On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 10:41:05 +0000, gwr4090 wrote:

Apparently, there are already a few police cars on the road equipped with
an automatic device which can read numberplates and determine in real
time by interrogating the DVLA computers whether the vehicle is taxed,
insured and (I think) MOTed. This is all done without intervention of the
police officer. It just sounds a warning buzzer and flashes up the number
of the offending vehicle. Apparently they have been very successful in
picking up some of the alarmingly large number of illegal vehicles. I
suspect that this will supercede the need for a numberplate microchip.

In fact, this is my solution to traffic congestion problems - a big
campaign against these vehicles could reduce traffic by about 20% at a
stroke and also make the roads a lot safer ! Perhaps they could set up a
few motorway type toll booths with similar cameras and automatic gates,
with a penalty of instant impoundment of illegal vehicles.

I think they simply need to do something about it - why not just have an
insurance disk like a tax disk in the Windscreen - or periodic blitzes ?