20 - Friday, September 7, 1990 - North Shore News

aa AN ACMP officer sets up
a Multinova radar unit,
which photographs pass-
ing speeders. According
to columnist Greg
Wilson, the unit is only
one of the electronic
mechanisms that will, in
monitor our

the future,
driving behavior.

AUTOMOTIVES

ng
ees
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

‘Electronic police’ will be watching you

A NEW generation of automated electronic devices is be-
ing developed in Japan that wiil make it almost impossible
for you to run a stop sign or speed above the posted limit

without getting caught.

And there won’t be a traffic
cop in sight.

According to Jim Hopkins,
technical training manager for
Toyota B.C., the ‘‘electronic
police” will consist of small elec-

Greg

| Wilson

AUTOMOTION

tronic receivers installed at stop

lights and stop signs. These
transmitters will pick up low
power transmissions emitted from
small transmitters attached to each
car. Each transmitter identifies the
vehicle’s identification number
(VIN).

“When a vehicle runs a red
light, the receiver will record the
VIN and send it to the police
where a computer will identify the
owner of the vehicle and send him
or her a traffic ticket in the
mail,” says Hopkins.

This kind of system will make it
virtually impossible for moiorists
to run through a stop sign or light
without being caught. The theory
is that drivers, knowing they can
never get away with it, will stop
running traffic lights altogether.

“*“What researchers have
discovered, too,’’ says Jim
Hopkins, ‘‘is that not all intersec-
tions have to have real sensors.
The police only have to put real
ones on 10 per cent of the in-
tersections and dummy ones on
the other 90 per cent. Drivers
don’t want to gamble on getting a
ticket.”*

‘Electronic police’’ will also
make the work of the police force
considerably easier. Police officers
normally assigned to traffic duty
can be assigned to other, perhaps
more important, duties.

The same technology can be
applied to parking meters. As
soon as the time runs out on the
meter, a receiver records the VIN
of the car sitting beside it, and
sends the owner a ticket in the
mail.

Another method is to place a
magnetic tape on each licence
plate, like those on the back of
credit cards. The meter checker
runs a hand-held sensor ‘‘wand’’
across it and the owner is
automatically recorded in the
computer and sent a parking tick-
et.

Toyota is also experimenting
with a ‘‘black box’’ installed in-
side the car which receives signals
from the seatbelt. [1 can detect
how fast a car is accelerating or

your HYUNDAI

decelerating. Future ‘‘black
boxes,’’ like those installed in
airplanes, may provide indepen-
dent evidence of a car's speed and
heading after an accident.

Here in B.C., we're already
familiar with radar cameras, those
automated traffic cops that snap a
photo of the licence plate of
speeding cars. The technology
outlined above can simplify this

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process even more. Instead of a
photograph, the receiver will sim-
ply record the vehicle’s identifica-
tion number.

Many trucking companies now
equip their trucks with satellite-
linked transmitters, enabling them
to locate the truck anywhere along
its route, and even to see how fast
it’s going.

Automated traffic control raises

certain questions about motorists’
freedoms and rights. Can
motorists be expected to obey
traffic regulations 100 per cent of
the time? Is this realistic? No one
obeys the posted speed limit on
the Stanley Park causeway or the
Upper Levels Highway during
rush hour. Should they all get a
ticket?

See New Page 23

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