In related news...(From strait times web)
Just 0.3 seconds to nab a speeding motorist
It's point and shoot with Traffic Police's new laser cameras, which auto-record the speeding details
By Li Xueying
THE black Honda Civic had absolutely no chance. Neither did the blue taxi, nor the white Mitsubishi van.
The new camera weighs 16kg, compared to the current 46kg model - a boon to the petite Sergeant Chong Fui Fong. -- STEVEN LEE
As they sped past on the East Coast Parkway (ECP), Sergeant Chong Fui Fong took just 0.3 seconds to successively eyeball each of them on her new, nifty laser camera.
Details such as their speed, the speed limit for the particular vehicle type, their distance from the camera and the location were electronically captured on the attached PDA - a change from the days when Sgt Chong had to manually fill in the data on a form.
As Sgt Chong demonstrated, nabbing speedsters on the roads is now a matter of point and shoot, not point, shoot and scribble, as was the case in the past.
The Traffic Police has acquired four new, United States-made laser cameras and eight handheld laser guns - which also measure speed - to replace and augment its Korean-made equipment, which has been in use for the last five years.
The three old laser cameras will be retired, while 24 old radar guns will remain in service.
59 booked for speeding
NINETY-SIX motorists were nabbed in a five-hour blitz by the Traffic Police that began on Saturday night.
The operation, which began at 11pm and lasted till 4am yesterday morning, was carried out along the East Coast Parkway, Upper Thomson Road and Bukit Batok Road.
The bulk of the motorists caught - 59 - were booked for speeding. Eleven others were nabbed for drink driving, one for driving without a valid licence and 25 for illegal modifications to their vehicles.
The new system slashes the time it takes to record speeding offences to a quarter of what it used to be, said Traffic Police planning officer, Assistant Superintendent Lau Kian Keong.
Added ASP Chua Chee Wai, commanding officer (patrol): 'The old system was rather complicated to use. This new technology enhances our operational capabilities as it's more efficient and acts more swiftly.'
There is also pinpoint accuracy in targeting offending vehicles, while digital photographs of their drivers now come in full colour, instead of black and white.
Also, the new equipment is much lighter. The new camera weighs 16kg, compared to the current 46kg model, while the new gun weighs just 1.09kg.
This is a boon to the petite 50kg Sgt Chong, 35, who now takes just three minutes to assemble the equipment, half of what it used to entail. 'It's much easier for me to carry and set up the camera anywhere, such as on overhead bridges.'
Officers can thus now work solo, instead of in teams of two.
As for the guns, the new ones are wireless and battery-operated, compared to the old ones, which were powered by car batteries.
The new cameras cost $15,000 each and the new guns $6,000 each, 15 per cent cheaper than the previous models.
The police will start using them in one month's time, after its officers are trained.
59 booked for speeding
NINETY-SIX motorists were nabbed in a five-hour blitz by the Traffic Police that began on Saturday night.
The operation, which began at 11pm and lasted till 4am yesterday morning, was carried out along the East Coast Parkway, Upper Thomson Road and Bukit Batok Road.
The bulk of the motorists caught - 59 - were booked for speeding. Eleven others were nabbed for drink driving, one for driving without a valid licence and 25 for illegal modifications to their vehicles.
