Fury at speed guns that can see in the dark

THE WAR on motorists is being stepped up with a new generation of high-tech speed guns that can trap cars at night.

FURY Speed guns will work in the dark FURY: Speed guns will work in the dark

Furious campaigners hit out yesterday at plans to arm police with the radars that can pin a speeding conviction on a driver who will not have any warning.

The new super speed guns work over a distance of more than a mile and can note a car’s registration number from 100 yards away.

 

Critics last night branded the move as “totally inappropriate” and a backdoor tax on the country’s beleaguered car owners. Up until now handheld speed guns have only been able to work in daylight, giving motorists a clear view of the officer holding it.

 

FED UP WITH MOTORISTS BEING TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS?  WE ARE.... 

Now the new Kustom Laser Witness speed gun from Truvelo UK, with infrared laser vision that can read a car’s speed even in the pitch black, is set to get Home Office approval.

Hugh Bladon of the Association of British Drivers, said: “These new speed guns will be seen as a way of making money. They won’t improve safety. They don’t pick up the uninsured, drunk or those on drugs. It’s downright stupid. Bad driving causes accidents, not necessarily fast driving.”

Automobile Association president Edmund King said: “At night, when there’s no traffic about it is not as serious to be doing five miles per hour above the speed limit. There are areas where boy racers are a problem but we do not want to see these guns used in a blanket fashion.”

The Government recently announced plans to reduce the national speed limit from 60mph to 50mph on thousands of miles of roads and from 30mph to 20mph in more built-up areas.

It means some 3,500 speed cameras will have to be recalibrated by hand and millions of pounds of public money going on changing speed limit signs.

Tory MP Mark Field recently condemned the “overzealous penalising of drivers” after it was revealed speeding fines and prosecutions had increased sevenfold from 262,000 in 1996 to 1,865,000 in 2006.

FED UP WITH MOTORISTS BEING TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS?  WE ARE.... 

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?