Too Far? Britain May Soon Use Cameras to Monitor, Capture Uninsured Drivers at the Pump
- Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:18pm by
Erica Ritz
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England’s government is looking to crack down on uninsured motorists, and they’re considering using a comprehensive network of CCTV cameras at gas stations to do it.
The potential plan? A license recognition program on the cameras would cross-check license plate numbers with a list of insured drivers, and if found to be fraudulently driving, the pump would simply shut off and local patrols would be alerted.
The hope is that, by removing their ability to get gas, uninsured drivers will either be forced off the road, or into an insured vehicle.
England has around 1.4 million uninsured drivers, which is roughly 1 in 25 of those on the road. They are responsible for killing around 160 people per year, and since they are uninsured, are much more difficult to trace and bring to justice. Their other behavior costs insurance companies roughly £500 million (roughly $781.63 million) a year, adding roughly £30 ($47) to every annual premium.
Most gas stations in England already have private CCTV systems to prevent gasoline theft, so the only major expenditure would be installing the real-time license recognition technology.
Some, however, say this is going a step too far.
Even though the information isn’t being aggregated, many insured drivers don’t necessarily like the idea that the government can both track them, and deny them services over a looming camera.
Similarly, there are concerns that the new “gas station program” will be as inefficient as other measures enacted by government. What if there is a mistake and an insured driver isn’t allowed to fill his tank? How long will it take him to sort out that mess? And will this lead to government monitoring your carbon emissions, too?
Gas station owners and employees have concerns of their own.
Brian Madderson of from RMI Petrol said, “Staff are already getting stick from motorists for high fuel prices…This proposal will increase the potential for conflict. Our cashiers are not law enforcers.”
What do you think? Is this technology creepy, or practical? And how long do you think before our government implements its own version? And what other ways could this technology be used?
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Comments (45)
thestargazer
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 7:53pmSeems like the UK did not learn anything from Germany.
Report Post »One of the Quiet Ones
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 10:36pmI don’t think all in the UK were against the Germans. They probably didn’t like getting bombed but shared some views otherwise.
Report Post »thestargazer
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 7:51pmNot Big Brother, Gestopo.
Report Post »thestargazer
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 7:50pmGestopo??????
Report Post »txjb
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 5:59pmThis is not new , every major country is getting in line for the New World Order . But about the insurance part , it’s already know if you have it or not .That license plate has been scanned a dozen times all day .
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on March 14, 2012 at 12:22amThis is frightening to watch our freedoms and liberties vanish before our eyes. Yeah, yeah, it is wrong not to have insurance, I agree. What I don’t agree with is the way this opens the door for even more government control over every aspect of our lives. You can bet the US will follow with this in time. We are being watched and spied on from every direction.
Report Post »TooManyRedneckConservatives
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 4:41pmThey already have cameras EVERYWHERE. You think they don’t use it to monitor people? Instead of worrying about big brother (which is already happening whether you like it or not, it’s called the homeland security act, signed into office by your favorite republican, George W) why not use this “evil” technology for some good, like catching illegal uninsured motorists, preventing crimes, etc.? No matter how much you hate it, you cannot go back to the middle ages, technology is here to stay. Once the technology has been developed, it is almost impossible to suppress. Apple has the right to track everything that you do, yet you don’t see anyone giving up their iPhones and iPads. Won’t happen.
Report Post »RIGEL_ORION
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 3:47pmIt’s the modern day equivalent of
“Where are your papers?!!!, Where are they?!!!”
A free society? It’s getting to the point where characters in the Sims have more freedom.
Report Post »BlackCrow
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 3:31pmIn the United States you are a citizen. In the UK you are a subject. There is a big difference.
Report Post »db321
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 5:35pmOnce was a Citizen!
Report Post »Wishmich
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:57pmEmbed a camera in everyone’s forehead and then you can watch every single thing they do. Sounds absurd, but give it a few years before they think of it.
Report Post »annathule
Posted on March 15, 2012 at 12:38amMight be the Mark of The Beast for all we know. Don’t give them any new ideas!! They’ll figure out a way to do it!
Report Post »jado1981
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:51pmAnd my first question is, “Who is to pay for this fancy new license plate monitor thingy? If I owned a service station, I’d just refuse to to pay for it, maybe advertise that I don’t run a background check on everyone who wants gas.
Report Post »Secondly, what about the person who wants gas for their lawnmower, or power equipment? Do we need to buy insurance for that too?
justsomesense
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:41pmWhy not just go ahead and install cameras in everyone’s home. You can catch everything they do right there. Save some time and expense. This society is totally controlled. I would yell and scream if I was a Brit.
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:54pmDo you have a camera attached to your computer? If yes, then you can be hacked and watched, and you paid for it.
Report Post »tmplarnite
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:25pmBrits are idiot…always have been…this silly country cuts off it‘s own nose to spite it’s own face….shades of “1984”. Big brother is watching… even in your bedroom. Burn the palaces and the (german) royals down… they are very, very well paid WELFARE RATS…just like Moochelle and O’Vomit!
Report Post »Minonkman
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:23pmSo I have a right to health care, and no right to drive and go to work to pay for my health care.
Report Post »sasquatch08
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:05pmWhy would you go to work? Let some other shumck work and have him pay for your healthcare. That’s what the ACA does.
Report Post »timej31
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:19pmWait a minute. Wouldn’t requiring insurance be disenfranchising the poor and Hispanics and other minorities?
Report Post »pavepaws
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 3:15pmI believe they’re exempt.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:17pmGoing after uninsured drivers sure sounds racist to me…
BTW, correct me if I am wrong but I thought we bought CAR INSURANCE for this very reason? It is a choice… if you don’t want it then you could pay dearly in the end but you buy it to cover your butt. My insurance is $7200 in NJ because I am paying for the lowlifes that get special rates. Once again, spread the wealth sucks!
Report Post »Gourdy
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:16pmAs someone who’s been hit twice by uninsured drivers, I like this a lot!
Report Post »TH30PH1LUS
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:09pmThe Matrix has you, England.
Report Post »Endstatism
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:05pmUninsured motorists may be a problem, but it does`nt justify creating a surveillance state to fight a problem. You can end up rationalizing away all your privacy and constitutional rights to fight this problem and that social ill. Maybe the underlying issue in the UK is automobile insurance is unaffordable.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:52pmNo one has reported on the “Clean Underwear” Detector incorporated into the cameras. It checks to make sure you put on clean underwear before you left the house, just in case you get into an accident. They will also be checking your phone records to make sure you called your mother recently, and a camera will be checking to make sure you washed behind your ears.
The new system is called Big Mother.
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 4:40pmToo funny!!
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:48pmThis is creepy. Private businesses should not be used to facilitate government monitoring. It would be better to validate insurance at registration renewal every year and force insurance companies to report anyone who drops coverage to the licensing bureau.
Report Post »USPATRIOT101
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:29pmCastro has perfected this type of control and it works wonderfully.
Report Post »sasquatch08
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:07pmSo wonderfully in fact, that people are willing to pack themselves like sardines onto tiny rafts that I wouldn’t put in a small lake and attempt 80 miles of open sea just hoping to get foot on dry land in Florida and be given asylum.
Report Post »annathule
Posted on March 15, 2012 at 12:33amCome live in MD – within 24 hours, insurers are obligated, by law, to inform the state that you no longer have insurance and then you get an FR-19…$150 the first day, and $50 every day there after, ad infinitum. Oh yeah, it’s being done and buuu-leeeeve me, you never saw such a buncha (law abiding) citizens follow a law so closely! I’ve been in that position myself, having forgotten to mail a payment a few times, and I’ve pulled quite a few, frantic calls to my insurance company, praying like the Dickens that they haven’t reported me. Lucky for me, it‘s mostly happened over a holiday and they couldn’t report me yet, thank God! But we’ve been hit by one and it was NOT pretty…
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:40pmBritain is turning into the very country Orwell depicted in 1984.
Report Post »momrules
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:30pmSome angry driver, denied gasoline, will eventually take that anger out on the gas station employees.
I think this camera thing is getting completely out of hand. I don’t like it.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:43pmBigBrother… “1984”!
Report Post »spirited
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:26pmChicago is expanding it’s watchful eye as well.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:25pmToo much Law & Government! It’s time to START OVER!
Report Post »-KACK-
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:25pmI see nothing wrong with this. As long as the non-insured drivers are citizens. It would be so racist and evil if they caught illegal aliens doing it. In fact, illegals should be given gov’t cards for free gas and dynamite. They are just poor, misunderstood people who should be given every chance to murder us.
Report Post »00gabooga
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:43pmI agree. Driving is a privilege, not a right, which is why you need a license in the first place. I’m aware of the Big Brother comparisons, but that argument is without merit here. Believe me, the first time you‘re involved in an accident where an uninsured motorist is at fault you’ll be singing a different tune.
Report Post »SoupSandwich
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:49pmWhy are all the lib utopias going that way so fast? Broke beyond broke, but any way to screw the “citizens” is fair and lucrative in a sexy revenue tax sort of way. What illegals? No hable.
Report Post »justsomesense
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:45pmBig brother arguments are never without merit. Once the camel gets its nose under the tent….
Report Post »justsomesense
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:49pmBig brother comments are never without merit. Once the camel gets its nose under the tent….
Report Post »spirited
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:21pmChicago should be following this example shortly.
Report Post »