According to Bikes in the Fast Lane, an Italian company is working on a new traffic radar system that will run insurance checks on vehicles.
The company, Selea, says the machine can help cops check everyone’s insurance without doing traffic stops. It’s not clear exactly how the system works; possibilities include software and a camera that reads a vehicle’s licence plate to determine its insurance status, or perhaps the use of some sort of transponder.The company already makes machines that read licence plates, to aid in traffic control.
There are more details here, but since Editor ‘Arris and I don’t speak Italian, we’ll tell you to try your luck with Google Translate if you want to know more.
In any case, this device shows that technology is drawing an ever-tightening net around our roadways. Last year, the big news was from Saskatchewan, where government insurance body SGI was talking about plugging telematics into motorcycles to gather data on their driving habit. Now, a technology that catches drivers and riders who are speeding around sans insurance is not a bad thing. However, make no mistake – technology allowing Big Brother to clamp down on the streets is on the rise, and if motorcyclists don’t think it will eventually impact the way they ride, they’re mistaken.
I believe they already have that in Ontario, police cars equipped with cameras that recognize and read license plates notify the officers of expired plates, warrants and I suspect they know if you have insurance form your plate info.
When driving my tractor trailer in New York state a couple years ago, State Police had a road check set up on a side road, while they were looking at my log I asked what they were using a barcode scanner on the cars that stopped, officer told me in NY every car that has NY plates get a barcode in the windshield, the information of the vehicle owner is updated periodically with ticket info, license suspensions, insurance status etc. So when the cars pulled up they were scanned and if something showed up they were pulled off to the side for further checks. Yes I have mixed feelings about such tech, I like the idea of those without insurance and suspensions getting pulled off the road, but it also feels very Orwellian. (hope i spelled that right)