Before the police would pull off the side of the road and wait for speeders. Now there are camera mounted on street lights above the busy intersections. In the near future we will have drones hovering above the streets. Not only will they be used for traffic control, they will assist in other important operations as well. In Miami they are testing a prototype to assist in traffic control and in England they are testing one as well. These are unmanned, remote controlled devices which can fly lower and maneuver better in smaller spaces than manned helicopters. They are planning to use these for multiple situations which police are faced with on a daily basis.
This is actually extremely scary for me, I always see those signs when I'm on the highway, shrug it off, and continue going 85 mph. These vehicles look really expensive and seem like it would take a really long time for it to pay for itself. It would help however if they were solar powered. That way the operating costs for this would be really low and make its use practical. It seems possible that these would make there way into some busy city streets soon. They eventually may not just be used for speeding but may be able to watch our for people who break other traffic laws. I could definitely see these being in the sky as soon as 2012, if no sooner. They may also be able to assist with car chases, it is far easier and safer for helicopters to track run away suspects then police cars.
ReplyDeleteIt will be very strange to get pulled over by one of these machines. These could make it impossible to get away with running a redlight or speeding. I know it is only for traffic stops and violations but this could be the beginning of something much bigger. If this idea works they will definitely look into making something similar to help out in all phases of law enforcement. Other inventions like this could lead to an almost crime free society.
ReplyDeletei guess this was to be expected considering the cameras they have on street lights currently. However, is this perfected? They were having so many issues with people who were getting fined for running red lights that they never ran. the government actually had to give a large refund to these people once their investigation was finished. So if this were to have a glitch, how would it occur? its a scary thought...
ReplyDeleteSince receiving my license five years ago, I have abused the speed limit at every opportunity available to me. With these things hovering around, it looks like I might have to soon obey the speed limit.
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