SGI Funds License Plate Readers to Improve Road Safety

SGI is investing in technology to help improve road safety in Saskatchewan by funding automatic license plate readers for the RCMP and municipal police agencies.

Automatic license plate readers use infrared technology to scan license plates and alert police when the plate is linked to a stolen or unregistered vehicle, a suspended driver, a reported impaired driver or even a person wanted by police.

“The automatic license plate reader has been beneficial in larger settings, like the Craven Country Jamboree, where quite often we’ll get a report of a possible impaired driver,” said Constable Kaufmann with the White Butte RCMP, located in White City, Saskatchewan. “We can input the license plate number into the system and then use it to find the reported impaired driver and actually apprehend that driver while they’re on the road to prevent further incident.”

“License plate readers help keep Saskatchewan roads safe for all residents by identifying drivers that may be high risk,” said Andrew Cartmell, president and CEO of SGI. “Implementing technology to make roads safer was one of the recommendations made by the Special Committee on Traffic Safety in its final report, and that’s exactly what SGI is doing by funding these devices.”

There are currently 13 police vehicles across the province equipped with automatic license plate readers. To date, SGI has investment about $485,000 in this technology, with plans to purchase more devices in the future.

“The benefit of this technology is that it helps get the high risk drivers off the road,” said Constable Kaufmann. “We’ve gone from manually checking about 10 plates every 15 minutes to checking 10 plates in 10 seconds with the automatic license plate reader.”

To learn more about how the technology works, visit SGI’s website at www.sgi.sk.ca to watch a video.

Source: SGI