Police are taking a leaf out of Google’s book with their latest weapon in the war on motorists.
They are using cars with spy cameras on a mast. Drivers talking on their mobile phones, eating, applying make-up or otherwise driving illegally will be pictured.
And as the telescopic cameras can zoom in from some distance, the first inkling that they have been snapped could be when a £60 fine lands on the doorstep.
Police say the new cars – similar to those used by Google to map town and city streets – will help reduce road deaths. But motorists say the Big Brother vehicles will merely be another cash cow for the Government and a further ‘tax’ on hard-pressed motorists.
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Drivers who are caught using their mobiles will be sent a £60 fine and will have three penalty points on their licence.
Those caught on camera without a seatbelt or driving erratically while eating will be fined £30.
Don’t eat and drive!
So will there be a second person in the car running the camera?
Why does the fine have to be mailed? How effective is that? Shouldn’t they have to stop them during the illegal act? Is it better to get the fine than to stop them from being unsafe?
Just wear a mask.
Wait a minute … It’s a 30 pound fine for driving erratically, but 60 pound for using your cellphone? Isn’t driving erratically more likely to lead to an accident?
Okay, usually I just rant about how evil and unreliable the Daily Mail is, but in this case I’ll make an exception because traffic cameras are totally out of control in this country! Not only are they use cameras stop speeding, but they are now using them for parking enforcement, running amber lights, going the wrong way around bollards… in fact, in London just about every intersection has a camera now. Its just getting scary! How long before we get automated fines for spitting on the street, speaking too loudly, swearing … the only thing that gives me hope is these guys: http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm
A nice class four laser should sort that camera out
I remember a police man (idiot) was telling me that sneezing was classed as careless driving. He did not even appreciate what a reflex was. That’s what they get for employing supermarket works
Can you believe the British government…
They are treating us all like criminals..
Fascist state…
Yada yada yada.
If you have done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear.
George Orwell is spinning at 84 RPM just about… now!
Yea, Grimbo. Just keep telling yourself that.
That’s exactly what the Jews said in 1939…
Hell, Orwell is likely spinning with such torque that if they hooked a dynamo up to him the UK’s energy problems would be solved forever!
Would be interesting to see these cops drive around the countryside in a thunderstorm.
#9 Ah_Yea…
I take your point, but the world is a very different place. These new laws and “snooping” in general ARE for the benefit of the innocent and those who abide the law.
#12 Grimbo
Until the lawmakers change the rules, ever so slowly and subtly, on what constitutes “innocence”.
We both can come up with a substantial list of things which are/were innocent but magically became criminal just in the last few years.
Looking at the trend, I would not be surprised by much of anything the UK passes for law anymore.
I call Bulls**T. The picture looks like the photographed a car in front of a security camera pole, then made up a story. Maybe they will do this, but the picture looks bogus.
Its amazing how any tool can be used for good or evil and how quickly government bureaucrats who won’t do anything for you , without great effort will rush to adapt new technologies to drain more coin from your pockets
#15 if only it were bull.
I think that picture is, looks like a photoshop of a CCTV “lamppost” stuck on top of a smart car.
However, on the story front, the city of London is using CCTV Cars to catch people driving around inside the congestion charge area that haven’t paid the congestion charge.
Yes, those ones exist, I’ve seen them in operation.
Police in a SMART CAR? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…
So how do they determine who is driving to award points?
Time to sell Monty Python rubber masks..
Why don’t they just e-mail (or mail) 5 pound bills to everyone for the ‘intention to speed’? (because we know you want to)
Or just lower the speed limits by half like they do in my town to ‘enhance their revenue’. or ” will help reduce road deaths.” Heck this was totally proved in germany right? or Wyoming?
Lower the speed limit to 15 mph everywhere! We need to preserve life everywhere!
Better yet, why don’t they drive on the right?
Ever come to a round-about at night in the UK by yourself or get on a freeway? (here’s where the wife screams at you KEEP LEFT!!!!)
It’s a wonder they don’t have more fatalities!
This is total BS. How about teaching people to drive defensively and not giving them a license until they learn.
Oh, one more… LOOK RIGHT!!!!
#18 Dude, just because you can’t understand simple things like roundabouts, the fault isn’t with the roundabout. Millions of Brits, Europeans et. al. use them every day and night without a problem. We don’t need not stupid traffic lights to manage even the smallest junction.
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. “
Well, as a Brit – living in England… I personally find it reassuring to know that if I get hassled by a gang whilst walking in town at night – there is a good chance that the coppers will be there in minutes because it is being watched on CCTV.
On the downside – yes, they may watch me look at the bras in the lingerie shop but hell – thats the price one has to pay.
I am usually a fierce privacy advocate, but I am with Grimbo on this one. Whenever I hear these drivers complain about cameras, they sound to me like teenagers complaining that they can no longer get away with their wrongdoings.
“Boo-hoo, I was caught, that’s not fair!”
Dumbasses.
It’s so damn easy. Don’t commit the violation! If you do and get caught, you deserve the punishment!
One day, one of these moaners and mopers’ friend or family member will get killed or seriously injured in a car accident and they will very quickly DEMAND surveillance footage to catch the perp. Privacy? What privacy?
Mindless pedal-ramming, light-running, wrong-turning, phone-yapping hypocrites.
#22, I’ll quote one of your countrymen.
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” Eric A. Blair, author of 1984.
When will the people/camera ratio = 1? At that point, will it be better to ATTACH a camera to each person (and charge him for it)? Seems only fair.
That’s not a car – it’s a go-kart.
I wonder if this campaign would work. I would have to agree with father time regarding the people/camera ratio.