2008-10-10 15:35:28 - Trials of new 'Spec3' speed cameras have been successfully completed and are awaiting their first deployment. These cameras take an image of the number plate and track it as it travels through the zone.

New speed cameras track number plates for miles



Unlike traditional average speed cameras, which are, placed six miles apart and have to be connected by a cable. The Spec3 speed camera is entirely different firstly, they are not connected by cable, because they use the mobile phone network to communicate and unlike the average speed camera which is no good if

the driver turns off the road. The Spec3 cameras are connected to a network, which tracks vehicles through their number plates when they enter the zone and when they leave.

Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick said, "When the Home Office approves the equipment, I think there will be great interest among the safety-camera partnerships. They will give a more sophisticated edge to cameras than the blunt instrument we have at the moment."

He added: "Trials have shown very good results. Wherever there are average speed camera signs, traffic moves at a uniform speed and crashes reduce."

The Spec3 system has a price tag of £300,000 per network plus running costs and no doubt, there will be many drivers having to pay for its up keep. As this system could in theory by placed in towns and track every single vehicle that enters and leaves the zone, the system will then calculate the time lapsed and if it shows that the vehicle has gone over the speed limit then a ticket will be issued.

Brian Gregory, from the Association of British Drivers, who campaign against speed cameras, said, "People put the car in cruise control and the mind in neutral. It's so boring driving through these sections at a constant slow speed that people are going to drop off."

These new cameras are going to take the speed camera and the fight against speed cameras to new levels.

Source [Telegraph]

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