RE: They can read you from the sky
Tuesday 12th April 2005
Eurocopter EC135Think you're safe from cameras if you can't see them? Think again.
They can read you from the sky
Essex police to buy chopper-based car identification
Eurocopter EC135
Essex police has successfully concluded tests using a helicopter that can read number plates from 2,000 feet up. According to one newspaper report, the Eurocopter EC135's camera can scan five cars per second using Automated Plate Number Recognition (ANPR) technology -- see link below. ANPR takes a digital photograph and uses optical character recognition to match it up to the DVLA's central database.
According to reports, ANPR is being used to issue tickets to drivers without insurance (penalty: £200) or car tax (penalty: £60). ANPR teams stopped 180,543 vehicles last year and dished out 51,000 tickets for offences such as failure to wear a seatbelt, use of a mobile phone while driving, and various insurance and road tax offences.
Essex Police Authority (EPA) has up to £300,000 to spend on ANPR technology, and the government has stipulated that it must be spent during 2005-06. the chopper will carry a tablet PC and a high-powered viewfinder to enlarge the image enough to be recognised. The EPA is bidding to spend £58,000 on this bit of kit.
Discussion
What a load of crap!
The number plate recognition system has been trialled in Canterbury for a while now. A friend is a civillian working with the Police, and the problem they have is that whilst the recognition system may work the DVLA databases may be upto 6 weeks out of date so the information isn't current on many of the cars, that it tags up as suspect. this is okay if the enforcing officer is in a panda car and can stop you and check your tax disk, but are we heading towards the position of having, to prove our inocence rathen that the BiB having to proove our guilt?
We're only a stones throw from pay by mile, guys, so start saving!
This is really depressing.
Tim
The number plate recognition system has been trialled in Canterbury for a while now. A friend is a civillian working with the Police, and the problem they have is that whilst the recognition system may work the DVLA databases may be upto 6 weeks out of date so the information isn't current on many of the cars, that it tags up as suspect. this is okay if the enforcing officer is in a panda car and can stop you and check your tax disk, but are we heading towards the position of having, to prove our inocence rathen that the BiB having to proove our guilt?
We're only a stones throw from pay by mile, guys, so start saving!
This is really depressing.
Tim
anniesdad said:
Christ we won't be able to fart shortly for fear of being fined by the wind police!
Where's me passport....
we soon won't be able to break heard incase we leave a skid mark on the road
POLICEMAN' THAT WILL BE 3 POINTS ON YOU LICENCE AND A £60 FINE'
YOU' F
k OFF YOU Fing W:censoredERS,PS OFF ch33r$
Why all the negative comments???
the system aims to catch those without insurance or tax which everyone should legally have anyway.
It's those without insurance that help bump up the premium of those that do abide by the law.
I'm in favour of it.
if it was a helicopter-speed-camera though....
the system aims to catch those without insurance or tax which everyone should legally have anyway.
It's those without insurance that help bump up the premium of those that do abide by the law.
I'm in favour of it.
if it was a helicopter-speed-camera though....
jsr said:
Why all the negative comments???
the system aims to catch those without insurance or tax which everyone should legally have anyway.
It's those without insurance that help bump up the premium of those that do abide by the law.
I'm in favour of it.
if it was a helicopter-speed-camera though....
I agree, but surely once this has prooved to be effective and workable, then it's only a very small step to checking speed and plotting your movements. If the govt' realises there's a way to make money easily and automatically it's going to do it.
Anyway £200 for driving without insurance is a joke - I say £5K fine and crush the offending car.
Tim
TT Tim said:
Anyway £200 for driving without insurance is a joke - I say £5K fine and crush the offending car.
I think the fine is pathetic...it would be cheeper for most people to run the risk of not being taxed/insured i think they should give peopel 1 chance..some people will change its the repete offenders they really need to be clamping down on!!!
manek said:
I believe they're markers for police to use to check speed between two points and are a quarter mile apart.
Cool, 1/4 mile apart, why waste money going to a drag strip , just stop, do your quarter mile time then wait for your terminal speed to be delivered through the post! And your fine and points obviously. O well there goes that idea.....
Seriously though, not a terrible idea assuming you're fully paid up (insurance/tax). As for COPters used for speed detection.... do you know how much it costs to keep these things in the air? me neither but its got to be alot, and too much to be used collecting £60 fines when other types of cameras aint doing too bad a job as it is for much less (unfortunetly).
What's the point of this VAST investment in car/road violation tracking/speed detection? The 'Powers That Be' in the UK seem so fixated on it, investing more heavily in this equipment than, it seems, any other country in the world. It's not as if anyone WANTS to drive in the UK anymore, anyway. It's clear it's all about the money made from more and more fines imposed by increasingly accurate technologies. I'm convinced that the general idea is to increase the number of people being fined for anything/everything possible, and technology makes it more and more easy to do this. I actually think the whole point is to ensure that more people are fined for any possible vehicle violation when fuel-less vehicles take over from their petrol-engined counterparts. Ok, so that's not for a few years yet, but you've got to start planning, right? After all, the loss of fuel tax revenue generated by the gradual demise of the petrol-engined vehicle will be ASTRONOMICAL. The question will be, how can revenue continue to be generated? Easy.... lower, and more strictly enforced speed limits, for a start; along with more vehicle laws that are strictly and mercilessly enforced. Mark my words!
The constant emphasis on more and more technology to track and monitor and restrict has fewer positives than negatives. I'm sure A FEW people will find it harder to drive without tax and insurance, but EVERYONE will find it harder to drive, in general. Enough is enough.
The constant emphasis on more and more technology to track and monitor and restrict has fewer positives than negatives. I'm sure A FEW people will find it harder to drive without tax and insurance, but EVERYONE will find it harder to drive, in general. Enough is enough.
How can ANPR work on vehicles which are not on the DVLC computer and drivers who are not on record WITHOUT the real traffic cops pulling them over arresting them and scrappinng the cars..........this will escalate to armed crooks driving unlicenced vehicles who will kill any traffic cop that gets in the way then armed traffic cops and US style ploicing and gangs.........you mark my words
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