Speed Cameras

[berlinmichael]

Just a word of warning to those driving south of Hua Hin. There is a fairly recent 80 kph zone on Phetkasem Road south of Rajabhakti Park near the army bases. It's only a 3/4 km stretch but as I have discovered the speed cameras are active. I have received two fine pictures of my car apparently travelling at 120+ kph which is to cost be 500 baht in each case! What is strange is that the speed limit is only on the south bound section of the dual carriage way. Of course I have no idea why this 80 limit has been introduced....?? Anybody in the know?

[KhunLA]

I can think of at least 500 X 2 reasons why.

Maybe there's a couple busy side sois entering Phetkasem. Another heads up, if in the 120 kph zones, and you see the 90 kph posted for upcoming U-turn, you need to slow down, as reading they've been enforcing that lately.

[Big Boy]

Maybe simply revenue collection. Driving to and from Buriram last year there were several places where the speed limit dropped dramatically along a very short stretch, and was restored as soon as you passed the speed camera. IMHO no obvious reason apart from toll collection.

[VincentD]

I used to drive quite often on the Asian highway from Bangkok to Khampaeng Phet where they have also introduced the 120 kmph lane. A lot of road work was done to incorporate underpasses, but it is where they have same level uturns in the center divider that the speed reduction had been put in place. It is a safety vs cost issue, building an underpass is not cheap. This is why I still run a radar detector whenever I get on the road.. But am fairly cosignant of the speed limits and why they are there. Drive safe.

[Big Boy]

Just a word of warning to those driving south of Hua Hin. There is a fairly recent 80 kph zone on Phetkasem Road south of Rajabhakti Park near the army bases. It's only a 3/4 km stretch but as I have discovered the speed cameras are active. I have received two fine pictures of my car apparently travelling at 120+ kph which is to cost be 500 baht in each case! What is strange is that the speed limit is only on the south bound section of the dual carriage way. Of course I have no idea why this 80 limit has been introduced....?? Anybody in the know?

I drove to Ratchaburi and back yesterday. There must be at least 10 NEW speed cameras in each direction - a massive increase. It didn't bother me as I drive to the limits, but be careful out there guys.

[Nereus]

Just a word of warning to those driving south of Hua Hin. There is a fairly recent 80 kph zone on Phetkasem Road south of Rajabhakti Park near the army bases. It's only a 3/4 km stretch but as I have discovered the speed cameras are active. I have received two fine pictures of my car apparently travelling at 120+ kph which is to cost be 500 baht in each case! What is strange is that the speed limit is only on the south bound section of the dual carriage way. Of course I have no idea why this 80 limit has been introduced....?? Anybody in the know?

I drove to Ratchaburi and back yesterday. There must be at least 10 NEW speed cameras in each direction - a massive increase. It didn't bother me as I drive to the limits, but be careful out there guys.

While it doesn't affect me any longer, the following may be of interest. I have only ever seen mobile camera's used in Thailand, but maybe they are now using fixed cameras. There are many plain CCTV camera's along highways and other places which are just recording traffic flow. They may look like some of the photos in the attachment, but are smaller and mostly mounted on overhead gantries and overpasses.

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/speed-camera

[Big Boy]

Even though I don't intentionally drive over the speed limit, I always enable the Radarbot app as advised by sateeb a while back. The app advises whenever you are approaching a speed camera, and when advised, I always look for the camera (breaks the monotony of driving). Yesterday's new notifications were most definitely in place. I didn't have my radar detector switched on, so I can't confirm whether they were working.

Yes, most of the new cameras look like the first photo in your link.

I used to be able to drive most of the route from Hua Hin to Ratchaburi with no cameras. This has been a massive increase in the last week.

[Big Boy]

I will be making the journey again next weekend. I will enable the radar detector next time, and report back how many are actually active.

[Nereus]

I will be making the journey again next weekend. I will enable the radar detector next time, and report back how many are actually active.

The problem with that is that the new types of cameras do not use radar, so you would need a detector that is compatible with whatever system is being used. These cameras are expensive, so Thailand may still be using old technology.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/car ... ra-UK.html

https://www.photonplayinc.com/blog/spee ... d-cameras/

Not sure if it is mentioned in those links, but where I am now there is a "speedway" highway that has "point to point" cameras.
Each vehicle is scanned and time stamped as it enters, and again when it exits the controlled section. (about 80 Kms long)
The sytem calculates the time taken against what it should take for the distance, and if over a ticket is issued. The road passes through a mostly uninhabited area, so it is a much cheaper way of policing it.

[Big Boy]

Yes, they had a few of those systems in the UK before I left 13 years ago.

Of course, the easiest way is to drive to the speed limits, although it isn't always clear what the speed limit is. Going back to berlinmichael's post, I always thought the road from Hua Hin to Khao Tao was 90KPH. I've seen no signposts to indicate 80KPH, so I've either been driving too fast along the entire road, or I've just not noticed the new speed restrictions.

[Big Boy]

Further to my post this morning, and my comments regarding berlinmichael's post, I paid extra special attention when going to and from Khao Tao Lake today.

First comment, sure enough, this is the 80KPH sign that he talks about. The only reason I can think is the University that soon comes up on the right, and a lot of motorcycles will turn right there.

Picture1.jpg (65.35 KiB) Viewed 390 times

However, I could not see a camera anywhere along that stretch of road. The only cameras that I could find were going in the opposite direction, I presume actually monitoring the University's entrance. They did not look like speed cameras, and it would be unusual for them to monitor the other side of the carriageway. berlinmichael, where exactly were you caught please?

Picture2.jpg (47.34 KiB) Viewed 390 times

I had my App switched on, and one surprise though, this camera was notified to me. Quite sneaky, just a few feet into the 60KPH zone, and yes, I doubt I'd slowed down sufficiently when notified . Again, I'll have my radar detector on next time I go that way to try to confirm whether it is active.

Picture3.jpg (54.87 KiB) Viewed 390 times

[Big Boy]

Further to yesterday's post, I had everything switched on today.

Definitely no sign of a speed camera where berlinmichael was caught twice. If its still there, please tell us where.

Nothing detected as I went through (at 60KPH today ) the camera in photo 3. However, the cameras in the opposite direction, including to 50KPH Frontage Road did sound off today.

[Nereus]

Nothing detected as I went through (at 60KPH today ) the camera in photo 3.

Then it is either not a speed camera, or it is a new type that your radar detector cannot see. I assume that you mean whatever it is, on those right angle white poles?

[Big Boy]

Yes, but they are not always enabled. In fact most are enabled no more than a few days each month (there are a couple of die hard camera switched on all of the time). It is part of the game I play as I drive along i.e. spot the camera, and then does my detector pick up a signal?

In fact, so few are enabled, I rarely switch the detector on these days.

[berlinmichael]

From the photos of my car it is not possible to tell the actual location of the cameras. They take a close up of the registration plate (front of car) and the other photo is of the traffic sign indicating the 80 limit. I go through this section several times a week and have yet to see a camera ?? Still most cars are speeding past me as I Kling to the 80 limit! I can only surmise that a lot of tickets have been issued....