Editing Traffic enforcement camera (section)

==History==
[[File:Een nieuw snelheidscontroleapparaat 'de Waltmankijker' gedemonstreerd Weeknummer 40-42 - Open Beelden - 55392.ogv|thumb|Device for speed control in the Hague, newsreel from October 1940]]
[[Image:Photo Radar Control Ludwigsburg.JPG|upright|thumb|Older traffic enforcement camera in Ludwigsburg, Germany]]
The idea of the speed cameras dates back to the late 19th century: the 1894 [[science fiction]] novel ''[[A Journey in Other Worlds]]'', set in the year 2000, includes a description of "instantaneous [[kodak]]s" used by police to enforce speed limits.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=813|title=Instantaneous Kodaks (Traffic Control)|website=Technovelgy|access-date=2020-12-27}}</ref> In 1905, ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'' reported on a patent for a "Time Recording Camera for Trapping Motorists" that enabled the operator to take time-stamped images of a vehicle moving across the start and endpoints of a measured section of road. The timestamps enabled the speed to be calculated, and the photo enabled identification of the driver.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dt4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA926|publisher=Hearst Magazines|volume=7|issue=9|title=Time Recording Camera for Trapping Motorists|magazine=Popular Mechanics|date=September 1905|page=926|issn=0032-4558|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505002245/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dt4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA926|archive-date=2018-05-05}}</ref>

The [[Netherlands|Dutch]] company ''Gatsometer BV'', which was founded in 1958 by [[rallying|rally]] driver [[Maurice Gatsonides]], produced the '[[Gatso]]meter'.<ref name=GHist>{{cite web|url=http://www.gatso.nl/web_en/history%7ctitle=History%7cpublisher=Gatsometer%7caccessdate=2010-04-18|title=GATSO, the experts in traffic enforcement|website=Gatso.nl|access-date=2016-06-30}}</ref> Gatsonides wished to better monitor his average speed on a race track and invented the device in order to improve his lap times. The company later started supplying these devices as police speed enforcement tools.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=New Scientist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HcUrZPUYsDkC&pg=PA687|page=687|title=Netherlands: Precision Speed Trap|date=1961-12-14}}</ref> The first systems introduced in the late 1960s used [[film camera]]s to take their pictures.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LNgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA73 Popular Mechanics, December 1969], "Smile, You Just Got a Ticket!" Michael Lamm, Page 75.</ref> Gatsometer introduced the first red light camera in 1965, the first [[radar]] for use with road [[traffic]] in 1971 and the first mobile speed traffic camera in 1982;<ref name=GHist/>

From the late 1990s, [[digital camera]]s began to be introduced. Digital cameras can be fitted with a network connection to transfer images to a central processing location automatically, so they have advantages over film cameras in speed of issuing [[Fine (penalty)|fines]], maintenance and operational monitoring. However, film-based systems may provide superior image quality in the variety of lighting conditions encountered on [[road]]s, and are required by courts in some jurisdictions. New film-based systems are still being sold, but digital pictures are providing greater versatility and lower maintenance and are now more popular with law enforcement agencies.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AdsevXMHhMC|title=The Transport Manager's and Operator's Handbook 2006|author=David Lowe|page=239|publisher=Kogan Page Publishers|year=2005|isbn=0-7494-4488-6|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505002245/https://books.google.com/books?id=9AdsevXMHhMC|archive-date=2018-05-05}}</ref>