Science: Science v. Speeders

In recent years attempts have been made to use infrared radiation (invisible vibration longer in wave length than visible light) to help fog-wrapped ships at sea. Some time ago Master Mariner Flavel M. Williams experimented with infrared cameras on two U. S. ships. The alert head of Pennsylvania’s State police, Commissioner Percy W. Foote, decided that infrared radiation could be utilized on land as well as on sea, asked Flavel M. Williams to help him put it to work catching traffic law violators.

It is sometimes difficult or impossible for police in patrol cars to read the license plates of a speeder because of headlight glare, fog, murk or because the lamp supposed to illuminate the license plate is extinguished. But such conditions would not affect infrared radiation. Last week Commissioner Foote’s plan was to install in patrol cars infrared cameras which would snap a picture of the license plate of a car ahead under the worst conditions. By means of a mirror arrangement the patrol car’s speedometer will be included in the picture, thus giving a record of the speeder’s speed.