Joe's IT Blog: The effect of ICT on crime and the law (Part 1)

Speed Cameras

A standard Speed Camera (UK)

The first concept of a speed camera was created in 1905, with the first "film camera" being used in the 1950s, however the digital version used in today's world was made in the 1990s. The modern digital version detects when a vehicle exceeds the speed limit of an area with the camera automatically detecting the number plate and sending a fine to the registered driver's address, it may also include an image of the driver to verify the identity of the driver. There are various different methods todetecting the speed of the car; GPS (Global Positioning System), Lasers and RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging). Speed cameras are extremely controversial worldwide, this is because people believe they are a distraction to drivers, causing them to panic and slow down causing an accident. On the other hand, they dramtically decrease speeding in areas due to the heavy fines. It is very unlikely that any car can get away without being charged a fine due to the complex sytems used. The sytem also detects whether the car has paid insurance or road tax and can induce heavier fines to the driver. Speed cameras are gaining £20million worth of fines to the treasury every year.

An image taken by a standard Speed Camera

Advantages:

They have helped people to slow down on the roads, this makes it much safer, especially for nervous drivers such as the elderly.
The heavy fines that are induced can be used as a "tax" to pay for road improvements and other useful improvements to society.
The technology detects whether the car owner has also payed road tax or insurance, therefore reducing the number of dangerous drivers on the road.
It is all done automatially; therefore making it more efficient to send the punishment. It also means that people don't need to be employed to match up the data, saving government money.

Disadvantages:

They are not entirely accurate and can be set-off by speeding objects. Speed cameras are often set off by birds and other flying objects, or simply the sensor being covered.
Not everybody likes the idea of speed cameras and they are often vandalised, this costs extra money to fix them which is obtained through tax, which is expensive.
People can get away from paying fines if they cover up their number plate or fit a "number plate flipper", this means they can get away without paying a fine. The people that do this are likely to be dangerous drivers and this means they are unlikely to get caught.
They can cause a distraction to drivers; a driver may panic and slow down causing them to crash into the person behind. This could cause a potentially fatal accident (an example can be seen in the video below).