Apparently there's a new method to catch those who exceed the speed limit. Britain's about to introduce a new generation of speed cameras that can talk to one another over a network, track a car for up to 30 miles, and have a computer system automatically issue a summons if the car's average speed is greater than the authorized limit.
The devices stop motorists evading a ticket by braking suddenly before a camera and then speeding up immediately afterwards.
The new cameras could cover whole areas of cities or suburban housing estates, guarding any number of entry and exit points.
By ‘talking’ to each other down phone or internet lines, they calculate a car’s average speed – even if it makes a series of left and right turns down a variety of roads.
The cameras are already in use, but mainly on the motorways. They are now likely to appear on rural and urban roads.
Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick yesterday told a road safety conference that the latest cameras would be a key weapon in the fight to reduce road casualties.
Supporters say they are ‘fairer’, have so far reduced casualties by 50 per cent and encourage a smoother traffic flow and safer, more consistent driving behaviour.
But critics say it is merely a new chapter in the Government’s war on motorists, who paid £106million in fines last year.
One system, costing £200,000 to £1million depending on the size of the area covered, could replace many fixed-point speed cameras.
The cameras photograph a number-plate as a vehicle enters the speed restriction zone, and then again when it leaves.
The system then calculates the car’s average speed between the two points.
If it is higher than the speed limit, the driver is automatically sent a fixed penalty fine.
Apparently the system has already been tested in Spain, and found to be satisfactory - by the authorities, anyway.
Personally, I'm getting fed up with red-light cameras, speed-trap cameras and all the other recording devices increasingly deployed by the authorities. They seem to me to be nothing more than revenue-enhancing devices, installed out of greed rather than any concern for road safety. Trouble is, people meekly accept them and tolerate the increasingly intrusive "surveillance society" that they represent. It's just another symptom of our government taking on "Big Brother" characteristics. Our e-mails, text messages and Internet activities are snooped on by law enforcement ("to watch for terrorists"); our vehicles are tracked, photographed, and (increasingly) monitored by factory-installed "black box" computers, so that our driving habits can be analyzed at the push of a button; and we can't get on an airplane or train or bus without being subject to official harassment, bureaucratic bungling and an infuriating amount of red tape.
If this is our "Brave New World", someone stop it - I want to get off!
Peter
2 comments:
This isn't just about getting revenues. To make this work, *all* cars need to be photographed and registered. And there's no way anyone will convince me that they will be removed from the registry once they are there. Which will leave the government with a database over everyones travel pattern.
Just wait until they impose fines for "damaging the environment" if you drive the same way more than twice in one day, or if you drive the same route as a bus you could have taken instead.
Or you might become a person of interest if you drive into a town where a political meeting the government doesnt agree with is happening.
Or anything they can come up with. The database will be there, it would be a shame not to use it...
Things like this make me grateful for the small, unnoticed accuracies in "Brave New World." Just like in the book, major chunks of New Mexico are wild enough that stunts like that would be physically impossible just due to the infrastructure, to say nothing of the rather prickly residents. *Un*fortuantely, Albuquerque and Santa Fe are already using red light cameras (though there has been quite a hubub against them), and the trend is like as not to continue.
Then again, the government never did have the most sterling track record for network security now, did they? I wonder how it would go over if these cameras only recorded police cars, or those of politicians. Maybe take every "legit" red light capture and change the ownership of the vehicle captured to the mayor, or the chief of police. All sorts of interesting possibilities in this field.
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