Putting the brakes on speedsters
Tenders called for system that will measure vehicle speeds over a
distance
by Woo Sian Boon 04:45 AM Jan 03, 2013
SINGAPORE – Sharp-eyed speedsters who slam
on the brakes when they spot a speed camera may soon not escape a
ticket, if a new speed enforcement system due to go on trial is
eventually implemented.
The “average speed enforcement system”, according to tender
documents the police put up on the Government electronic
procurement portal on Dec 19, will measure vehicle speeds over a
distance to nab speeding motorists.
This means that errant motorists cannot slow down just before or
speed up right after speed cameras to evade the law, as they do now
with the “point-based static speed enforcement system”.
The new system will be tested out along the Pan-Island
Expressway and Changi Coast Road for at least a month, according to
the tender documents.
Changi Coast Road, in particular, is a well-known black spot. In
May last year, a cyclist was killed after being hit by a lorry,
which only came to a halt about 200m away, according to
reports.
According to the tender documents, the police noted that other
jurisdictions have in recent years started implementing speed
enforcement systems that measure the average speed of vehicles over
a predefined distance.
For example, several Australian states have implemented these
since 2001. In New South Wales, there are 25 point-to-point speed
cameras installed along the various highways specifically targeting
heavy vehicles.
“(The Singapore Police Force) intends to conduct a trial to
evaluate the suitability of such systems for implementation in
Singapore,” the tender documents said.
The average speed enforcement system works by recording the time
a vehicle takes to travel between two points to calculate its
average speed.
Speed detectors placed at the start and end points – to be
determined in consultation with the Land Transport Authority – will
record the timestamp and vehicle licence plates. Speed limits here
range from 40kmh on smaller roads to 90kmh on expressways.
In the last three years, the number of speeding violations here
has surged. Between January and November last year, the Traffic
Police booked nearly 225,000 motorists for speeding – a daily
average of 673 offences. In 2011, the figure for the whole year was
225,500, or 617 daily, compared to 205,000 cases in 2010.
Over the years, the police have deployed speed cameras at more
locations. In 2008, there were speed cameras along 38 roads. This
has risen to 53 roads now.
Red-light camera system to go digital?
by Woo Sian Boon
In a separate tender issued last month, the Traffic Police also
called for the implementation of a “Digital Traffic Red Light
System”.
The new system must be able to capture and store digital images
of motorists who beat red lights. These will then be sent to a
backend computer system to be used as evidence, according to tender
documents.
Currently, the red-light camera systems here still use film.
Just last week, a video clip of a motorcyclist hitting a woman
pedestrian after beating a red light along Woodlands Avenue 6 went
viral online. The footage was captured on the in-car camera of a
motorist.
Last year, there were 16,442 red-light violations between
January and November. And in the previous year, there were 17,490
such cases, a shade higher than the 17,180 in 2010. WOO SIAN BOON