by Holly Tribe
A new generation of speed cameras is being developed which can detect up to five driving offences at once.
On top of license plate recognition and speeding offences, the Advance Safety and Driver Support for Essential Road Transport (ASSET) cameras can check if the car has valid insurance and road tax cover, and distinguish whether the driver is tailgating and wearing a seatbelt from up to 150 ft away.
Caravanners beware
The developers of the Asset camera are also designing an automated overload control system. Using pads in the road to weight axles and wheels even at high speed and it can determine whether the vehicle is overloaded.
AA president Edmund King, tentatively welcomed the cameras, but indicated that he hoped they would not be deployed as a money making scheme.
“Tailgating is more dangerous in most cases than speeding so I think most motorists would welcome it.”
‘But it needs to be a safety measure, not a money-making machine,’ he added.
How does it work?
Connected to police computers via GPS, the trailer mounted devise can potentially detect misdemeanours and issue a fine instantly.
Two 3D cameras takes multiple images before sending details back to a central database via a satellite system. Images over a month old or that don’t detect any traffic violations are destroyed.
The development of the camera is being funded with £7.1 million of European Commission money and it is currently undergoing trials by the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland.
If tests go well, the camera which is currently mounted on a trailer, will be converted to fit inside police vehicles and used on UK roads from 2013 at a cost of £50,000 per camera.
