EVER wondered why speed camera vans are positioned where they are? Do you know what distance they operate from or whether they can detect speeds in both directions?

Well, a Devon and Cornwall Police Officer has made a video to debunk some of the myths surrounding speed cameras and the vans in which they are housed.

Sgt Owen Messenger heads up the Road Casualty Reduction Officers – but he’s also a well-known face in the online world of YouTube and Tiktok.

Sgt Messenger regularly collaborates with the GCM channels to create informative and entertaining videos about roads policing and how it all works.

His videos cover a range of topics including drink and drug driving, car modification, motorbike safety, numberplate laws, tips for towing caravans and road safety around horses.

Sgt Messenger has also recently started a video series with Vision Zero South West featuring the world’s first Police Ford Focus RS in which he looks at how cars can be safely modified and tackles some of the dangerous things he has witnessed on local roads as a police officer.

In one of his most recent videos, Sgt Messenger addresses some of the common misconceptions around police speed camera vans – including how they work, why they exist and what you can and can’t do around them.

We are grateful for this video and information from Vision Zero, the road safety partnership working towards stopping all fatal and serious road collisions in Devon and Cornwall by 2040.