http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001545032,00.html

Oh dear...

MB

 

OK, so big fat dirty truck, or 15 year old clapped out escort goes through the beam, leaves a fog of smoke behind it, you then pass through and get done because of the car in fronts emmisions.

typical, yet another way of fleecing the motorist.

just wating to hear the 'environmental' reasons for this, which are pish as cars cause only a minor percantage of global warming gasses. grrrrrr

 

To de-cat or not...

DOH!

 

OK, so how does this work if your car is cold? Both the "classic" shape and the MY01 (etc) run rich on startup to get the cats lit up. This process takes 2 - 3 minutes to be fully effective, so what happens if you pass the camera during that time?

It certainly wasn't my de-cat exhaust that caused it, Officer.

Duncan

 

It would be nice to find out what level of pollution triggers it.. More probably the extrem cases e.g. 250k nissa blue bird taxi, rather than a new decatted scooby!!

Pete

 

Would be funny if it was mostly buses & taxis that kept getting done.

Catching actual offenders sounds like a good idea in principle. But then again, so did speed cameras...

 

Most of the 'cat' gases are clear. This sounds like it will hit older diesels, and people who drink lots of Guinness

 

Like you????

 

Surely people will take a run-up and then drop the clutch just before they pass the laser, so the car's at idle when it gets tested. I'd assume that even a car that's churning out fumes would pass at idle, as the camera's calibrated to assume the engine's under load.

Whip

 

Surely the government can save a fortune in the various cameras that they are using, and still collect revenue by insisting that a a large cash box is fitted to all motor vehicles and wiring it to the ignition so that the car will not start until you deposit ten pounds [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

But seriously - i agree that we should clamp down on the worst of the polluters (who as mentioned earlier - are often buses!), but the GBP150,000 per camera would probably pay for three traffic officers PLUS their cars for a year. They could then not only nick smokey exhausts, but centre-lane drivers, red traffic light runners, rear fog-lamp blazer etc.

mb

[Edited by boomer - 11/26/2001 7:17:13 PM]

 

'The inspectorate refused to reveal the results of its trials, carried out in Yorkshire and the North East, but is believed to have been impressed with the reliability of the £150,000 pollution camera'

Could anyone explain to me how this outcome was reached? Was there someone at the side of the road who having watched each car go past, stop the driver, and get them to drive past again in exactly the same manner, while they jogged along side with a calibrated measuring device?

All that implies to me is that they found that enough vehicles went past that triggered the machine to cover the cost in a short space of time.

What would happen if you deied it was your car that triggered the sensor, how can they prove it was? On the plus side, it should be possible to sit beside one with a large cannister of poluting gas, letting out a continuous stream of gas for a couple of hours, would soon use up the film