Have a go at what's going on in the UK, no doubt it'll find its way out
here.
Motorcycle detection system’ on roads by Easter
By Steve Farrell
Politics & the law
17 February 2009
A new surveillance system designed to track movements of
motorcyclists on the roads will be operational by Easter.
The technology can tell motorcycles apart from other vehicles,
measure their speeds and will be able to read number plates.
Data such as the routes taken by individual motorcyclists along with
time and date will be collected and kept even if they have committed no
offence.
The £100,000 project has prompted civil rights groups to express
grave concerns about the potential for invasion of motorcyclists’ privacy.
Speed camera bosses behind the scheme have named it the ‘motorcycle
data project’ and the equipment a ‘motorcycle detection system’.
It will scrutinise movements of motorcyclists in particular and be
switched on to coincide with the start of the riding season in April, they
say.
The new surveillance system has been installed on eight routes in
Derbyshire by the region’s speed camera partnership, including the popular
Cat & Fiddle run on the A54 and A537 near Buxton.
Under-road sensors already in place will distinguish motorcycles
from other vehicles by their weight and width. Speed will be measured by
timing their progress between two sensors a short distance apart. The system
has been designed to work alongside Automatic Number Plate Recognition
(ANPR) and video cameras.
A spokeswoman for the scheme said knowing where riders were from
would allow them to target key areas.
Partnership manager Robert Hill said he hoped to add ANPR cameras
in order to work out “how these vehicles are traveling around”.
Hill said the eight routes had been chosen to target motorcyclists.
