Singapore uses crime hotspots to plan traffic cameras

Singapore will use data on crime hotspots to plan where it should place speeding cameras.

The Traffic Police will use a new kind of camera which can be quickly moved to places where speeding is on the rise. The new “mobile speed cameras” will be used from this month.

“This is part of our efforts to curb errant road behavior and enhance our enforcement efforts at speeding hot spots,” the Singapore Police Force’s traffic unit said today.

The idea behind the hotspots approach is that police target their resources in specific locations where crime is the highest.

Singapore will place cameras where there are a high number of speeding violations and accidents, as well as “illegal racing hotspots”.

The new cameras have their power source and can be set up in new locations in a week, unlike traditional speeding cameras which are permanently fixed to a site.

They are painted in bright orange to make them more visible to drivers and discourage them from speeding. More cameras will also be set up in other “accident-prone locations”, it added, including at traffic signals.

Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia is using the hotspots approach to reduce crime. It has been particularly helpful when used with other measures, like installing CCTV cameras, recruiting more police officers and brightening street lights.

Image by Walter Lim, licensed under CC BY 2.0