Reason why cameras 'pointed directly at drivers' appeared on Wolverhampton road

City of Wolverhampton Council have explained why cameras have appeared on a city junction that appear to be ‘pointed directly at drivers’.

A Freedom of Information request, which was submitted to the local authority by a concerned resident, questioned why low pointed cameras had been installed on Willenhall Road at the junction of Neachells Lane, Wolverhampton.

The resident wrote: “I had driven past Willenhall Road on junction of Neachells Lane, Wolverhampton. I saw at the crossroad Junction that variety of temporary cameras were installed directly on the traffic lights.

“These cameras were low and were directly pointing at the persons inside the vehicle. I would like to request information and or data on type of camera these are, and their purpose.”

To which, the council have explained that these cameras were placed in the area temporarily to monitor journey times.

The response said: “These cameras are not CCTV, they are journey time monitoring cameras, they are only Temporary so will only be up for a few weeks, just enough to get journey time data.”

What are journey time monitoring cameras?

Journey time monitoring cameras are cameras placed at two or more points along a road that measure how long it takes vehicles to travel between those points.

A camera records a vehicle's number plate as it passes Point A, while another camera records the same number plate at Point B. The system then calculates the time taken to travel between the two points.

The number plate data is normally deleted after the journey time has been calculated and the data is used to inform measures for congestion and traffic flow, road improvements etc.

They do not monitor speed like speed cameras do and are not used for the issuing of fines.