Average Speed Camera in a Road Means Speedsters in S’pore Cannot Anyhowly Speed

I’m pretty sure that when you were young, you’ve learned the formula for speed: it’s y = mx + c.

Wait, that’s not correct?

Damn. Maths isn’t fun.

But anyways, the formula for speed is speed = distance / time. So if you travel 10 kilometres in one hour, your speed is 10 kmh. In other words, lest it’s not clear enough, when you’re cruising on an expressway at 90 kmh, you could travel 90 km in an hour.

Cool.

So what’s with the maths lesson, when you’re here to read about brokened English like “anyhowly”?

Because for the first time in our life, we’re finally using a formula that we learned in school.

Introducing the “Average Speed Camera”.

Let’s face it: if you’re a driver, chances are you know where all the speed cameras in Singapore are.

Even if you just drive occasionally, you’d know the locations simply because there’s usually a sign that warns you about it, or your GPS would give you a heads-up.

And it’s common for all cars to suddenly slow down before a speed camera, and upon crossing it, resume its “normal” speed.

In other words, you simply need to slow down to the speed limit for a while to “show face” (or in this instance, “show car”).

This might just be part of history, because an average speed camera has been confirmed.

Tanah Merah Coast Road

Tanah Merah Coast Road is a very straight and long road: located just beside Changi Airport, it even has a cycling lane that shares the road.

The road looks like a dream route for racers: there are not many cars and there is enough road to drag.

But come 17 December 2018, you’d better not do that.

Wait, you should never do that. But anyways.

Average Speed Camera to be Live on Tanah Merah Coast Road

The police have specifically chosen this road because “it is susceptible to speeding and illegal racing”.

We’re all familiar with speed cameras, but this average speed camera is reinventing the wheel in ways you can’t imagine.

Unlike the usual speed camera that’s lonely forever, stuck in the middle of a pie, this camera comes in a pair (or maybe more: read on and you’ll understand).

At the start of the camera zone, it’ll record your entry (e.g. Point A). It’ll record another entry at the end of the camera zone (e.g. Point B), and compute your speed based on how long you take from Point A to B.

The police said, “The system, comprising cameras at the entrance and exit of the enforcement zone, will detect and compute the average speed of a vehicle while it is in the zone…If the average speed of the vehicle exceeds the limit for the road or for the particular vehicle (which has a specified speed limit), the motorist will be liable for the offence of speeding.”

The entire stretch is 4 km, and the speed limit is 70 kmh. If my maths is correct, you should complete the 4-km journey in about 3 minutes 25 seconds: any faster and you’d have sped.

Any slower (or much slower) and you’ll be honked by me #justsaying #policeijokingdontarrestme

But of course, if you keep your speed at 70 kmh or lower through the journey through the zone, you’re safe. And you should really be doing that in every road.

The police added, “The new ASC (Average Speed Camera) system will help shape the behaviour of motorists and deter speeding. Road safety is a shared responsibility. All motorists must play their part in keeping our roads safe.”

Here’s the full Facebook post by the police:

But in any case, you shouldn’t be surprised because we all saw it coming.

Announcement About Average Speed Camera Already Made in February 2017

Back in February 2017, the police has already announced that the ASC would be deployed at Tanah Merah Coast Road in 2018.

It has been installed since the beginning of this year, and after testing to ensure that it’s accurate and robust, it will be live from 17 December 2018.

It’s of course the first here in Singapore, and whether it’ll be implemented in other roads is unknown yet.

But it’s not a new technology. Other countries have it as well, and in certain roads, there are more than two cameras to compute the average speed, so you can’t speed like crazy for one kilometre and crawl like a turtle for the next kilometre.

It’s unknown whether the camera here has any additional hidden camera but hey: why would you need to know if you’re a law-abiding citizen?