Spain turns to helicopters to crack down on speeding
We've already seen speed cameras pop up in a few unusualplaces, but Spain now looks to be trying to extend their reach even further, with the country set to launch a fleet of helicopters aimed at cracking down on speeding in its major cities. According to theNewspaper.com, the helicopters will be equipped with Wescam MX15 forward-looking infrared cameras that'll take pictures of the target vehicle's license plate, while a separate radar system calculates the speed of the vehicle. Officials say that makes the system accurate from an altitude of 1,000 feet and distance of one kilometer (or 0.6 miles). While there doesn't appear to be a fixed timeline for getting things off the ground, Spain's Direccion General de Trafico hopes to eventually have helicopters deployed in seven cities, including Madrid, Valencia, and Seville, where we're guessing conventional speed camera detectors will soon be of little use.
[Thanks, Richard]
