Legal Questions and Answers by
Jonathan Stones of John Barkers
Question :-
Reference your recent article about uninsured drivers. I thought they were supposed to be
introducing a system of cameras and automatic number plate recognition technology.
That would solve the problem pretty quick don't you think?
The Government should make the money available to bring this system if
it is a practical proposition.
Answer :-
Legislation setting up a new police database tied to automatic number plate recognition
cameras is due to be introduced early in the next parliament.
The system will allow the police to identify cars that are being driven
without insurance, not to mention other offences.
The technology has already been tested in a number of police areas
around the country and the results have been impressive. Automatic number plate
recognition cameras can check up to 3000 vehicles an hour, even if the vehicles involved
are travelling at a hundred miles an hour.
The infra-red digital cameras, which can operate in the poor light,
take the images. Computer software reads the number plates and sends the information to
databases to identify stolen, unregistered, untaxed or uninsured vehicles. The process
takes just 4 seconds.
During the 12 month pilot schemes that took place in 23 police force
areas around the country over 13, 000 arrests were made for offences ranging from burglary
to drug trafficking.
As has been mentioned in the column before, the problem of uninsured
drivers is serious. Government statistics suggest that uninsured drivers cause around
£200 million worth of damage a year . . . and add around £30 to every insured driver's
premium.
Linking various information databases together will undoubtedly make it
more difficult for uninsured drivers to get away with it.
That said, number plate recognition cameras are not going to be a
panacea and the system will need to be backed up by adequate police or enforcement
resources to track down errant motorists, be that at the time that the vehicle is
identified on the road or subsequently at the driver's home.
Whether all that work has to be done by police officers is debatable.
There has been discussion about creating a secondary level force to deal with some of
these offenders. Clearly tracing motoring offenders does not necessarily require the
involvement of highly skilled, highly trained and highly expensive specialist road traffic
police.
The government does seem to be prepared to invest substantial amounts
of money in the technology. Whether or not they're prepared to make equally substantial
investments in the enforcement remains to be seen.
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