Police to commence monitoring of average speeds

In the Päijät-Häme experiment a pair of cameras records the licence plate number and a photograph shows who was behind the wheel

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The police will begin a five-week long experiment in the Päijät-Häme region in Southern Finland on Monday, in which the average speeds of motorists will be monitored between two camera points. The pair of cameras recognises vehicles based on their licence plates.
     
The system will measure the driving time between the two cameras placed six kilometres apart. If a vehicle’s average speed exceeds the set speed limit, the driver will be mailed a fine commensurate to the Ministry of the Interior Police Department directives.
     
In the experiment, one pair of cameras will be used. During the episode VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland, will look into the effectiveness of the move. A survey will map out motorists’ views on the test. Based on the results it will then be decided if the experiment will be widened to cover the whole country.
      “I would imagine people will take a positive stand towards the test”, predicts Chief Inspector Heikki Ihalainen from the Ministry of the Interior Police Department.
      According to Ihalainen, in the future the emphasis in the camera surveillance of driving speeds could shift towards monitoring average speeds, even though serious speed limit violations at just one surveillance point would still lead to a fine or other sanctions as well.
      In Ihalainen’s view it would good to get rid of people’s potentially dangerous habit of suddenly hitting the brakes at the sight of a camera post.
     
The method has been in use by the Finnish Road Administration for years for example in connection with traffic surveillance in tunnels.
      Previous studies have shown that in camera-supervised stretches the average traffic speed falls by three to four kilometres per hour while cases of reckless driving with speeds more than 20 km/h over the speed limit are halved and the number of accidents occurring is reduced.
      Managing Director Matti Järvinen from Liikenneturva, Finland’s central organisation for traffic safety, gives his full support to the experiment.
      The renewal has been one of the field’s common goals and plans for years.
     
According to Järvinen, the monitoring of traffic with cameras does not weaken people’s freedom of movement or any other fundamental rights related to the protection of the individual.
      The camera surveillance only deals with traffic violations, not people’s comings and goings.
      The monitoring of average speeds is one of the traffic safety development projects led by the Ministry of Transportation, the Finnish Vehicle Administration, and the Road Administration.
      The cooperation partners include the Transport Safety Agency (Trafi), VTT, and equipment manufacturers.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Speed cameras to monitor average speeds between two checkpoints (12.10.2007)

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