Safe Speed Forums

Safe Speed issued the following (rush) PR at 13:03 today:

PR259: ANPR Hypothecation - doomed to fail

news: for immediate release

Documents released yesterday by the Department for Transport hint at large
scale Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to be funded by fines issued.

Safe Speed says that the dream of enforcement by numbers is already a nightmare
and is set to become far worse.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "It is absolutely correct to attempt to deal with
the menace of uninsured driving, but the ANPR approach will undoubtedly make
matters worse. The first problem is that such schemes come with side effects. A
particular side effect which worries me is that many more people will find that
it is in their interests to use false and stolen registration marks. The second
is that far too many situations will lead to entirely innocent(and correctly
insured) members of the public being faced with the daunting prospect of
proving their innocence in court."

"ANPR is a good tool if used in a highly specialised way - for example to
detect serious criminals or track terrorists - it's a highly inappropriate way
to enforce road traffic laws, and the bulk of the fall out will accrue to
responsible members of society. It's bad enough to be involved in a crash with
an uninsured driver - but once ANPR become commonplace we'll be having crashes
with untraceable drivers."

"Speed camera hypothecation has failed because everyone has been focused on the
wrong targets. ANPR hypothecation is doomed to fail for very similar reasons.
Speed camera hypothecation has become a dangerous monster in urgent need of
complete demolition. ANPR hypothecation will obviously go the same way.

"The DfT blunders on once again making a critical error of judgement by failing
to consider the side effects of their policies."

<ends>

Notes for editors
=================

Dft document:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/d ... 93-06.hcsp

Contains: "Fixed penalties paid by those caught driving without insurance
should be retained to help fund accelerated roll-out of ANPR."

==========================
There's much more to worry about if you follow the DfT link. I rushed the PR out to get journalists looking at the issues.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

its been in the pipeline for ages

_________________
now retired

So, who's remit will it be to handle the operation? The police or the scameraships?

Either way, what happens when there is a shortfall between the cost of running the operation and the fines raised? Beaurocrats will want the shortfall filled, so where's the money going to come from when it becomes apparent that this isn't the total solution to the problem they think it is and they've got their accounting wrong?

It'll drift towards nicking as many motorists as possible on the usual 'guilty until you prove yourself innocent' basis. Great, just great.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

if they install ANPR in camera vans then whats the point unless theres a unit further down the road to pull in any hits,

_________________
now retired

Is the penny dropping?

The point is that a computer in DVLA will issue an automated fine some days after the event.

Hypothecation of fines is an incredibly bad idea. Those who enforce law should not benefit from it!