More fascism from the Nazi German Queen in the birthplace of Communism at the heart of the New World Odor
"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket and they cannot prosecute you on that."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney at law, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR
Scariest speed camera of all... It checks your insurance, tax and even whether you are tailgating or not wearing a seatbelt
Even the most law-abiding driver might feel a shiver down the spine when spotting this speed camera at the roadside.
For as well as detecting speeding, it is packed with gizmos that check number plates to make sure insurance and tax are up to date.
It also measures the distance between vehicles to spot tailgating and takes pictures of the inside of the car – to make sure you are wearing a seat belt.
The latest weapon in speed camera technology can capture footage from 150ft away.
It is the first to detect multiple offences at the same time and is connected to police computers via satellite, so that prosecutions can be started within seconds of any offence.
Development of the system, known as Asset – Advanced Safety and Driver Support for Essential Road Transport – is being funded with around £7million of European money.
More...Speed cameras to be turned back ON in Oxfordshire due to rise in motoring offences
It is undergoing testing in Finland and is expected to be deployed across Europe from 2013, with each unit costing £50,000.
Motoring organisations gave it a mixed reception. AA president Edmund King said: ‘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.’
Campaign group Speed Cameras Dot Org said the device should not become a replacement for traffic police.
A spokesman said: ‘We cautiously welcome a device that can detect several potential offences, but it remains to be seen how accurate it is and how fairly it will be used.
‘It’s a pity that the main actions that cause the most accidents, namely not paying attention to the road, misjudging distances and other drivers’ intentions, cannot be detected by a device of any sort.
‘More police patrols and better driver education are the only ways to reduce accidents.’
The Asset test project is running until December 2011 with the aim of improving traffic safety.
The ‘Big Brother’-style set-up takes various pictures before filing details back to a central database via a GPS system. The equipment automatically destroys images over a month old and those in which no traffic violation is evident.
Its testing comes at a time when the Government has cut central funding for speed cameras and reduced the road safety budget by £38million.
The Asset camera is being tested by the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland. It is currently mounted on a trailer but it is eventually expected to be converted to fit inside police vehicles.
Matti Kutila, senior research scientist at VTT, said: ‘The main intention is to support traffic police so that drivers follow traffic rules such as wearing seat belts, keep to the speed limit and maintain sufficient distance to the vehicle in front.
‘This, of course, is beneficial for road safety.’
Britain currently has separate cameras to detect speeding, tax and insurance violations, but Asset is the first to be able to spot a number of offences.
One of the first counties in the country to switch off its speed cameras is to turn them back on again – after speeding soared.
Oxfordshire deactivated its 72 fixed and 89 mobile units on August 1 after the county council withdrew its funding to Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership.
Shortly afterwards the partnership claimed the number of drivers speeding past deactivated cameras had increased by up to 88 per cent.
Yesterday it emerged that the police and council were nearing a deal to turn all the cameras back on.
Russians Develop DUI Camera
Handheld device claims to remotely detect the presence of alcohol in a moving vehicle.
Localities may one day issue tickets for the crime of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) by mail. The Russian firm Laser Systems has developed Alcolaser, a device that uses lasers to remotely detect the presence of alcohol vapors in an automobile. The Alcolaser is available in either in the form of a handheld gun the size of a police radar or in a mounted version designed to work from a moving police car.
The device takes about half-a-second to scan an automobile. According to the manufacturer, the laser has a range of 65 feet and can test vehicles moving at up to 75 MPH. Laser Systems claims that Alcolaser can detect amounts as small as a quart of beer or 3.5 ounces of vodka without being fooled by other sources of ethanol that might be present in a passenger compartment.
An individual with a blood alcohol content of 0.10 would on average exhale enough alcohol vapors to bring the level in a car with the windows closed to 3 parts per million within 30 minutes. The level would be lower in a vehicle with the ventilation system active. Alcolaser takes advantage of spectroscopy, through which light hitting a specific type of molecule is scattered in a specific way. The shift in the energy content of the light differs based on the type of molecule hit, allowing one to detect the presence of a particular substance.
The method used would be incapable of distinguishing between a sober driver and a drunk passenger. It would also be fooled by beer spilled in the passenger compartment. Despite the limitations, the device has been demonstrated at a number of international trade shows and the Russian police are reportedly interested in testing the equipment. The firm already supplies a number of products to various branches of the Russian government.
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The Prohibition Times
Australia Deploys Noise Cameras
Noise cameras become the latest ticketing technology deployed against motorists in New South Wales, Australia.
State governments across Australia are poised to deploy automated cameras that mail tickets to vehicles considered by a machine to be noisy. The fully automated noise camera systems have been in development since 2005 but are now are active and issuing warning notices in the small New South Wales suburb of Mount Ousley, according to the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) Annual Report. The agency is looking for a regulatory means of making such ticketing solutions more common.
"The RTA is contributing to the development of the 'Planning Guideline for Residential and other Sensitive Building Developments alongside Major Roads,'" the RTA report explains. "This will include requirements to address noise for new residential development along nominated roads and rail corridors.... RTA continues to develop technology in the form of a suitable noise camera to use as an enforcement device."
The fully automated noise analysis system designed by the NSW firm Acoustic Research Laboratories uses a set of microphones and cameras that continuously record and analyze activity on a neighborhood street. A computer program processes the audio data to isolate trigger sounds from general background road noise. This allows the device find opportunities to mail a traffic citation to passing vehicles that exceed a predetermined noise threshold. Once configured, the machine will generate up to 10,000 tickets before the on-board hard drive is filled. A 10-second video and audio clip is stored for each incident for use in court proceedings.
South Australia and Victoria have begun similar programs with each state focusing on the noise of heavy commercial truck compression brakes, an issue designed to court local approval of the ticketing technology.
"In parallel with the development of the acoustic measurement methodology, Transport South Australia has developed camera technology that can be linked with the measurement software," Australia's National Transport Commission reported. "The combination of these systems offers the potential for excessive engine brake noise incidents to be identified and recorded, which may provide a useful tool to enforcement agencies."
The commission approved the regulation against engine compression brakes last November. The ticketing system can also be easily expanded to issue citations for loud subwoofers, noisy exhausts, or even an inopportune honk of the horn.
New Camera Issues Tire Tread Tickets
Tire tread measuring system promises to mail tickets to motorists for tire tread that is a fraction of an inch too short.
Now that speed cameras use is established in Europe and parts of the US, the concept of automated ticketing is beginning to expand far beyond moving violations. Already, automated ticketing machines are deployed in the US to hit vehicles that overstay in a parking spot by a minute or that have excessive tailpipe emissions. The newest addition to this growing list is camera that scans the tires of passing cars and mails tickets if the depth of the tire tread is deficient by a fraction of an inch. Although not currently deployed, the German company ProContour hopes to sell this system to state and local governments looking for a way out of tight budget situations with a positive, pro-safety message.
"Car tires are technically, the number one cause of car accidents in Germany," ProContour states on its website. "An average of four car accidents occur daily with personal injuries as the result of smooth or defective tires."
The company claims its combination of a laser and high-speed camera is capable of taking measurements at 430 million points on a tire each second. As the tire moves, the distance between the camera and the object changes allowing the system to create a three-dimensional profile of the tire. The software can then calculate not just the depth of the tread, but also whether the tire itself was designed for summer or winter use. The manufacturer has tested measurement accuracy at speeds of up to 75 MPH, but it believes the technology should work at even higher speeds.
European Union regulations authorize the imposition of a fine of up to 100 Euro (US $160) whenever the tread depth of one of a vehicle's four tires measures less than 1.6mm (0.06 inches). In Germany, drivers can also be ticketed for using tires that are "unsuitable." This means using a summer tire during the winter season carries a stiff fine -- ProContour hopes that fine will be automated.
Depending on its construction, a balding tire with low tread depth can actually have more grip in dry conditions and is not a safety hazard. That can change if it rains, however. The primary purpose of tire tread is to channel water away from the tire so that it maintains contact with the road. The combination of high water and low tread depth can lead to aquaplaning and loss of vehicle control.
ProContour's system can be used in both fixed and mobile locations and is available in an easy-to-hide configuration.
Virginia: Fully Automated Parking Tickets Being Mailed
Fredericksburg, Virginia claims to be the first US city to mail fully automated parking tickets.
A Virginia city founded nearly sixty years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence claims to be "the first locality in the nation" to operate a fully automated parking ticket camera system. Fredericksburg began mailing parking tickets in August 2007 using a mobile van festooned with computer-controlled cameras, laser scanners and a GPS device.
"The deployment of autoChalk offers considerable time-saving benefits as the system only takes about twenty minutes to cover an area downtown," Police Chief David Nye said in a statement. "This will allow the police department to enforce parking restrictions in other under-served locations in the city."
The program succeeded in boosting the number of parking tickets written last year by 19 percent. It works by using a specially equipped van to drive slowly through the downtown area and store precise time, date, license plate and location information for every car it passes on a given street. After making a second pass along the same route, software installed on a laptop computer checks whether any cars have "overstayed" in a space by as little as one second. If so, the van driver does not even leave to place a citation on the alleged violator's windshield -- the software will automatically cause a ticket to be sent to the vehicle's registered owner in the mail.
This results in fewer challenges because most motorists will not be able to remember the circumstances of the citation that arrives weeks later in the mail. It also gives the police department access to a log of the whereabouts of any motorist who may have parked in the historic downtown area.
For now, Fredericksburg is giving only warning notices to first-time violators while residents become accustomed to the idea of automated ticketing. Between August and November last year, one van issued 1889 citations -- equal to the total number issued by human meter maids in the same period. Even with the warnings, the city will easily recover from ticket revenue the $77,600 it spent on the no-bid contract for the autoChalk equipment from Tannery Creek Systems, a Canadian company.
San Francisco, California began mounting automated parking ticket cameras on city buses earlier this year. Parking ticket cameras are now common in the UK.
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