Enforcement & Automation

Information about law enforcement and automated systems for tracking and penalizing illegal and dangerous drivers

You have to understand that police cannot be everywhere all the time. The only way that could happen is if the ratio of police to private citizens was something like one police officer to every two or three citizens. So since the police cannot be everywhere we must ask ourselves why the government does not start to use automated systems to help with enforcing laws and catching those that are violating traffic laws.

License Plate Scanners

The scanners can be mounted in patrol cars, toll booths, and even on roadside positions. These scanners are capable of scanning and capturing up to 1500 plates per minute. The information police can extract from these systems is this, whether the vehicle is registered to someone who's license has been suspended or revoked. If the registration has expired, or if insurance coverage has lapsed. These systems can work in several ways, it can instantly notify police so they can apprehend the individual immediately, or if can issue an automated summons.

Red Light Cameras

Approximately 22 percent of all traffic crashes are caused by someone running a red light. To combat this trend many localities are installing red light cameras. These are fully automated devices that collect all the evidence that prosecutors will need to bring charges against those who run red lights. The system is comprised of three basic components, camera, a trigger, and a computer. In a typical system, cameras are positioned at the corners of an intersection, on poles a few yards high. The cameras point inward, so they can photograph cars driving through the intersection. Generally, a red-light system has cameras at all four corners of an intersection, to photograph cars going in different directions and get pictures from different angles. Most newer systems use digital cameras. These systems will take two pictures of each car that goes through a red light. The first picture shows the car entering the intersection and the second picture is taken when the car is in the middle of the intersection. The pictures also have the following information on them, the date, time, intersection location, speed of the car, and the elapsed time from when the light turned red and the car went through it.