It's the high way patrol

SYDNEY - A police plane will take to the skies over Christmas to target speeding and dangerous driving.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says the force's Cessna will supplement highway patrol cars.

"We know that over longer distances, particularly highways in the western part of this state ... aircraft like this will allow our officers ... to see well over the radar," Scipione told reporters yesterday.

"They'll see much further down the road than anyone that might be in a car."

Officers in the plane will use radar and special markings on the road to detect speeding from the air.

Uncharitably dubbed "Pigs in Space" by critics, police planes were tried and scrapped in the 1980s.

However, Scipione said technology had improved greatly and the plane would be an important tool for policing over the holiday season.

"An aircraft has been used before ... but things have moved on since then," he said.

"Things like forward-looking infra-red radar systems weren't invented then."

Scipione said similar programmes had been used successfully in parts of Canada.

New South Wales' road toll is now 444, up 93 on the same time last year, which ended with the lowest number of road deaths in the state since World War II.

- AAP