You may have noticed that a number of new safety camera housings have been installed around Kent and Medway as part of the digital upgrade programme. 

The programme is going well, and the aim is to have all existing sites upgraded to digital sites by the end of March 2020.

In some locations you may notice that one camera is now replaced with two, for example at Walderslade Road, Chatham.  This is because some old cameras were able to enforce in both directions, so having two cameras in place of this single camera ensures that the existing level of enforcement is maintained.   

All upgraded sites will undergo commissioning and testing before becoming live.  The commissioning and testing process may cause the units to flash from time to time, however this does not mean that an offence has been recorded.  During the commissioning process images from these cameras will not be used for anything other than testing the equipment and processes.

Once the new equipment has been commissioned and the testing phase is complete the digital cameras will be fully operational and enforcement will commence again.

The new equipment reports offences and sends the images directly to Kent Police through a mobile communication link, so offences will be processed much more quickly as there will no longer be wet film to collect and develop before processing can begin.

The new cameras feature a clever “adaptive flash” unit that recognises whether the ambient light is bright enough to capture images of sufficient quality to present as evidence or not.  If there is enough light then they don’t need to flash, so no flash won’t necessarily mean no ticket.

Around two thirds of all crashes in which people are killed or seriously injured happen on roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less, which is why most of our cameras are on roads with low speed limits.