Cheating on the Carpool?

TechReview has a good article on a new infrared system that can tell people from decoys in an effort to catch people who sneek into carpooling lanes... are people really this desperate to go as far as costumed mannequins in passenger seats, dolls swaddled like babies--even dogs in bonnets?

A company called Vehicle Occupancy, based at Loughborough University, in Leicestershire, England, says that it has developed an infrared camera-mounted scanning system that foils 95 percent of such trickery.

Automated systems for counting passengers have a heightened appeal as many urban areas with crowded roadways contemplate occupancy-based tolls as a way to pay for new highway construction. "We are far better at looking inside the car than the human," says Tim Ballantyne, Vehicle Occupancy's director of business development. "We can see 95 percent of the people in the car, whereas a trooper sees just 65 percent." Vehicle Occupancy's system, dubbed Dtect, was tested against humans from a distance of 150 feet, with cars moving at about 50 miles per hour, Ballantyne says.

Read full article - 'Foiling Carpool-Lane Cheaters: A new infrared system can tell people from decoys'

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