Radar cases in Germany: on the trail of speeding drivers for 60 years

Bremen, July 2017. Exactly 60 years ago, the North Rhine-Westphalian interior ministry in Düsseldorf used a speed camera for the first time in Germany in a trial test. One year later, the “Traffic radar 2 device”, manufactured by the company Telefunken, went into series production. Since then, measuring technologies have developed from radar to light barriers to laser. One thing has, however, remained the same: vehicle identification of the number plate by photo. Hereby, fraudsters who manipulate number plates or speeding drivers who are not identified due to poor weather conditions often get away unpunished. Now this problem could be solved by an RFID chip with identification number integrated in the vehicle’s number plate. The IDePLATE® manufactured by Tönnjes E.A.S.T. offers this function and may be decoded by authorised reading devices. “Last year, a field test in cooperation with the Dutch defence ministry showed that our system records the vehicles 100 per cent – regardless of how bad the weather or lighting is,” says Dietmar Mönning, Managing Director Tönnjes E.A.S.T. “The time has come to make camera based speed traps a thing of the past.”

A car speeds past a police car and the police follow it and, in doing so, film their own speed indicator. A complicated and inefficient way of catching speedy drivers yet, in the mid-fifties, this was the only method. With 13,000 fatalities each year as a result of car accidents at the time, the state had to act. As a comparison: in 2016, nine people a day were killed on the roads. Each year there are approximately 45,000 accidents caused by speeding. “Recordings are therefore essential and, at the same time, the technology should be reconsidered to ensure more justice and safety,” says Mönning. Time and time again, police report cases in which speeding drivers push their dangerous driving to the limits: in Munich’s Richard-Strauss tunnel, for example, a motorcyclist was caught speeding on camera 26 times in three months yet it wasn’t possible to identify the number plate due to the high speed. “This would not have happened with the IDePLATE®,” said the managing director. A stationary reading device would have read the individual numbers of the number plate and exposed the speeder.

“Stolen number plates are also a major security vulnerability,” explains Mönning. According to estimates of the Allgemeinen Versicherungs-AG (German insurance company), 160,000 number plates are stolen in Germany every year. “In this country, vehicle identification is only by means of number plate and photos and this is open to abuse.” The Tönnjes E.A.S.T. system also includes a windscreen sticker, the so-called IDeSTIX® which, similar to the IDePLATE®, incorporates a digital chip. If a number plate is affixed to another car, this “third number plate” will allow the mobile or stationary reading devices to identify that the characteristics do not match. Data protection is ensured by the Dutch cooperation partner NXP Semiconductor, the encoding technology specialist. “This technology improves not only radar cases but can also help ease border controls and offer important information in solving terrorist cases.”

About J.H. Tönnjes E.A.S.T. GmbH & Co. KG:
As a leading provider of vehicle security number plates, Tönnjes E.A.S.T. offers its customers vehicle identification solutions which meet a wide range of requirements. Products are used to help prevent manipulation, fraud and theft. With the latest technologies, the company develops modular systems and individual complete solutions which fulfil specific safety, organisational and logistical requirements.

Press contact:
Thorsten Preis
DENKBAR – PR & Marketing GmbH
Güntherstraße 13/15
28199 Bremen
Tel.: +49 (0) 421-699 255-10
toennjes@denkbar-pr.de

Annemarie Neumair
J.H. TÖNNJES E.A.S.T. GmbH & Co. KG
Syker Str. 201
27751 Delmenhorst
Tel.: +49 (0) 4221-795-315
a.neumair@toennjes.com

This release was published on openPR.