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?

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