Wi-fi cameras mean no escape for drivers

Wi-fi speed cameras that could give blanket coverage to entire housing estates or even towns are being tested in the Blackwall Tunnel.

They are capable of fining hundreds of speeding drivers every minute.

Unlike conventional traps that catch drivers at a single location, the cameras monitor motorists' speeds over a vast network of roads.

The wi-fi technology enables large groups of cameras to communicate.

The cameras, made by RedSpeed, have been installed in the north bore of the Blackwall Tunnel. They catch drivers exceeding 30mph at any point along the northbound bore of the tunnel that is nearly a mile long.

Details of each car's number plate are beamed from the camera at the entrance of the tunnel to a second camera on the A13 slip road and a third at the exit. Computer software automatically calculates whether the car was speeding.

The London Safety Camera Partnership said the cameras were not yet live and were undergoing trials to gauge their effectiveness.

A Transport for London spokesman said: "It is particularly important to trial measures that could be used to enforce speed limits and reduce road accidents, especially in an environment such as the Blackwall Tunnel, where a crash could cause disproportionately high casualties."