Hand Held Radar - Not Up-to-Speed, Technologically Speaking.
The highway traffic patrol officer standing by the roadside with his hand-held Radar gun may be a little passé.
New, inconspicuous high tech speed traps that use: rolling radar, infrared lasers, helicopters, small planes, and/or photo and video technology are all allowing law officers nationwide to get a better bead on speeding drivers.
And when police can track speeders more accurately, they can ticket them more efficiently. More speeding tickets =more income for states and cities. And in these tough economic times, that is just what the state and city budget doctor ordered.
Rolling Radar
Hand-held radar is being replaced with police car-mounted "rolling radar" systems. These systems can be aimed across the highway median at multiple lanes of oncoming traffic, and they measure the closing speed of a given target, and subtract the speed of the police officer's own car.
If the resulting number shows the speeding driver is well over the speed limit, the officer will cross the median and hit the siren. There's no visual warning for the speeding driver. No cars in front of him or her hitting their brake lights, as they spot a stopped squad car behind an embankment.
Aerial Tracking Units
A number of police agencies around the country are employing small airplane and helicopter pilots to spot speeders, easily picking out the fastest offenders, and tracking with a stop watch the time it takes these drivers to cross a given set of lines in the road.
Lidar – Light Detection and Ranging Gun
Another newer technology – using laser-based systems -- is becoming cheaper and more popular every year. Instead of firing a wide beam across two or three lanes of traffic, a lidar (light detection and ranging gun) hits an individual target with an infrared laser beam one meter wide or thinner, even pinpointing a vehicle as it weaves through heavy traffic.
Laser Technology Inc., a leading lidar gun maker based in Colorado, has released TruCam, which also captures video as it tracks targets. This provides police officers with legal evidence, showing exactly which vehicle was in the gun's sights, and how fast it was traveling. This system is so accurate, it can track the distance between two cars, allowing officers to issue violations for tailgating, a major cause of serious accidents.
Speed Cameras Snap Up Your License Plate
New stationary speed cameras, mounted inconspicuously, automatically detect an offending vehicle with lidar or radar and snap a photo of its license plate. They are in use in select counties in more than a dozen states. In Lafayette, LA, speed cameras have already issued 114,748 speed violations in less than a year and a half.
So, the next time you’re seriously tempted to exercise your lead foot, remember, Big Brother may be watching you with new and improved eyes!
To read the full article in MSN, visit:
http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1103495&icid=autos_073>1=22013
