General Road and Highway Discussion

[timio]

Photo radar (as previously implemented here) doesn't really do much more than a conventional police speed trap, other than generate more revenue: it's in one spot on the side of the highway, and catches people speeding in that spot.

Now, if we're talking about speed cameras (as implemented in many countries in Europe), it's a different thing.  There will be camera boxes liberally scattered over the larger highways, and drivers don't know which ones are active so they tend to drive slow for all of them.  It provides much more of a slowing down effect than the former method, but it does have an infrastructure cost of installing camera boxes.

That's not how they work in the UK - they take a picture of your plate (just like the 407/ETR) at a check-in and a check-out point.  If your average speed exceeds the speed limit, you get a ticket.  It's frickin' brilliant, because it allows for the normal ebbs and flows of traffic (it's a dynamic and organic thing, after all).

They have both point in time and average speed cameras.  *source - drove around England/Scotland for two weeks in the fall extremely paranoid of getting a ticket.