New-style speed camera capable of catching FIVE offences at once

THE RATHER unimpressive trailer-mounted camera in the picture on the right is one of a new breed of offence-spotting devices that can detect up to FIVE separate offences at once.

Developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the system can detect a vehicle's speed, registration plate (and therefore tax and MOT), traffic emissions, the gap between following cars and even whether a driver's wearing a seat belt or not.

The whole system is linked to a central database, which can be accessed at any time by other Police vehicles armed with a suitable onboard computer.

It's currently on trial in Finland until the end of next year, after which part of the equipment will be ready for production in 2013, before being rolled out across Europe - and that could include the UK.

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