Singapore: New trial cameras installed in Loyang to keep an eye on unruly drivers

This new measure is expected to bring vehicle owners who skip maintenance and emission tests under the scanner.

vehicles on the road
Reuters

A new pair of trail cameras has been set up in Singapore to prevent vehicle owners from miss behaving. This new measure is expected to bring vehicle owners who skip maintenance and emission tests under the scanner.

The National Environment Agency(NEA) decided to run a trial by setting up new camera system that has the capacity to detect vehicles emitting smoke on the road.The automated system is tried and tested in Hougang earlier and now testing in Loyang.

NEA Spokesman told The Straits Times that, in order to tackle emission test from vehicles, cameras were used in the research and development efforts. However, Singapore still battles with smoky vehicles despite mandatory check on maintenance and quality of the fuel.

This digital camera system is nothing new to Singaporeans as they were launched as early as in 2014 to catch hold of traffic rule violators. Moreover, thumbprint scanning was made compulsory for travelers aged above six in April 2016 and currently in effect around all the major clearance zones for transport services like trains, buses, trucks, and goods vehicle. Another security measure was taken by the administration where they installed a Bio Screen for cars.

The step of installing cameras was initiated by Singapore Traffic Police during the analytics
release of the speeding vehicles, which has improved from last year. While the number of accidents, involving speeding cars, has decreased from 2014 by 10.4%, deaths due to these have reduced to 40 from 48.

This new measure has been welcomed by citizens of the Lion City. "I think it is a good idea. Even though we have vehicle inspections, a lot can happen between inspections.Diesel vehicles, if not well maintained, can be smoky within three months. Also, we have a lot of old ones around," Jaesen Ng, a commercial vehicle owner told to The Straits Time.

Singapore road safety system hopes that motorist and car travelers would keep a check on their speed due to the installation of new cameras.

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