A mobile speed camera is an enforcement unit that is moved from site to site, most often a marked van with a trained operator, which measures speed with laser or radar and records the evidence. The Department for Transport (DfT) guidance says mobile sites suit roads where collisions are scattered along a length of road or where enforcement is needed at particular times of the day or year. This guide explains how a camera van works, what it can record, what the guidance says about visibility and where official location lists exist.
What counts as a mobile speed camera
DfT Circular 01/2007, the Department's guidance for England and Wales (published on 31 January 2007 and still on GOV.UK without update or withdrawal on 11 October 2026), lists mobile speed camera sites as one of four types of speed camera equipment, next to fixed, average speed and red-light cameras. It adds that mobile enforcement can complement fixed enforcement. The visibility rules in the guidance explicitly cover tripod-mounted cameras as well as vans. The full overview of the four types compares them.
How a camera van measures speed
Police Scotland describes its mobile cameras as clearly marked vans, run by trained operators, that use laser detection and image recording to measure vehicles both approaching and travelling away from the van. Each van also has a 360 degree imaging system and can follow an offending vehicle as it approaches, passes alongside and moves away. Police Scotland says this helps identify motorcycles and vehicles whose number plate is hidden or missing.
GoSafe, the road casualty reduction partnership in Wales, explains the human part. Trained police staff or officers in the van watch the traffic, and once they form the opinion that a vehicle is over the limit they use the equipment to confirm it and record it. The Speedscope can be trained on vehicles up to 1,000 metres away, though most work is much closer. The image carries the time, date, speed, distance, site code and whether the vehicle was coming towards or going away from the checkpoint. The NPCC technical guide calls the operator the human secondary check: someone who confirms that the recorded speed matches what was seen.
What a mobile unit can record besides speed
GoSafe says its mobile enforcement cameras can detect speed, mobile phone and seatbelt offences, and can look for all of them at once, with operations that focus on one offence during the year. It also says the vans are not only there to catch speeding.
What the guidance says about visibility
The DfT guidance asks for enforcement vehicles to be liveried and clearly identifiable. The vehicle, the camera or the operator should be visible from the driver's viewpoint at 60 metres where the limit is 40 mph or less, and at 100 metres at all other limits. An officer working away from the vehicle should wear high-visibility clothing. Camera signs and speed limit reminder signs should go in advance of the point where the site or route begins, and again at intervals of about 1 km along the length being enforced.
That guidance is not a condition of enforcement. The circular states that non-compliance gives no mitigation or defence, and that it does not restrict the police's discretion to enforce covertly anywhere, at any time. GoSafe repeats the point for signs: the absence of a camera sign does not invalidate an offence.
Where mobile speed camera locations are published
There is no single list. Police Scotland publishes a map of its enforcement locations with a "Mobile Camera" category, and says short term and flexible deployments, which are temporary or infrequent, are left off the map and listed on the page of the relevant safety camera unit. GoSafe's camera map filters by camera type, mobile cameras included, and warns that the absence of a camera on the map does not negate an offence. The DfT guidance recommends that partnerships publicise where cameras are sited, so for England the website of the local police force or road safety partnership is the place to look. The guide to speed camera locations and maps goes through what these maps show.
A published site does not mean the van is there at that moment. Treat the posted limit as the limit on every road.
What follows a mobile camera reading
The process is the same as for any camera. GOV.UK says that within 14 days of the offence you receive a Notice of Intended Prosecution and a Section 172 notice, and that the minimum penalty is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points.
Mobile cameras, apps and the law
An Ask the Police answer, produced by the Police National Legal Database (PNLD) and published on the West Yorkshire Police website, says devices that only provide information about camera site locations are lawful in the UK, and that devices that jam speed detection equipment are unlawful. It adds that abroad even these may be unlawful. For the countries BlitzBuddy covers, read where speed camera warnings are allowed.
What BlitzBuddy shows, and what it does not
BlitzBuddy does not promise warnings for mobile speed cameras, in any country. In the UK, Ireland and every country outside the five where it warns, it gives no speed camera warnings at all; it shows your speed on screen, so you can compare it with the signs, and your trips and reports from other drivers still work.
In the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Türkiye it warns for fixed cameras and, depending on the country, red-light cameras and average speed checks, with a coach for average speed checks where a country has them. In Germany, § 23 (1c) StVO forbids drivers to use a speed camera warner while driving; the warnings can be switched off under Profile, Warnings, and the driver is responsible. In France, article R413-15 of the Code de la route, in paragraph V, has since 5 January 2012 also banned devices that warn of or inform about the location of the equipment used to record traffic offences; using these warnings is the driver's own responsibility.
More guides on the same topic are collected under speed camera guides.
Sources
- Camera Type, Police Scotland Safety Cameras
- Safety Camera Locations, Police Scotland Safety Cameras
- Questions and answers, Police Scotland Safety Cameras
- Our cameras, GoSafe
- FAQs, GoSafe
- Camera map, GoSafe
- DfT Circular 01/2007: Use of speed and red-light cameras for traffic enforcement, Department for Transport (pdf)
- Guide for the operational use of speed and red-light offence detection technology, version 1.2.1, National Police Chiefs' Council, July 2016 (pdf, linked from National Highways)
- Speeding penalties, GOV.UK
- Is it illegal to have a speed camera detector in my car?, Ask the Police (Police National Legal Database), on the West Yorkshire Police website
- Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung, § 23, Federal Ministry of Justice (in German)
- Code de la route, article R413-15, Légifrance (in French, version in force since 5 January 2012)
Sources read on 11 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Can a mobile speed camera catch you coming towards it and going away?
Yes. Police Scotland says its mobile cameras use laser technology to measure vehicles both approaching and travelling away from the enforcement location, and the van can track a vehicle as it passes alongside.
How far away can a mobile speed camera van measure a vehicle?
GoSafe says the Speedscope used by its vans can be trained on vehicles up to 1,000 metres away, although most work is done much closer to the van. The image records the speed, distance and direction.
Do mobile speed cameras only catch speeding?
No. GoSafe says its mobile enforcement cameras can detect speed, mobile phone and seatbelt offences, and can look for all three at the same time.
Do mobile speed camera vans have to be visible?
DfT guidance says enforcement vehicles should be liveried and visible from 60 metres where the limit is 40 mph or less, and 100 metres otherwise. The same document says it gives no defence and does not stop the police enforcing covertly.
Does BlitzBuddy warn about mobile speed cameras?
No. BlitzBuddy does not promise warnings for mobile speed cameras in any country, and it gives no speed camera warnings in the UK. In the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Türkiye it warns for fixed cameras and, depending on the country, red-light cameras and average speed checks.
