It looks like nothing more than a grate on the road, but the device in this picture is a sophisticated scanner that detects illegal tread depths as vehicles pass by. And it could be the British police’s new speed camera.
The set-up uses a combination of high-speed cameras and lasers to accurately measure the depth of each tyre groove, and sounds a warning if the central 75 per cent of the tyre has less than 1.6mm of tread.
An ACPO spokesman told Auto Express that evidence from the scanner wouldn’t initially result in points. “It would be used as a screening tool, with ?a checkpoint beyond,” he said.
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