Do CCTV cameras work at night?

Video cameras for recording traffic violations are designed to operate automatically around the clock. However, some motorists note that they often drive over the speed limit at night, but do not receive chain letters. Does this mean that video cameras do not work at night or are not able to see the violation and “identify” your car?

How do CCTV cameras work at night?

As an argument that traffic police video cameras work at night and see worse, soldiers often mention that the equipment is installed exclusively on illuminated sections of roads. Is it so?

Truly modern video recording cameras are very sensitive video equipment that operates in continuous tracking mode, can overheat in the sun and partially lose “vision” in heavy fog, rain or snowfall. However, they do not turn off at night and see disturbances even in the dark.

The radar-type camera operates according to a complex algorithm:

emits a Doppler signal over a distance of up to 1000 meters, with the help of which it records the speed at which the car is moving;
then emits an infrared signal that scans the car's license plate;
transmits the data packet to the software package, which processes the received data.

Since the traffic police violator must be provided with a photograph of his car in the “letter of happiness” with the headlights on and a clearly readable license plate number, light is needed on a controlled section of the road to photograph the car. That's why cameras are installed on illuminated sections of the road - this allows you to reduce the level of errors and get clear pictures of the car.

Difference in camera operating modes day and night

But the camera is capable of detecting speed limit violations and identifying license plate numbers even in complete darkness: it performs recognition using infrared illumination, which is invisible to the human eye and does not require additional lighting.

At night, the video recording camera switches on the infrared illumination mode. During the day it is not needed: the camera lens is able to read the car license plate on its own, so the IR illuminator is removed with a special filter, or is completely turned off from the control panel.

It is difficult to see the operation of the infrared illumination, but in the dark you can see it on the camera body: during operation, the IR diode heats up and emits a thermal red glow, visible to the eye. Sometimes, when the diode overheats, the backlight can turn off spontaneously, and you have a chance to drive under the camera unidentified. But there is a risk: in new models of video cameras they have learned to hide the IR illuminator eye (it can also operate at a frequency of 940 nm, invisible to the eye).

Thus, you should not hope that you are “invisible” on the road at night - video recording cameras work around the clock and record traffic violations with almost the same accuracy as they do in daylight. The use of infrared illumination allows the equipment to remain “sighted” even in complete darkness.

What should you consider? That at night, in poor lighting and poor visibility (fog, snow and rain), video recording errors are higher, and if the IR illumination overheats, it may turn off, which will not allow you to determine the license plate number of your car. However, the likelihood of slipping through “unrecognized”, especially in the city, is extremely low. Therefore, it is better not to violate traffic rules either day or night, and not to try to check whether the video camera can clearly see you on the road.

Do video recording cameras work at night on the highway/in the city?

This question arises for many motorists for obvious reasons. Almost all drivers have a friend who said that he managed to avoid a fine when driving at night, although there was clearly a violation. Is such a story really possible? Of course, but this is more rare than normal.

Let's start with the fact that today it is almost impossible to hide from cameras. Radars and cameras are installed on streets, avenues, highways, and so on. The idea that cameras basically don’t work at night is, of course, complete absurdity. In the CIS countries it gets dark very early in winter. And what now - it turns out that in the winter, drivers can safely drive after 7-8 pm? We believe there is no need to answer this question. Naturally, technology has infrared radiation. The technology does an excellent job of illuminating your license plate, even if you drive late at night and at a decent speed.

During the day, infrared radiation does not interfere with the cameras' operation. Since the radiation can be temporarily blocked with a special filter. But, as a rule, it is simply turned off for a certain number of hours, which is easily done through the control center.

By the way, drivers may not even notice the radiation at night. Especially if your vision is imperfect. But even with perfect vision, you will at most notice a miniature red light. And even if it doesn’t exist, it doesn’t mean that a violation can be avoided. The current level of technology makes it possible to produce such infrared rays that they can simply not be seen by the human eye without any exceptions.

But let’s imagine you were able to avoid the “chain letter” - how did that happen? You may have come across somewhat outdated radar systems. At night they sometimes fail. You probably violated the weather when there was a lot of precipitation. In such weather, the equipment works almost blindly, because the sensitivity is very high.

To reduce such errors, cameras are now installed on lamp posts. This is a sufficiently illuminated section of the road to guarantee that the license plate number of the offender is recorded. And in general, the car will be clearly visible. It will be visible whether the headlights are on, whether the driver is wearing a seat belt, and so on.

As a result, you could stumble upon a camera without infrared illumination (this is very, very rare), the weather was on your side, the equipment simply malfunctioned due to its obsolescence. But again, you're just lucky. Don't try your luck several times.

Which traffic police cameras record violations at night, and which do not?

As you know, on our highways, avenues and streets it has long been impossible to hide from radar systems that measure vehicle speed and record traffic violations. Everywhere you look, there are “Strelki”, “Krechety”, “Cordons”, “Kris”, “Arenas” and others.

No, I will save you from them even in winter, when darkness reigns on Russian roads most of the day. And all because many of these cameras are equipped with infrared radiation to illuminate license plates in conditions of poor visibility and at night. In natural daylight, the IR illuminators are covered with a special filter or automatically turned off directly from the control center.

At night, if you look closely, such radiation can be distinguished in the form of a faint red light. Although the latest technologies already make it possible to create infrared rays on radar cameras, which are inaccessible to the human eye.

Even in the dark it is almost impossible to hide from “big brother”. Although there are still a couple of consolations for drivers. The fact is that at night radar systems operate with a large error, and during precipitation they can work completely blindly due to their high sensitivity.

It is no coincidence that radar cameras with IR radiation are often installed on lamp posts in places with the most illuminated sections of the road. After all, the protocol on the offense must contain not only a clear photograph of the registration number, but also a clearly visible photo of your car with the headlights on.

The principle of operation of the radar camera is as follows: first, the roadway is combed by a Doppler signal, which records the speed at a distance of up to a thousand meters with a maximum coverage radius of four lanes. Having measured the speed limit, the camera immediately photographs the license plates of the car. A special program recognizes them, and the rest is a matter of technology.

Another way to try to get away with a traffic offense is to snoop in the dark under a camera without an infrared light. In conditions of insufficient visibility, such an “eye” has a chance of simply not seeing the intruder.

This is probably what explains the observation that many drivers are less likely to receive chain letters for nighttime offenses.

Can cameras see violations in the dark?

Let’s imagine a situation where, for some reason, a car violated the speed limit and found itself under the lenses of a stationary camera that regularly recorded violations. However, the fine does not always come. Because of this, some believe that the cameras are not able to distinguish license plates in the dark. However, this is not entirely true.

Radar sees everyone

The radar unit, thanks to which the camera tracks cars, is capable of operating in any lighting conditions and tracks objects at a distance of more than 1000 meters even in the complete absence of light. For example, the stationary complex KKDDAS "Strelka 01 ST" is capable of monitoring five lanes of traffic at once and controlling the entire flow of traffic in zero illumination. The radar captures the target well and guides it all the way to its location.

The mobile photo radar hardware and software complex KRIS can track objects even behind itself, without experiencing difficulties with lighting.

Meanwhile, at night, lighting is still necessary. If the radar sees an intruder, the control unit sends a signal to photograph the car. The camera takes several consecutive clear photographs of the offender, which are then transmitted to the data center and the traffic police. Taking such pictures at night can be problematic. Through the darkness, the registration number is difficult to see with standard lenses and sensors. Therefore, to operate at night, stationary cameras have an infrared camera, which is located next to the regular one and is covered with an infrared filter during daylight hours.

The IR illuminator directs radiation with a wavelength of 940 nm onto the flow of traffic. These rays are invisible to the human eye, but they are perfectly reflected from car license plates and returned to the receiver. The IR matrix sees this glow well. Thus, the sign of any car is distinguished by a stationary camera recording violations at a distance of up to 150 meters. You can recognize the IR illumination by the red lights next to the main lens, which blink at intervals of less than a second. Therefore, stationary complexes for photo-video recording of violations are perfectly visible in the dark and can draw up automated protocols. But there is a small but.

Recognize vehicle type

In addition to determining the speed of the vehicle and the license plate, the camera must identify the dimensions of the car in order to have strong evidence that the car is registered with the traffic police.

Now there are many clone numbers that duplicate existing car registration plates. Criminals make a complete analogue of already issued plates and hang them on their cars so as not to pay fines themselves. The traffic police will send them to the registration address of the owner of the duplicated number.

Therefore, in order to avoid such cases and accurately recognize the car of violators, you need to remove it entirely. But an IR camera is not suitable for such a thing. What is needed here is a regular photograph.

Therefore, in addition to infrared illumination, backlights must be installed in the coverage area of stationary cameras to illuminate passing cars. With their help, it is possible to photograph the dimensions of the offender’s vehicle and determine its type, make and model. If the backlight is turned off, the camera cannot reliably recognize the car model. In this case, no fines are sent.

24 honest ways to fool video cameras

Open tests of common video recording cameras took place at the Moscow Raceway, where representatives of public organizations were invited, including the well-known Blue Buckets. Four complexes resisted the inventive “violators” - “Strelka”, “Avtouragan”, “Cordon” and “Krechet”. Naturally, the greatest attention was focused on Strelka, which in recent years has filled the roads of Moscow and the Moscow region. The principle of operation of all types of cameras is the same - measuring instantaneous speed; they differ only in technical subtleties.

masters of disguise

Technologies of deception

Among the ways to deceive the cameras were both standard ones, such as covering part of the license plate with a piece of paper, and very unusual ones, for example, a second false registration plate attached to the radiator grille. By the way, he still failed to deceive any of the systems - they all accurately identified the required number. But they couldn’t cope with the upside-down camera number - it was immediately classified as unreadable. True, such extreme ingenuity in real conditions can end badly at the very first traffic police post - you will have to pay a fine for unreadable numbers.

The main disappointment for car owners may be that the most common way to avoid a fine - a leaf pasted onto one of the symbols of the license plate (it does not matter whether it is a maple leaf or a sheet of paper) is completely useless. The fact is that all cameras are equipped with special infrared emitters, and a thin barrier in the form of a leaf is not a hindrance for them. But something thicker, for example, cardboard, can already resist the “probing” rays.

masters of disguise

The video recording systems were unable to identify those numbers in which at least one symbol was painted over or discolored (this was done with ordinary putty), as well as those on which the relief was destroyed. Cameras are powerless in these cases, even though the human eye can easily identify the number. However, the problem will most likely be solved when an employee of the information processing center gets down to business, because that is where numbers are sent in which the camera cannot recognize just one character.

masters of disguise

According to the test results, all cameras turned out to be almost equally unprepared to completely overcome the disguise of license plates, which drivers sometimes resort to, and lost with a score of 10:14.

Work on mistakes

According to camera developers who were present at the tests, all identified deficiencies in their systems are planned to be eliminated in the near future. So, they want to teach cameras to distinguish the color, make, and possibly model of a car, then if there is “doubt” about a particular license plate, the system will be able to check all possible options in the database and select the right one. In addition, the work of operators who double-check camera readings will be organizationally improved.

masters of disguise

The developers considered the main problem to be poor maintenance of video systems. The same “Strelki” simply rarely wash, because of this, over time they begin to record the number incorrectly or go completely blind. Therefore, it is proposed to legislate the need to maintain automatic violation recording systems.

Sergey Nastin , editor:

Sergey Nastin

- Yes, tests have shown that technologies are imperfect and can be deceived. However, it is unlikely that anyone will dare to use such blatant tricks on the road. So drivers who have passed the tests should not take them as a call to action. Rather, they became a useful lesson for developers of control systems, showing that a computer cannot yet completely replace the human eye and brain.

It is a pity that the testing did not involve complexes that measure the average speed of the car, rather than the instantaneous speed. This could really be useful, because they are already being actively installed on the roads of Moscow and the region, but no one yet knows what to expect from them and how accurately they work.