Controversial app turns smartphone into speed camera

LONDON: Speedcam Anywhere is a British mobile application that lets users measure, with great accuracy, the speed of any car, just by filming it for a few seconds.

Currently only available in the UK, it is, not surprisingly, proving somewhat controversial.

With this application, anyone can turn their smartphone into a mobile speed camera.

The app’s founder, identified as Sam (not his real name), was reported by The Guardian as saying that he hoped widespread use of the app would alert police to speeding hotspots and encourage them to take more action to prevent dangerous driving. “I think this is a step in the bigger journey of how we make our roads safer and more accessible for everybody."

To find out the speed of a car, all a user has to do is point the phone camera at the vehicle and film it for a few seconds (in a stationary position, without following it). The film will then be analysed, and the vehicle's speed calculated to an accuracy of about 3kph.

Note that the application works on the basis of credits. For £14.99 (RM83), the user is entitled to analyse no less than 1,000 videos.

Each video is uploaded to the publisher's servers and analysed by algorithms.

The result is a complete and precise report sent by email.

This report indicates the precise location where the action was filmed, as well as the speed of the vehicle, compared to the authorised speed.

This report also specifies the air quality and the noise pollution level of the area, as well as the latest road accident statistics.

While the application is able to identify the make, model and year of the vehicle, it does not record the licence plate number and therefore does not provide any information about the owner of the car.

This application has been designed for use in urban areas, where pedestrians are particularly at risk from speeding vehicles. It is recommended to use the application while standing at the side of the road. In no case should it be used from a moving vehicle.

The publisher specified that in Britain, it is authorised to take pictures of private property and people in public spaces, with the notable exception of minors.

However, the law varies from country to country, which explains why, for the moment, Speedcam Anywhere is only available in the UK, on Google Play (Android) only.