Dublin City Council has confirmed it is using the latest number plate recognition technology to monitor journey times on the M1. The move is an expansion of a pilot scheme begun on the Malahide Road in 2002 and is the first time in the State that vehicle number plate recognition (VNPR) technology has been used to monitor vehicle movements on public roads.
Recently it was confirmed that the Garda is considering using this new technology in its cars to allow officers to quickly detect whether passing vehicles are stolen or have no tax, insurance or NCT.
But Dublin City Council is well ahead of the Garda after it installed the additional VNPR cameras, which are able to track every vehicle on the M1 between Dublin Airport and a fixed camera closer to Whitehall, in January. Next month, the council will install an additional VNPR camera - which cost up to €10,000 each - in Drumcondra.
"The work on the M1 is to explore the advances made with this type of VNPR technology since the original systems were installed, and to determine if more of these types of systems should be installed," says a council spokesman.
"The information is for traffic management purposes only and to provide on-line and up-to-date information on the performance of the road network."
VNPR technology is so advanced it can read the registration numbers of more than 98 per cent of passing vehicles even in poor visibility. As well as capturing registration numbers, VNPR cameras can be set up to capture images of a driver's face.
While Dublin City Council is using the cameras to improve traffic management, this, say civil liberty groups, is only the tip of the iceberg. Suw Charman, executive director of the British Open Rights Group, an organisation established to raise awareness of digital rights issues, warns people to be aware of the impact VNPR cameras can have. "People are ignorant of the fact that they are going to be tracked by their number plates," she says. "This is mass surveillance and surveillance infringes civil liberties."
In Dublin, most major routes into the city are not yet covered by VNPR cameras, but the council is not ruling out a citywide network. "There are a number of pilot schemes in the greater Dublin area and it is too early to say how many routes will be covered," it said. If a citywide system of VNPR cameras is eventually established, it could be adapted, for example, to facilitate a barrier-free tolling system.
In addition to tolling, law enforcement and road safety are other areas VNPR cameras could prove their worth. As Raymond Hegarty, an adviser on how new technology can reduce road offences and accidents, explains: "Research has proved that if there is a five-fold increase in the number of violation notices issued, accidents are reduced by 21 per cent," he says. "The only way this increase can be achieved is by using these cameras and an automated system."
Dublin city council assures motorists that, although it is storing the information gained from the cameras, it is not using it to identify vehicles or drivers. "Average journey times are stored, but not pictures or individual number plates," it stated.
However, as civil liberties groups point out, once in place, the equipment can easily be used for other means. In Britain there is growing concern over plans to create a database of millions of individual vehicle movements. It is reported that the British National Vehicle Tracking Database, which is due to start this month, will involve a network of VNPR, GATSO and CCTV cameras located every 400m.
"They say it is to deny criminals the use of the roads," explains Charman. "But there is no proof that this approach of mass surveillance is a viable way to go. What we will end up with is a system that is a gross invasion of privacy."
Unlike CCTV cameras, VNPR systems use a computer attached to the camera to assess image quality in real time. This ensures accurate number plate reading, even in poor visibility.
The current system in Dublin transmits encoded information from the VNPR cameras via mobile phone networks to Dublin City Traffic Control Centre on Wood Quay. While the data is for traffic management, the Council has confirmed that it is willing to share the information with the Garda or the NRA.
The company manufacturing this new technology, Alpha Vision Design, predicts many more VNPR cameras will be used in Ireland. "We have approached the Garda and their reaction has been positive," explains Niall Dorr, Alpha Vision's business development director, who confirmed that the company has already submitted a tender to supply Garda in-car VNPR cameras.