Technology in race to catch speeders
Too many drivers are managing to flout the rules on speed, despite new innovations designed to catch motorists putting lives in danger, writes Ian Handford
ONE of the most annoying aspects of driving legally on a major road or motorway is when you are constantly overtaken by speeding cars, white vans and the occasional lorry, clearly intimating they are unconcerned about being captured by a GATSO (Gatsometer) camera which filmed their vehicle registration plate and confirmed they were breaking the law.
There have always been illegal speedsters on our roads, many seemingly rarely banned, and an increasing number of highly powered or high cost cars (plus those amusingly called “sport cars”) proliferating – many are owned by speed cheats who never get stopped or banned.
Twenty years ago I wrote to Devon and Cornwall Police for details on how many speeders are photographed yet never get fined or banned, only to discover the Automatic Number Plate Recogniton (ANPR) system using Gatso only detects 75% of all drivers. With a goodly percentage of drivers getting away undetected it was clear that many speedsters have little fear of photographic identification, which as a serving Magistrate on the South Devon Bench at the time came as little surprise but was still disappointing.
A recent report to the Home Office last November from the Surveillance Camera Commissioner Mr Tony Porter, reported growing abuse in the number-plate sales outlets resulting in many more innocent drivers being wrongly accused of crime on the roads. His remarks highlighted particularly the newer crime of “cloning”. Of course hired vehicles, unregistered vehicles, number plates that have been tamperered with and even incorrect or illegal number plates will assist those drivers intent on avoiding recognition by GATSO or the new so-called stealth cameras HADECS3 (Highways Agency Digitial Enforcement Camera System) which came into operation in 2014, although only on motorways.
Mr Porter, a former police chief and counter-terrorist officer, confirmed that today there are 40,000+ independent businesses issuing number-plates and although there are strict rules on the issue of new plates requiring new numbers (proof is via the vehicle registration document) many businesses are flagrantly disregarding the rule.
With 60 billion pictures of vehicles taken annually using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, the authorities believe that 2-3% are being cloned or “corrupted”, making the number of drivers avoiding detection mind blowing. The number of “cloned” plates according to the DVLA is now 6,734, while one of the more blatant websites even confirms that because their company is outside the United Kingdom they may sell their product without asking for any proof of DVLA registration, saying that unlike many other number plate makers they don’t require documentation to be sent for the production of plates.
Devon and Cornwall Police confirm that ANPR technology is “used to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality at a local, regional and national level, including tackling travelling criminals organised crime groups and terrorists” in spite of its poor record. Local police forces have even recently started to use drones in addition to camera photograph recognition, so maybe more “cheats” of the future will get caught. Certainly, once a vehicle is captured by an ANPR camera, its registration whether legal or illegal will be key, as today it can instantly be checked and if necessary the driver stopped. The databases used to check details by the police can now instantly prove if a vehicle is uninsured, has been stolen or is the subject of a crime or maybe is just odd, which would be the case where numbers or letters on plates have been deliberately altered or obscured.
With technology seemingly able to resolve everything, it seems to me it should not be impossible for some form of vehicle identification through an electronic signal (suitable chip) to be captured and stored at the same time as the camera photograph, so that the vehicle (not the driver) can be tracked in perpetuity. The new HADECS3 stealth cameras, which now number 168 around the country, are also catching “tailgaters” on the MI according to the Highways Agency.
The Agency is carrying out tests with new technology to monitor the gaps between vehicles and has already caught out 400 “tailgaters” a day, during the last eight weeks. At present warning letters are going out, although should the device be operated nationally, the usual penalty points/fines would soon become the norm.
A final word from the AA President Mr Edmund King seems apt. He says: “The majority of drivers support the use of cameras if used for safety reasons, but there are inconsistencies in their use which can catch drivers out”. Continuing he says, “signs should be displayed on all gantries when cameras are in place as the objective is to slow people down, not catch them out” – a message all legal drivers can agree with.
Ian L Handford served as a Justice of the Peace on the South Devon Bench for 22 years prior to 2010.