Rheinufer Tunnel / North Rhine Westphalia

The length of two kilometres with fixed speed enforcement for the first inner city tunnel was deployed in 2009 in Dusseldorf. It was exactly 00:04 a.m. when the first traffic participant was recorded speeding. At this point in time the unit was live for four minutes. All speed units deployed for this enforcement project recorded alarming top speeds which were transmitted online directly to the regulatory authority: 159 km/h, 146km/h.

Those were negative records at round about 3,600 speed violations within one week, that lead to 3,750 prosecutions, which was quite astonishing since a sign gave a fair warning of the speed enforcement ahead.

The System

A measurement field consists of three sensors. When a vehicle passes over the field, three individual measurements are made using the time over distance principle. If these corroborate and if the final measurement result exceeds the threshold photo trigger limit, a pin-sharp evidence photo is taken immediately. Since no assignment error is possible, each measurement is permissible as evidence in court.

There is an increased risk of accidents due to visually distracting flashes with frontal photography for speed enforcement in tunnels. The wavelength of the Jenoptik Robot BlackFlash flash technology is almost in the infrared spectrum and creates a focused light which is invisible to drivers yet bright enough to illuminate the driver plus the surrounding area, including retro reflecting number plates. Together with the special infrared-sensitive CCD of the digital ROBOT SmartCamera and software especially created for the requirements of the BlackFlash technology, it is possible to record images of speed violations without distracting drivers, and thereby ensure reliable identification of drivers and number plates and enforcement of violations.