The KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) will put its experimental Average Speed Determination (ASD) system into effect next Tuesday.
RTI director Johan Schnell says the launch of the ASD system, originally set for early November, was delayed by "legislative and operational needs".
ASD measures average speed based on a pair of licence plate recognition (LPR) units, and issues a ticket, or directly informs the road user using electronic road signs that he is committing a moving violation. For this trial, a single system is being installed on a stretch of the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
The LPR-based speed measurement system has several advantages over other techniques. This includes the fact that the violation detection is not based on a singular point but rather on the length of the route, so it slows down the traffic along the entire route rather than in specific points which are quickly known to drivers, Schnell says.
Additional advantages are that the system is automatic and easy to set up, provides the evidence in images, covers all lanes and operates 24 hours a day, using invisible infrared illumination.
Additional functionality
Schnell says the trial was originally only to test the system's speed measuring ability. "But there is no point doing just that," he says. "We want to share the system and what it can do with a number of users. There is no point photographing stolen vehicles, or vehicles associated with people with outstanding warrants... Lots of people have little bits of outstanding business with government, sometimes more serious business than speeding, not having a valid licence disk, or a valid drivers licence," Schnell adds, "and we'd like to conclude that business."
The systems developers have been roped in to make the trial variant more multifunctional so that it can help customs and excise, as well as immigration agents track down suspects and also assist police and prison officials to serve outstanding warrants.
"We are making a lot of demands on the developers, who, I must say, have accepted the challenge and will be making it work better for a broader network of people," Schnell says.
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