How to spot the camera (or, is it really there?)

I added a link to the top of this thread.

Miss Poi

I download the newest red camera and i forget to put my garmin in the car this day.. well I go thu a yellow light and then see a flash.. not good at all.. miss poi had this in my poi but forgot about it.. oh well I will be seeing a tickiety in the mail in about 2 weeks now

Thank you for the link and all the photos, everyone, and especially Miss POI. I was beginning to suspect that the cameras I'm beginning to see all over my area are not red light cameras at all but a traffic light control camera.

The ones I've seen are long cylindrical ones and look like one of the photos, but they are mounted higher and has no strobe lights.

Another thought is this - If they are in the middle of the road up on a wire or pole usually supporting a red/green light they may be emergency vehile sensor remote controls. Here in Houston they are all over the place and turn all lights red in all directions when an emergency vehicle is approaching the intersection. Each emergency vehicle, i.e. firetrucks and ambulances have a remote control button in the vehicle to activate when approaching these intersections with the sensors mounted.

The cameras that I've seen in LA have had a sign depicting a stoplight with the words Photo Enforced or something similar.

I see the cameras, on long poles, at the intersections noted on the Red Light Camera POI. However, there a small, black units at other intersections. They seem to have two cells, one above the other. Does anyone know what these are?

Sandman,

So what are the small black units, usually mounted on the same cross-poles as the red lights? I see them in the Galleria area.

They are to monitor traffic to change the stoplights. In other words, if they don't detect anything, then the main stoplight won't change. They aren't cameras actually they are infrared sensors.

Thanks Charley. I appreciate the quick response. That explains it. I just purchased a SP550 at Best Buy during Black Friday for $329. Great deal.

I live in Delaware. I have seen two types of red light cameras used. The majority are what appear to look like security cameras used in department stores with the strobes right next to it up on poles. The others I have seen look like the Inglewood photo but the strobe are a few feet away from the camera.

I don't see any strobes on the Houston cameras.

All of them that I have seen have strobe lights, a dead give away.

I have seen the strobe/flash at two intersections that I go through a lot. One is at Richmond and Dunvale on the Southwest corner and the other is at Westpark and Hwy. 59 feeder road on the Southwest area of that intersection on the west side of Hwy 59.

I will look for the black type devices at the Galleria the next time I am down that was. Seeing as how that interesection is always a "parking lot", I am not sure if they are traffic monitors as AF suggests or if they are for the Emergency vehicles as I mentioned in the 5th comment on this thread.

Yeap, they could be the receivers for emergency vehicles too.

Also in Florida (I do not know about other states)we have "Red Light Oonfirmation Lights" which unable one police officer to control the four sides of an intersection. Read about it here:
www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/CTST-11-2006/Hillsborough/WEB/index_fil...

Check on page 14 of this article for a picture of these red light confirmation lights:
www.seminolecountyfl.gov/pw/traffic/CTST/pdf/ctst_Confirmati...

I think the cameras at El camino are not red light camera. One on mowrey in Fremont has one and it is visible clearly while driving and is installed about 8 feet above road on corner of crossing.

The ones around Maryland are huge boxes on poles.
Usually 2 poles. One with the big box and the other with a smaller one.
Can't miss them.

All the cameras I have seen in various areas of the country that are enforcement cameras are large bulky boxes normally mounted on their own pole about 8 - 10 feet in the air.

The smaller cylinderical cameras are normal traffic control cameras eliminating the induction wire that is buried in the pavement for traffic light timing.

The small traffic flow cameras are actually cheaper in the long run to operate and install. They can also give accident and flow feedback to a central traffic monitoring system.

FYI....here are some samples.

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6709

More redlights coming to NJ.
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NEWS...

I know some of the POI's are for planned traffic cameras, not just those already in place. They get added to the files when a community announces the addition of new cameras but haven't installed them yet.

Red light cameras are not supposed to active until the light turns red. At least that is how they work in my neck of the woods. If you are far enough into the intersection you should not trip the sensor. Of course it depends on where the sensor is placed. Likewise, if you stop for the red a little too far into the intersection you will trip the sensor. That is why two pictures are taken (the cameras here do), to see if you go through the intersection. If both pictures show you're stopped then no ticket. Also, if you are forced to go through a red light due to an emergency vehicle behind you or if you're in a funeral procession, they look for that as well. Those are probably the only two reasons you can legally run a red light. There has to be a law that governs the use of red light cameras and sets standards for use. I would imagine it is a statewide law so all localities are playing by the same rules. If you did indeed go through a yellow light, it should be on the photos, and the law states that the cameras go live when the light turns red, you might be able to get it dismissed due to the light and camera not being synchronized. If you only saw one flash I would guess it was a speed camera not a red light camera. Note, I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Several years ago Alexandria, VA "invented" a red light camera. They took an old cross walk signal housing, painted it bright orange, fixed a 4-inch long tube on the front for a lens, it looked like a toilet paper tube wrapped in foil, and mounted it on a telephone pole facing the intersection. They also placed two huge signs, 4'x4', on either side of the road about 300 yards before the intersection announcing the intersection was photo enforced. Many people fell for it. I can't tell you how many times people skidded to a stop to avoid going through the intersection.

the ones in MD are pretty easy to spot and there is usually a sign next to it indicating that the area is has a camera...