Met's traffic officers are the first in the country to be using the technology of Personal Digital Assistants - (PDAs).

Local specialist traffic officers are amongst the 60 who have been trained in the use of the PDAs as a way of issuing people committing offences with Fixed Penalty Notices.

The sort of offences Fixed Penalty Notices can be issued for are - speeding, using mobile phones whilst driving, not wearing seatbelts, cars being in a dangerous condition and driving through a red light.

Currently only the specialist traffic officers who patrol the main routes through Chiswick such as A4, A316 and A406 will be issued with PDAs. These officers can now input information straight in to a mini-computer which is then transmitted directly to the Traffic Criminal Justice Unit who will send out the Fixed Penalty Notice resulting in the process being slicker and speedier.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said “The traffic unit is dedicated to making London's roads safer for everybody that uses them. We have a large number of areas of expertise including vehicle examination, driver documentation, collision investigation and dealing with hazardous materials. Our expertise and knowledge means we can identify dangerous drivers and vehicles and offer extensive road safety advice to drivers and pedestrians.”

 

August 2, 2006