50 cameras to ease city jams (From Oxford Mail)

50 cameras to ease city jams

6:00pm Wednesday 21st January 2009

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Controversial number plate recognition cameras will form the centrepiece of a high-tech scheme to combat traffic congestion in Oxford.

The major car surveillance operation will see a network of more than 50 ANPR cameras recording details of daily journeys into and out of the city.

The ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras, along with 16 CCTV cameras, will be rolled out as part of a £1.25m Oxfordshire County Council initiative to help motorists avoid congestion hotspots.

The cameras will be used to feed information about traffic speeds on key roads back to a newly-created control room at the council’s Speedwell Street offices.

Council staff will soon be able to transmit important information to large electronic signs on the side of city roads.

The technology allows car registration plates to be scanned and run through databases. It has angered civil rights campaigners, who say the cameras are able to pinpoint the precise time and location of all vehicles on the road.

But County Hall has insisted information would not be passed on to police, with the cameras solely used to provide traffic information to motorists about how fast traffic is moving on particular roads.

Phil Earnshaw, of the county council congestion management team, said the cameras would erase the encrypted number plate details every hour.

He said: “The cameras will not be used for any other purpose than traffic management. Information will not be passed on to other agencies such as the police.

“Many of the cameras needed have already been installed. But more will be placed in and around the city soon.”

The council also plans to create a website to give early warnings of congestion. It is also hoped the information can be texted to mobile phones and sent to satellite navigation systems, radio and TV.

But Charles Farrier, the Oxford-based spokesman of the No CCTV group, said the police would inevitably press hard to make use of the ANPR cameras.

He said: “Recording car journeys in that detail goes far further than CCTV. Tracking people is a different game altogether.”

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “We are being kept being fully aware of what the county council is doing. As far as our own cameras are concerned, we will not be disclosing the location, or the number, of ANPR cameras operating in Oxfordshire, as it could hamper our ability to catch criminals in the county.”

WHERE THE CAMERAS WILL GO:

IN PLACE:

A40, at Cassington junction with B4449

A40, Sunderland Avenue/ Wolvercote Roundabout (two cameras)

A40, Green Road Roundabout, Headington

A44, Wolvercote Roundabout

A44, Pear Tree park-and-ride

Eastern Bypass – Horspath

Eastern Bypass – Rose Hill

Eastern Bypass – Kiln Lane

A423, Kennington Roundabout

A423, Hinksey Hill Interchange (two cameras)

A423, Heyford Hill Roundabout (two cameras)

Banbury Road – Cuttleslowe

Banbury Road – Moreton Road

Banbury Road – St Giles

Woodstock Road – Pear Tree park-and-ride

Woodstock Road – Wolvercote

Woodstock Road – South Parade

Woodstock Road – Moreton Road

Botley Road – Westway

Botley Road – Seacourt

Botley Road – Frideswide Square

A4144, Weirs Lane – Abingdon Road junction

A4144, Thames Street – Abingdon Road junction

A420, London Road – Northfield junction (two cameras)

A420, London Road – Windmill Road junction (two cameras)

A420, London Road – Headley Way junction (two cameras)

A420, London Place – Marston Road junction (two cameras)

A420, St Clements –The Plain (two cameras)

A420 west of A34

A420/A415

A420/A417

A420 Acorn Bridge

TO BE BUILT:

A40 Forest Hill Lay-By West bound – sign and camera

A44 Kings Canal Bridge – sign and camera

A40 Eynsham (Wasties roundabout) – sign and camera

B480 Sandford– sign and camera

A40 Wolvercote – sign and camera

A420 at Cumnor Slip – sign and camera

Banbury Road/South Parade

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