March 22, 2005

More Cameras

Chief Serpas wants to make a difference in Nashville...apparently that involves even more cameras:

If you run a red light in Nashville, you could soon be caught on camera. A Denver based company on Monday showed Metro officials and police a digital camera that captures drivers who run red lights and stop signs.

The camera records the license plate and the owner of the car gets a ticket in the mail. Each camera cost $13,500 each.

I agree that people running red lights here in Nashville is a problem, but I really think police cameras are a bad idea (as noted recently here, here, and here). Nashville's new motto is going to have to be: "Watching your every move so you feel safer."

More...

A public works official asked camera salesmen to send them studies to show how successful the devices have been in other areas.

Is it really a good idea to ask a salesperson for studies showing the successes of their product? Wouldn't it be better to go to an independent source for such things? Maybe that's just me not trusting someone who probably gets paid on commission (no offense to salespeople out there though).

I'll probably be ordering one of these plate covers...at least until they make them illegal. I've also heard that this spray works even better, and to the naked eye it can't even be seen.

No, I don't make it a habit of running lights, but at the same time, I'd rather not have Big Brother on my back.

Update: Next thing you know we'll all have to have these on our license plates.

The UK-based vehicle licence plate manufacturer, Hills Numberplates Ltd, has chosen long-range RFID tags and readers from Identec Solutions to be embedded in licence plates that will automatically and reliably identify vehicles in the UK.

Fun stuff.

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