| People are aware of the benefits of Automatic | | | | they have pulled over is insured or not. The vast |
| Number Plate Reader technology (ANPR) and how it | | | | majority of the time they are, and this therefore |
| is used by the police to catch uninsured drivers, | | | | wastes the officer’s time, the driver’s time, |
| criminals whose license plates are on record and | | | | and the time of the insurance company. |
| people who have cloned license plates from cars, but | | | | The second problem is with number plate cloning. If a |
| what often gets overlooked are the problems with | | | | criminal copies your registration number and attaches |
| ANPR. | | | | it to another vehicle and then commits a crime with |
| The first issue, which has only started emerging, as | | | | that vehicle, you may find yourself being stopped by |
| ANPR technology has become more and more | | | | the police for a crime that you didn’t commit. |
| widespread, is that the equipment can bring up false | | | | Even if the car the criminal was driving is completely |
| positives. This is caused by the cameras misreading | | | | different in every way to the one you are driving, |
| the registration number rather than the plate being | | | | ANPR will identify your car as a car that requires to |
| read correctly but is misidentified as not having | | | | be pulled over. |
| insurance. The most common occurrences of this are | | | | The third problem and perhaps the most |
| when the police perform roadside checks and scan all | | | | controversial, is whether ANPR infringes on |
| of the cars that drive past with a portable device. | | | | people’s privacy too much. With some cities and |
| The cars which are identified as uninsured or criminal | | | | counties wanting to cover all their borders with ANPR |
| are then pulled over and the drivers are questioned. | | | | cameras, all that would need to happen is for a |
| The false positives can arise when the officer | | | | centralised database to be created, that records |
| operating the camera does not have a good view of | | | | where and when number plates have been seen, and |
| the plates as they pass, which can lead to the device | | | | anybody who has access to this, could potentially |
| identifying some plates incorrectly, for example, | | | | chart all the trips an individual has made across the |
| reading an “8” as a “B” or not being | | | | country. |
| able to view the whole plate. When this happens, | | | | Whether the benefits of ANPR outweigh these |
| somebody who does have their car fully insured may | | | | problems, is something that each individual must |
| be pulled over and be asked to prove this. There | | | | make their own mind up about, but the authorities |
| have been more and more reports of this happening | | | | seem to think that the benefits do outweigh these |
| and each time it does, the police have to phone up | | | | problems. |
| the insurance companies to check whether the car | | | | |