More And Smarter Cameras On The Roads

Roads in the UK could soon be dotted with hundreds of roadside spy cameras cracking down on stolen vehicles and those without motor insurance.

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras would be positioned at strategic locations such as interchanges, petrol stations and town centres as well as motorways, suggests a Chief Constable.

"Where we install CCTV systems, we will also install ANPR. There are lots of plans to use all the existing camera systems we can. The aim is to deny criminals the use of the roads," he told a leading newspaper.

Data collected would be stored for up to two years. The plan could be good news for law abiding drivers, as drivers without motor insurance currently add around £30 to motor insurance quotes.

ANPR works by taking a series of snapshots of the approaching vehicle and stores them in a file. Of course, the camera must be set up correctly with the alignment, lens illumination and angle of view configured exactly.

In addition, the system will have to cope with varied lighting conditions. This means that more than one system may be used to cover all eventualities. In this case the use of Infra Red detection has been introduced.

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