4 months ago 23rd Feb 14:17
A new generation of road camera which can count how many people are in a car is to undergo trials for the first time.
The new camera's will initially be used to monitor car-sharing lanes in Leeds though councils across the UK are said to be interested in using the technology.
Four out of five cars driving into cities at rush hour only have one person in them, and the government believes encouraging people to share journeys will help combat congestion so it is driving an initiative to get councils to look at creating more high occupancy vehicle lanes.
Enforcing the lanes has previously been a problem. In the US drivers often trick police and cameras with dummies and even large dogs to allow them use lanes reserved for more than one person.
The new camera developed at Loughborough University can see how many people are in a car by detecting water and blood content.
Hundreds of the cameras have been sold to the US and could lead to a big increase in the number of car share lanes on British roads.
The inventor of the camera, Professor John Tyrer from Loughborough University believes the camera is key to reducing congestion.
"It allows you to automatically count people. That means you can sort out the congestion on the roads now the lanes now actually work properly," he said.
"That pools through to the congestion charging so they can charge differently or reduce the rates dramatically if you've got more people in the cars, and the same with car parking." Car sharing lanes are already in operation in cities such as Birmingham and Leeds.
In Birmingham only cars carrying at least two people, are allowed to join motorbikes and cycles in using the lane, in a bid to ease congestion into the city centre.
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