Unmanned military-style spy drones are to be used to monitor antisocial motorists under police plans.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) similar to those used to assist reconnaissance and airstrikes in Afghanistan could be in use by the 2012 Olympics.

A Home Office-backed partnership led by Kent Police aims to use them for “monitoring antisocial driving” as well as fly-tippers and protesters, according to a report in The Guardian.

A prototype equipped with high-powered cameras will begin test flights later this year, the paper says.

The scheme is a pilot for country-wide use of the technology for “surveillance, monitoring and evidence gathering,” documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

UAV’s can fly for 15 hours and reach altitudes of 20,000 feet, making them invisible from the ground.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will now be returning original driving licences (with an invalidating hole punched through the photo) to motorcyclists who request a replacement licence. But not automatically. You have to request that your old licence is returned.

The new procedure has been introduced because a number of motorcyclists had been issued with replacement licences (after moving house or applying for a photo licence) that had ‘lost’ their motorcycle entitlement resulting in them having to retake their bike test simply because they were unable to prove they’d previously held entitlements.

In one case highlighted on the BBC’s Watchdog programme, a long-serving police motorcycle mechanic found that he’d had his entitlement for a category A motorcycle licence removed. Despite having held a licence for 28 years and written support from his police superiors, he still had to take a new driving test. The decision to return the defaced original licence follows months of lobbying by the BMF and others over the issuing of replacement driving licences to motorcyclists applying for a replacement licence due to change of address, loss, renewal etc, who have then found that their replacement licence has not included the all-important ‘Category A’ motorcycle entitlement.

Previously photocopies or other written evidence of entitlements were unacceptable to the DVLA, but the BMF’s solution, similar to passport renewal, provides proof of entitlement.

BMF Government Relations Executive, Chris Hodder said: “This is a practical and low-cost solution to a persistent problem and we are pleased that the DVLA has responded to our lobbying in such a positive way.”

Thursday, 24 December 2009

MotoGP Pedrosa to focus on 2010 after op

The 24-year-old Spaniard had the screw inserted to aid his recovery from a fracture sustained during the season. The Repsol Honda rider ended the 2009 campaign in third place behind champion Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa, who won the final race of the season in Valencia, suffered an injury-plagued season, also damaging his knee.

 

 22 December 2009 15:52

Death of freestyle motocross rider remains shrouded in mystery


The recent cause of death of freestyle motocrosser Mike Cinqmars remains a mystery after a coroners
 autopsy failed to determine what killed the 31-year-old at his Californian home on December 11.
Cinqmars was found unconscious at his home on December 11 and taken to hospital but he died later
 that day. It was the final twist to a tragic story which saw the 1999 X-Games runner-up paralysed
 after breaking his back in 2001.
According to the local newspaper his sister Cassey Fisher explained he had become depressed since
 the accident.
She said: “There was nothing he could do in the industry. He couldn't ride again and he was struggling
 and he was down and out.
"He struggled with the fact that he was this rising star and suddenly he couldn't ride anymore."
According to the report in the Victorville Daily Press, Cinqmars' had been taken to the hospital after
 he had lost consciousness the day before he died.
Investigations into the cause of Cinqmars death are continuing.

Hi-tech average-speed cameras capable of catching motorcycles are finally ready for roll-out after winning Home Office type approval.

So-called Specs3 cameras are a new generation of the average-speed cameras already seen at motorway road-works across the country.

But whereas the old kind are all front-facing, the new ones can be rear-facing and therefore capable of reading motorcycle number plates.

The old ones measure vehicles’ speed between two points as they are only linked in pairs. But the new ones allow many to be linked together to create speed control zones in which vehicles are constantly monitored.

Maker Speed Check Services says the cameras will be on 20mph and rural roads.
A statement on the firm’s website says: ‘The long wait is over and Specs3 has received its full Home Office Type Approval.

'This means that the latest in average-speed enforcement technology can be applied on the UK road network.

‘Specs3 allows a network of cameras to measure the average speed of vehicles between camera locations, covering simple sections of road or area based networks…
‘Remote video cameras continually monitor traffic as it passes, routinely sending number-plate data back to a remote central server…

‘It is anticipated that Specs3 will be operated in 20mph zones, rural routes [and] strategic trunk roads.’