Gardaí will immediately be able to see whether or not you have insurance.
Gardaí have tested a new type of technology in Limerick in a crackdown on uninsured drivers on the roads, and it has been seen as a success.
Garda vehicles are equipped with ANPR, or Automatic Number Plate Recognition, which uses optical character recognition technology to automatically read vehicle registration plates and is used in patrol cars by many police forces worldwide.
According to Gardaí, the technology can read number plates at a rate of six per second on vehicles travelling up to 180km/h.
Insurance companies are going to provide Gardaí with lists of vehicles that have insurance cover on them and those that don’t, which will be loaded into the ANPR system and allow Gardaí to know instantly whether or not a car is insured.
ANPR systems also include a speed detection capability. This allows for the measuring of the speed of a vehicle travelling in front of a patrol vehicle. The video camera records on-the-scene evidence of speeding, and offences such as dangerous driving, crossing continuous white lines and breaking red lights.
One of the main benefits of the system is that the plate recognition can run in the background while Gardaí are measuring speed or attending to other issues as demands dictate.
All vehicles fitted with ANPR camera systems will be able to identify vehicles as being stolen, untaxed, suspect, cited as connected with terrorist suspects, crime groups, drug trafficking, people trafficking and/or persistent offending.
The initial nationwide roll out of ANPR in An Garda Síochána was completed in 2010. There are approximately 100 operational units and are now fitted with 3G technology.
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