Cape Town speed camera system details

Over the last four years, the Western Cape Government has rolled out its Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD) camera enforcement network to various parts of the province, and it has proven to be a great success.

The first phase of the project was launched in October 2011 on the R61 from Beaufort West to Aberdeen.

The ASOD system has now been extended to many of the most dangerous stretches of road in the province, covering 452km.

• R61 from Beaufort West to Aberdeen, covering 71.6km
• N1 from Beaufort West to Three Sisters, covering 31.7km
• R27 West Coast, covering 57.2km
• N1 Beaufort West to Laingsburg, covering 190.6km
• N1 Laingsburg to Touwsrivier, covering 72.1km
• N2 Somerset West/Sir Lowry to Steenbras and Steenbras to Houwhoek, covering 28.8km

The Western Cape Government told MyBroadband that it is currently looking at possible expansions along other parts of the N2 where such a system could be implemented.

The City of Cape Town installed the ASOD system on the M5 incoming and outgoing, between Wetton and Kromboom Roads.

There is also a system on Nelson Mandela Boulevard covering incoming and outgoing traffic from and to the M3 and the N2.

The city’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith said that, when a new contract is in place next year, “further systems will be possible, provided deserving stretches of road can be identified that meet the criteria for such systems”.

The speed camera system is very effective

The Western Cape Government said that the roads on which the ASOD system have been installed have seen a big decrease in the speed of vehicles.

“Where we have implemented the system, we have seen not only the number of speed offences decrease, but also the number of incidents and also deaths,” said Siphesihle Dube from the Western Cape Ministry of Transport and Public Works.

Smith added that feedback from officers on the ground is that the ASOD installations have been very effective.

“The ASOD system on the M5 was introduced in August 2012. Up to and including the end of March 2015, 15,554 speeding offences were recorded,” said Smith.

“The Nelson Mandela Boulevard system has been in place since October 2014. Up to and including the end of March 2015, 22,968 speeding offences were recorded.”

The following photos show some of the installations of the Western Cape Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD) camera enforcement system.

ASOD camera

ASOD cameras

ASOD cameras

How the ASOD system works

The Average Speed Over Distance system comprises a set of cameras at one end on a stretch of road (start point) and another set of cameras further down that same stretch of road (end point).

An ASOD system uses specialised cameras which record every vehicle that passes. These are referred to as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.

In each unit there are two cameras which are synced to each other. Each unit is equipped with an on-board computer that processes the information passed onto it by the cameras.

The camera uses the number plate of a vehicle as its trigger. Once a number plate has been detected, one camera takes a snapshot of the number plate and the other takes an overview snapshot of the vehicle.

At this point, the exact time that the vehicle passed the camera is also captured.

The system then combines the two images, location coordinates, date, and timestamp into one encrypted file. This process takes place on both camera systems at each end of that section of road.

• The ASOD system then calculates the average speed of a vehicle from the time it passes the first camera until it passes the second camera
• The average speed is then determined by the time that it has taken a vehicle to travel from the start point (where the first camera is located) to the end point (where the second camera is located)
• Reaching the end point in a time shorter than the time which is determined by the distance and the speed limit, means that the driver was speeding.

The following image shows how the Western Cape’s Average Speed Over Distance camera system works.

How an average-speed-over-distance camera system works