Can cameras curb close calls?

Quiz time: exactly where and when was the UK’s initial speed camera installed?

Answer: on the westbound A316 at Twickenham, west London, in 1992.

They had been initially introduced to encourage drivers to slow down in accident hot spots, but they’re now being utilised to catch out all kinds of errant motorists, from red lights-runners to bus lane bandits.

And it appears like the speed camera could be about to add an additional string to its bow. The Highways Agency has just awarded a £79,000 contract to test a system that can detect drivers who travel as well close to the vehicle in front, much more generally recognized as ‘tailgaters’.

Don’t drive so close to me

Tailgating is a critical problem on UK roads, highlighted by a 2010 report from the Transport Investigation Laboratory which estimated that tailgating was the cause of nearly a third (29%) of motorway crashes.

And motorway crashes are of developing concern following a Division of Transport report which revealed the quantity of folks killed on motorways rose from 88 to 25 last year, this in spite of an all round fall in the quantity of deaths across the complete road ne2rk.

To attempt and curb the difficulty, police have been provided the powers to concern penalty points and on-the-spot fines of £100 to any drivers caught tailgating, hogging the middle or outer lane of a motorway, mounting the pavement or accelerating by way of a puddle.

More than 5,000 drivers had been caught out inside the first 6 months of the new ‘careless driving’ legislation coming into force, and this quantity could develop even further as soon as the new technologies is brought in.

Preliminary trials are scheduled to end in May possibly 2015 and, if productive, the method will be given further motorway trials.

How close is also close?

For the trial to be a accomplishment, the Highways Agency and police will have to establish how close a driver can get to the vehicle in front prior to they’re deemed to be committing an offence.

The Highway Code indicates that when driving on quicker roads, motorists need to leave a gap of at least 2 seconds amongst themselves and the car in front. Although some roads have chevrons to delineate this gap, motorists could uncover this difficult to judge on roads that do not.

And although the system could undoubtedly boost road safety and decrease accidents, if employed indiscriminately there is a danger it could make drivers too cautious, top to huge gaps among cars and causing greater congestion.

There will also have to be a safeguard in place to safeguard innocent drivers who leave a secure distance amongst themselves and the car in front, only to have yet another driver cut in front of them, which itself opens up a entire other can of worms.

But if these difficulties can be ironed out with no fixed-penalty notices being dished out indiscriminately, then the scheme should get the backing of motorists – a Populus survey of 16,600 drivers carried out on behalf of the AA identified 76% would support the technologies.

More than to you – would you support far more cameras lining the roads to catch errant motorists?

Can cameras curb close calls?