as they headed through the lines where the camera was “looking” – but 70 per cent travelling in the opposite direction, out of the camera’s direct “sight”, were speeding.

The Holbeach Road camera is the first of its type to be sited in South Holland but others have appeared elsewhere in the county.

Mr Siddle said the digital cameras cost roughly the same as their predecessors and the switch to digital became necessary “because the world is running out of 35mm film”.

Speeding drivers who have attended speed awareness courses are funding the digital upgrade.

Money isn’t coming from the public purse.

Previously ...

Cash pours in from South Holland speed cameras

Crowland cameras catching a dozen speeders a day

Speed cameras catch thousands of drivers speeding through Crowland