Speed cameras track motorists from space

THE war on motorists is being taken up a gear with “spy-in-the-sky” speed cameras that use satellites to track drivers for miles.

One of the latest generation of speed cameras under test in Cornwall One of the latest generation of speed cameras under test in Cornwall

Makers of the system have told ministers the technology is so cheap and highly advanced that just one control centre can operate up to 1,000 cameras.

But campaigners said it was yet another assault on persecuted motorists, who have paid out a staggering £1billion in speeding fines under Labour.

They say the public is being hit by a “double whammy” – a cynical bid to generate revenue under the guise of road safety and the introduction of a “Big Brother” surveillance system by stealth.

Known as SpeedSpike, the system combines number plate recognition with global positioning satellite equipment. It can track drivers over several miles and calculate their average speed over as little as 100 yards.

Images of vehicles are captured as part of the enforcement action. Billions of images of innocent drivers are already being routinely recorded and stored by police for two years. Big Brother Watch campaign director Dylan Sharpe said: “Britain is already the most watched country in the world.

“Now we are confronted by this new network of camera surveillance. It is intrusive and com­pletely over-the-top.” Brian MacDowall, of the Association of British Drivers, said: “These devices are sold on the basis they will make money.”

The cameras are an enhanced version of those used at roadworks or to enforce the London Congestion Charge. They are already being tested by the Home Office at Southwark, in London, and on the A374 in Cornwall.

Details of the trials emerged in a report by the House of Commons Transport Committee. The cameras have been developed by PIPS Technology, a US-owned firm with a base in Hampshire.

PIPS told the committee the cameras could be used for “congestion reduction, speed enforcement” or to “eliminate rat-runs”.

Meanwhile, the first council to ban speed cameras has seen driver prosecutions fall – and no rise in the number of accidents.

Figures show speeding fines fell from 3,681 to 2,120 in the six months after Tory-run Swindon Borough Council switched off its Gatso cameras last summer.

A total of nine accidents happened where the cameras operated – the same as the previous year. The fall in prosecutions has cost the Government £80,000.

Council leader Roderick Bluh said: “Cameras are more about fund raising than road safety and these figures prove that.”

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