No Love for UK Speed Camera App

[advrider]

Tired of speeding drivers on your local roads ignoring the law and compromising the safety of other road users and innocent bystanders? Now, with the help of a new smartphone app, you can take a video of the offending miscreants as they pass, and the app will calculate their speed, determine the local speed limits, and generate a report detailing the incident. The app does not submit any information to authorities, but the user is free to do so if they wish. Many police forces will accept user generated camera footage of incidents, and this app promises to provide more than just the visual record of the infraction. If the existence of this app angers you, you are not alone.

The Guardian reports that the developers of the Speedcam Anywhere phone app have faced backlash for their creation that they say makes roads safer. According to the Guardian, “Its creators hope it will encourage police to take speeding more seriously and enable residents, pedestrians and cyclists to document traffic crimes in their area.”

Speeding car. Credit science.org.au

The developers of the app have been forced into hiding their identities due to abusive emails, and they spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity. According to the app’s founder, “… I think that if you’re going to have speed limits, then it’s the law that you obey them, and you should enforce the law. It’s not a personal vendetta against anyone, it’s just – how do we make our roads safe? There are 20,000 serious injuries on the roads every year – how can we reduce them? And the way we reduce them is we make a deterrent to speeding.”

The app is said to use AI to determine the speed of a passing vehicle. It does this by determining the make and model of the vehicle by cross-referencing the license plate with public registration records. Knowing the make and model, the app finds out the wheelbase of the offending vehicle, and uses that info to determine its speed as it passes. Speedcam Anywhere claims an accuracy of +/-2mph (3.2 km.h). The app currently works in the UK, and the developers are evaluating the feasibility of a US launch. The app’s web page does not mention if it can track motorcycles.

Vezi sursa