UK cameras look through you to catch carpool lane violations
Finding a way to inconspicuously get into the carpool lane without actually having a passenger can be a lucrative business and is also a source of great consternation to drivers legally allowed to be in the lanes. There have been a few attempts at policing carpool lane usage, but this is the first time that we've seen electronic trickery "smart" enough to tell the difference between real people and dummies. Using infrared signals, U.K. cameras being tested in Leeds are able to "see" the blood and water that is present in a human body and can distinguish between real people and fake bodies.
One potential problem is that some cars, namely certain hybrids and CNG vehicles, are allowed in the carpool lanes with only one passenger. The cameras would need to be programmed somehow to allow these travelers to drive alone without being ticketed.
[Source: Daily Mail via Winding Road]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy 10:29AM (2/27/2008)
They had a piece last night on the news here in Dallas about people....who were using the HOV lane with just one occupant in the car. Funny it was mostly Luxury cars and really big trucks....(big suvs and pickups) funny that.
Reply
kballs 12:39PM (2/27/2008)
This doesn't sound reliable, and a lot of innocent people would waste time (and contribute to traffic and wasted energy) going to court to fight tickets.
What if you have a panel van with somebody in the back (not in front seat, not where cameras can count the person, and a human verifier would probably miss them as well).
What if you have low-E tinted glass that is efficient at blocking infrared and light (to keep your car cooler when parked in the sun) with a passenger in the back seat (such as a child)? The camera will think there is NO ONE in the car, and a human verifying results may not see anyone in the back seat because of the back window tint.
What if the bad guys figure out where all the cameras are and use the lane for passing in between cameras?
What if the bad guys use their heated seats to make a heat blob for the camera, or some other fake heated dummy system? The cops wouldn't notice because they'd have given carpool patrol duty to the cameras. Humans won't be able to look at every vehicle, only ones that the computer thinks are single occupancy.
We have a proposed system in Washington State that would allow people with RFID toll tags (on the windshield) to use the carpool lanes for a fee. I wonder if they will ALWAYS charge the fee even if your car is full of people... they would need to use a system like this to count passengers, and again, reliability is an issue.
So what we end up with is a system that would probably allow some people to get away with breaking the rules, and penalizes some people for following them. No matter, it's all about the ticket revenue.
Reply
cavalier 1:00PM (2/27/2008)
Actually, the sensor doesn't have to be smart enough to determine if the car is hybrid, CNG, etc. The ticketing system does, however. It should be smart enough to look up the car's registration and note this. Seems simple enough to implement, really.
Reply