NCJ Number
174277
Journal
Gazette Volume: 60 Issue: 2 Dated: February 1998 Pages: 20-23
Date Published
1998
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article addresses the benefits of using the Autopatrol PR100 photo radar system to monitor traffic.
Abstract
The system consists of a photo radar camera, television, VCR, flash unit, and a laptop computer. It has a 35 mm x 150 mm Zeiss lens, a radar unit contained in a box under the camera, and a magazine with a capacity of 650 exposures. The magazine can be changed in seconds, and the unit can take 3 photos per second, which makes it ideal in high-volume areas where conventional traffic law enforcement is difficult. The operator uses the laptop to calibrate the unit and to log on at an approved location. Police officers cannot operate the unit unless it is deployed at an approved location that has been entered into the database. Every vehicle that passes the beam over the trigger speed is photographed, and the ticket is mailed out within days. The photo radar system is safe and effective, particularly as many drivers on high-volume highways can speed by conventional radars and lasers with impunity because it is too dangerous to chase them. In addition, the photo radar system can mechanically monitor four lanes of traffic moving in opposite directions in all weather and light conditions. The photo radar program used in British Columbia, Canada, involves Integrated Traffic Camera Units that publicize photo radar sites because the goal is to get drivers to slow down. The photo radar system has proven to be effective in British Columbia, as evidenced by a decline in the number of accidents. 4 photographs