Project provides insight into how ANPR can improve road safety

A project has identified a number of ways the effective usage of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology can improve road safety outcomes.

The 12-month ANPR Capability Project, jointly funded by The Road Safety Trust and Gloucestershire Constabulary, was carried out under the stewardship of the force’s Director of Specialist Operations, Superintendent Paul Keasey.

Whilst ANPR technology lies at the heart of a range of multi-agency efforts to effectively and efficiently police the UK road network, the key focus of this project was to identify ways to improve road safety outcomes. 

The project found that ANPR can help encourage multi-departmental and multi-agency collaborative efforts towards tackling those drivers and vehicle keepers that present the highest safety risk to themselves and other road users.

Similarly, it can help make better use of roads policing resource by helping to prioritise enforcement and compliance interventions.

Ruth Purdie OBE, Chief Executive of The Road Safety Trust, said: “This project has clearly identified the benefits of ANPR when it comes to improving road safety.

“The findings have the potential to safeguard road users - and ultimately save lives.”

As part of the project, a series of pilot activities were designed, conducted, and evaluated.

One of the pilots was carried out with Trading Standards, aiming to ensure that registration plates are correctly issued and meet minimum standards, so that they can be read by ANPR technology.

A second developed a range of interventions to improve Gloucestershire Constabulary’s operational capability with ANPR technology.

Such was the quality of this work; it formed the basis of a successful application to the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund and led to the establishment of the ANPR Uplift Programme.

This programme is significantly enhancing the force’s ANPR estate and capability.

The approach taken with this exercise has been fed back to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) ANPR portfolio, with elements of the findings being acknowledged as being highly relevant to capability levels in other forces.

Superintendent Paul Keasey said: “People should be able to feel safe and travel safely around our county. It is our belief that safe roads are a foundation of a safe Gloucestershire.

“Working closely with The Road Safety Trust, this project has significantly enhanced and evolved our ability to maximise ANPR capability, thus positively influencing road user behaviour and improving driving culture, which will continue to be critical if we are to improve road safety.”