Bright Gatsos

Many local authorities are making their Gatsos more obvious in a bid to cut accidents. Whilst this must be applauded, these cameras are just a drop in the ocean compared to the grey revenue earning ones. Hopefully, as more councils are realising the benefits of brighter cameras, the hidden grey Gatso could be a thing of the past.

There are a few cameras in Plymouth which have been painted with bright stripes to make them more obvious. Accidents dropped by 43% as a result. With this in mind, there are no reasons why all Gatsos can't be painted the same. However, there will be less income from speeding fines which could explain why there is reluctance to do so.

High visibility Gatso in Plymouth

This forward facing camera in Luton has the same colours as the one above. There is also a sticker saying traffic safety camera.

Hi-vis forward facing camera

This Gatso in North Wales has also been painted in bright stripes. The front has also been painted which is pointless as you can't be done for speeding towards a Gatso, even if it flashes.

Bright Gatso in North Wales

This Gatso has been painted in a rather nice shade of green. Its a lot brighter than the other stripy cameras I've seen. This one has the added advantage of having the post painted rather than just the camera housing.

Green Gatso

This stripy Gatso is in roadworks near Manchester. This is the first time I've seen bright Gatsos in roadworks and I hope this will become the norm.

High visibility Gatso in roadworks

Gatsos in Sussex have the camera symbol on them. While not as effective as those with stripes, this is still much better than leaving them plain grey. The only downside is that a Gatso could be mistaken for a sign from a distance.

Gatso with camera symbol in Sussex

All Gatsos in Staffordshire will eventually be painted yellow. As an interim measure a fluorescent strip has been placed on the camera housings. These strips are reflective at night. It would be better if the strips cover the whole camera, but at least its a step in the right direction.

Bright Gatso in Staffordshire

The camera housing of this Gatso has been painted orange. Although its better than leaving it grey, why not paint the whole structure. The camera is here due to accidents caused by a gap in the central reservation. A 50mph has been imposed in a feeble attempt to reduce the amount of accidents but only a proper graded junction will solve this.

Orange Gatso

This camera in Surrey has been painted a mustard yellow colour. There should be no excuse for getting caught by this one as its so blatantly obvious. If you do then your eyes need testing and you shouldn't be on the road. There should be a health warning at this bus stop about the dangers of radiation from radar, I wouldn't like to wait here for a bus for long. This dual carriageway is suffering from one lane syndrome, notice how the central reservation is being widened to reduce the road capacity. You can see where the old markings have been erased.

Bright Gatso in Surrey

A number of red light cameras in Doncaster have received a coat of fluorescent orange paint. This makes them visible from a distance. Anyone who gets caught by these cameras must be blind as you can't fail to notice them. The flowers wrapped around the traffic lights are an indication to fatalities caused by red light running. It will be interesting to see if the number of offences has been reduced since the cameras were painted.

UPDATE - These cameras have reverted back to their original grey colour due to the council insisting the visibility rules state that only speed cameras be bright and red light cameras must be grey. Red light cameras in other areas where the police keep the revenue are still bright so who is right? Were the orange cameras so successful at warning motorists they weren't earning their keep?

Orange red light camera in Doncaster

This red light camera has been painted yellow but is unfortunately hidden behind a tree. Its just as well the post was painted instead of just the camera housing.

Hidden red light camera

This camera in Glasgow has been painted in the same blue which is used by Traffic Master for their cameras. This colour has been used in an attempt to confuse motorists. There are also disputes over the claims that this colour is bright since it is no more visible than a grey one.

Blue Gatso

All Gatsos in the Strathclyde area have now been given stripy backs. This is far more effective than the dull blue.

Blue camera with stripy backs

This is one of a handful of Gatsos in Birmingham that have been painted in high visibility black with a yellow stripe. This makes the camera even less visible than it was before and why leave the camera housing grey?

Black Gatso

This forward facing camera on the A45 at Ryton has been painted yellow. Cameras were recently installed here along with a 50mph limit.

Yellow forward facing camera

This is another yellow forward facing camera. This one has been painted unofficially and it seems whoever painted it must have ran out of paint as the bottom is still grey. There is good reason for making it bright as the speed limit has been cut to 40mph and there used to be three lanes. The strips going across the road are used to detect the speed of vehicles as this type of camera doesn't use radar. This camera is reversible and can be made to point either way. The strips for the other direction are beneath the car.

Hand painted camera