Motorcyclists not immune to front-facing speed cameras

Motorcyclists can be caught by front-facing speed cameras even though they don’t capture our number plates, a court case has shown. 

Steven Skilton, 22, pleaded guilty to six separate speeding offences after being linked to speed camera photos by tiny details on his motorcycle and clothing. An expert who usually helps identify murderers and armed robbers from CCTV footage had pored over the images and found similarities such as the same single missing fairing bolt in each one.

The photos included one showing Skilton, from Ellis Road, Southampton, pulling an 82mph wheelie in a 30mph zone. Southampton magistrates handed him an 18-month ban, a £600 fine and no less than 39 points in his licence – six for each speeding offence plus three for riding without control.

Southampton roads policing officer Mick Gear said Skilton was captured after a description of him was issued to patrols. “He got stopped on an unrelated incident,” he said. “Then it was a matter of taking photographs at the time he was spot-checked and matching those with the enforcement camera photographs.”

The photos were then handed over to an image and recognition specialist from a Home Office list of approved expert witnesses. The expert told MCN: “I would normally be doing facial comparison and clothing comparison from armed robberies, murders and the like. I’m just applying a known and recognised system to this particular application where it hasn’t been used before.

“Even with forward-facing cameras there are ways of finding out who the motorcyclist is and the police are actively following this now.”

Gear added: “He has looked at the bike and found there is a screw missing out of the fairing windshield in every shot.”

To find out how other new tactics including facial recognition techniques are being used to identify riders, even through full-face helmets, get MCN, on sale October 8.