A look inside the new highway patrol cars that can scan 1000 vehicles an hour

The technology on new highway patrol cars is like having an extra cop in the car and with the ability to look up any vehicle in an instant, rogue drivers will be caught out more than ever.

Senior Constable Ferdi Cokeleks tests out the new wheels. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Rolling automatic licence checks are adding a third eagle eye to highway patrols throughout Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Fawkner Highway Patrol, which covers Moreland, Hume and Moonee Valley, now boasts three of the 30 new vehicles available to Victoria Police, equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software.

Thanks to four cameras set up on the roof of the BMW sedans, the ANPR registers every visible licence place and automatically checks on an iPad for crimes such as unlicensed or suspended drivers or stolen vehicles.

Senior Constables Dane Leach (left) and Ferdi Cokeleks use the new technology. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The Leader was given a look at the technology in action, which can scan as many as 1000 cars per hour.

During a 15-minute period, five hits were registered on the system and three drivers were seen texting while behind the wheel.

Senior Constable Dane Leach said the technology allowed the officer in the passenger seat to focus on safety.

“It opens up a whole set of eyes onto the road, it’s like having a third member in the vehicle,” he said.

Four cameras are in place on the roof of the new vehicles. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Fawkner Highway Patrol acting Senior Sergeant Dean Pickering said the new system has seen a rise in the number of illegal drivers caught out.

“If you are driving suspended or in an unregistered car there is a high chance our paths will cross,’ he said.

“Any suspended drivers can expect their car to be impounded on the spot.”

The new vehicles will be put to use for 20 hours a day during Operation Regal, which runs for the entire Queens Birthday long weekend.

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Sen-Sgt Pickering said there will be an increased presence on the roads to combat the rising death toll.

“The number of lives lost on the roads is unacceptable,” he said.

“As a community we should all be concerned with the number of people killed on our roads.

“We are asking people to do the right thing across the weekend.”