Police in England Using Unmarked Semi to Catch Texting Drivers

A two-man team with an officer as a driver and a second one with a camera will be cruising around England's major freeways in a MAN big rig starting March 30, according to Auto Express, and the truck will rotate around 45 police forces in England to go on patrol for law-breakers. The plan is to look down into nearby vehicles to see if the people are doing anything against the law behind the wheel, like talking on a cell phone or texting. If the surveillance semi catches anyone, the cops inside can radio nearby police to nab the offender, and the the authorities expect to catch thousands of motorists using this stealthy method.

The cops already tested this scheme for three months last year and stopped 436 vehicles for 462 offenses in that time. The most common infractions were folks using a cell phone. "The aim of extending the project to a national initiative is not revenue generation but to improve driver behavior," said a Highways Agency spokesperson to Auto Express. Once news of this strategy gets around, traffic around any MAN trucks is probably going to be a lot more law-abiding.