A reader sent me a link to an article in Al Watan Daily on the new Gulf Road cameras that are installed. According to the article the speed cameras on the Gulf Road don’t just take pictures of speeding cars but are similar to the cameras on the First Ring Road in that they calculate your average speed from one camera to another. That means even if you slow down when passing camera 1, if you get to camera 2 too quickly then they would know you were speeding.
Personally I don’t think this is true. When compared to the First Ring Road, that stretch has 2 lanes of traffic and 2 cameras at the start each pointing to a lane with 2 more cameras at the end of the stretch also with each pointing to a lane. The Gulf Road on the other hand has 3 lanes and traffic lights all along the way. There is also 1 camera pointing across all the lanes instead of 3 different cameras each pointing to a seperate lane. I could also speed down the Gulf Road at 120km/h but as soon as I stop at a red traffic light my average speed is back to normal. Of course I won’t be speeding just in case this is true. [Link]
Thanks Nooris
24 replies on “Gulf Road cameras update”
Whether it regards your average speed or doesn’t regard your average speed, bad news is bad news.
I just hope those things don’t even tell if an underage is driving.
if you’re underage you shouldn’t be driving!
Thanks for posting mark. On my way to work today on the Gulf Rd. (from Salmiya to the Kuwait City) I was carefully examining the camera locations.
-The first camera is at Sultan Center.
-The next camera is two traffic lights away in front of McDonald’s.
-The third camera is also two traffic lights away in front of KFC.
There is no way that average speed would work with this setup. Maybe they are still rolling them out and will install more?
In the opposite direction (Kuwait City to Salmiya) there is one instance where the speed average would work. There is a camera at the traffic light on Gulf and Third Ring, and then another in front of Shaab Palace. Between them is an uninterrupted stretch of road.
Lets hope these things are not bulletproof 🙂
Thanks for posting mark. On my way to work today on the Gulf Rd. (from Salmiya to the Kuwait City) I was carefully examining the camera locations.
-The first camera is at Sultan Center.
-The next camera is two traffic lights away in front of McDonald’s.
-The third camera is also two traffic lights away in front of KFC.
There is no way that average speed would work with this setup. Maybe they are still rolling them out and will install more?
In the opposite direction (Kuwait City to Salmiya) there is one instance where the speed average would work. There is a camera at the traffic light on Gulf and Third Ring, and then another in front of Shaab Palace. Between them is an uninterrupted stretch of road.
Lets hope these things are not bulletproof 🙂
Thats my car in the picture on gulf road 🙂
In the Arabic press:
https://alwatan.kuwait.tt/articledetails.aspx?id=76029
I think we deserve an official explanation from the ministry of interior!! The article in alwatan clearly states that those cameras are still not yet activated. Let’s hope by then, MOI would be willing to have a PR campaign in this regards and clarify this issue to the public once and for all.
Thx
Weird, I just posted about this. I’m not sure if the Gulf Road cameras are infra-red average speed cameras. The emitter might be inside the big casing, who knows, but like you said it doesn’t make sense on Gulf Road. There are too many traffic lights for the idea to work.
Also, you don’t need a camera on every lane. In the UK when they first started this, you could get around the system simply by changing lanes between the cameras. Since then they developed a way for one camera to photograph about 4 lanes at any once.
Don’t forget, infra-red means no flash, so you never know when you got caught!
@Barrak,
You mentioned in your post that the cameras will go live in Feb 2011. What is your source on that?
Gulf road is almost always full of traffic so hardly any speeding occurs during normal hours. This will only catch speeders at like 4 am when the road is empty and no one else to endanger. More obvious money-making schemes by the govt.
im not liking this one bit… speeding doesnt cause accidents in kuwait, 3agad do
@Yeni I remember back when they first installed them that this was the original plan. I don’t really remember where exactly I read that, it was months ago.
When I saw this article in the morning, my first words were ” this is bull$&!? ” until now, These cameras cant calculate ur average speed. I hope that they will anounce this when the cameras will really start working. From the day they were installed and up to today, people are still treating them as regular cameras “brake before camera, then floor it”
@Mark Yeah true.
WRONG information , you know why
lets take a sample .. the first one front of Sultan Center, and the next one is front of McDonald’s Shaab .. and between em there are 2 traffic signals.
how would they calculate the distance then?
I think everyone should unite in destroying these cameras..
first traffic
now more cameras
I’m not sure when our community/government will realize that this high rate of accident in our country won’t be solved by receiving tickets, installing new cameras or even speeding down, ok speed is one of the factors that leads to those dramatic incident but not the primary reason.
I think we all should be aware & get seriously educated regard traffic roles, specially cops. We have no idea about priorities, I bet few people know that passing vehicles from the right side is extremely wrong. Occupying a lane without the need of being on it is causing road blocks & chaos. There is so much corruption on the road, I can list so many situations that even cops aren’t awere of & of it’s cosiquensis. At the end we pay the death bill. Say what,,, he was speeding!!! That’s not the main reason here.
I hope one day we take this matter more than just tickes regarding cracked windshield, seatbelt & speeding. there are more to consider than that if it comes to a level of protecting lives.
there are three traffic signals in between them … so they cant calculate
From today’s Arab Times:
‘Smart cameras’ soon: The General Traffic Department (GTD) is preparing to install the so-called ‘smart cameras’ at various locations particularly highways to arrest motorists who exceed the speed limits, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
A GTD source said this has been done to arrest those motorists who are aware of the traffic cameras location and tend to speed as soon as they cross the camera, speed again and then slow down when they approach another camera at another spot.
The same source said the smart cameras are linked to each other and can monitor the speed limit with perfection. The source added the smart camera is efficient and sensitive and can measure the time the motorist took to cover the distance from one camera to another.
Some of these cameras have already been installed along the Arabian Gulf Street, some on main roads and expressways.
https://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/163293/reftab/73/Default.aspx
It is about time to stop Those driving criminals, cameras are not enough
Mark:
I guess no one noticed the hidden cameras ( they are as high as the shabba /lights) check them out starting esharat el maseela all the way to salmiya
( I don’t know how to explain how they look like, but one thing for sure they are extremely high )
Between these avg speed cameras
Ill try to manage to get some pictures
Those are traffic cams. They are used to monitor traffic and are located on major intersections, bridges and roads.
No no no not those , hmm I’ll try to tale pictures and show u
this place is havoc on the road i need to speed by
and go between cars to keep my own life safe.
get rid of half the immigrants this will fix 50% of this countries problems