At last, a camera to speed cars up!

CAMERAS which track car number plates are to be used across Edinburgh in a bid to ease the city's traffic jams.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras - which are used in London to collect the city's congestion charge - will be positioned at 62 points around the Capital to track traffic flow.

The special cameras take pictures of vehicle number plates and a computer system works out what route the vehicle is taking and how quickly it does it by reading the plate every time it passes a camera.

The information will allow transport chiefs to alter traffic lights according to where bottle-necks appear during peak times, when there are special events or there has been an accident.

The 600,000 system will eventually feed messages on to signs to be placed by the main routes into Edinburgh which tell drivers how long a journey to key destinations in the city is expected to take.

An ANPR system installed in Southampton last year has been hailed a success with average speeds during rush hour on busy routes rising by 3mph to 18mph.

The camera scheme is part of a wider project to improve traffic flow in the Capital which will also see late-running buses fitted with satellite technology which will keep traffic lights at green for approaching buses or change them from red more quickly.

Council officials today said that there will be no permanent record of the number plates photographed.

Neil Greig, policy chief with the AA, said the new technology would be welcomed by drivers if it means congestion is cut.

He said: "This sounds like a very positive use of this type of technology.

"Number plate recognition is often associated with the enforcement side of things and is unpopular with drivers but this is different. It is good that it will be used by the council for monitoring traffic flow and I hope this information is shared with the public as well."

The proposed system will cover approximately 62 sites across the city centre and main roads into the city.

Roy Morris, of the Romanse traffic management system in Southampton, which installed the ANPR system last year, said the 24 cameras it installed had proved a useful tool in cutting down on slow-moving tailbacks, particularly during rush hour.

He said: "We are trying to maximise the capacity of the roads network and we do this with the most up-to-date information possible. We can direct traffic away from a problem area and basically move the traffic around in a more intelligent manner."

Work on installing Edinburgh's system will start in November and is scheduled to finish in March.

Andrew Holmes, director of city development, said: "The innovative use of number plate recognition technology will be crucial in helping us ascertain how vehicles move around Edinburgh.

"Vehicle information could be registered at 62 camera locations dotted about the city and as the sophisticated technology recognises a number plate it would work out how the vehicle got to a destination, how quickly, and then we can analyse whether adjustments to traffic management, for example, altering the sequence at traffic lights, is necessary.

"The information will in time be made available to the public via the internet and roadside variable message signs.

"The tool will only be used for this purpose and no registration numbers are available to the system operator or kept on file."