Some new technology is coming to read license plates and help improve road safety in the province.
SGI is investing in automatic license plate readers, which will be used by the RCMP and municipal police agencies.
These readers would use infrared technology to scan licence plates and alert law enforcement whenever the plate is linked to stolen or unregistered vehicles, suspended drivers, reported impaired drivers or even those wanted by police.
Already it has been used in larger settings such as at the Craven Country Jamboree in dealing with reports of impaired drivers. The licence plate numbers can be uploaded into the system and then used to find and apprehend the driver while they are on the road.
Law enforcement agencies are touting this technology as helping get high risk drivers off the road, with the time it takes to check licence plates reduced dramatically.
Currently 13 police vehicles across the province are equipped with licence plate readers and SGI has spent $485,000 on the technology, with more expected in the future.
SGI's investment in this technology comes on the heels of the recommendations of the Special Committee on Traffic Safety and its final report. That committee included MLA Herb Cox in its ranks.
"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," said Andrew Cartmell, president and CEO of SGI, in a statement.
