| Vehicle and evidence gathering cameras |
| Written by Jason Minor | |
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In 2008 an ambulance is driving at normal speeds without lights or sirens on a quiet road. It is raining but not heavily, road conditions are wet but visibility is clear. The ambulance approaches a four way crossing. In the left turn lane ahead an SUV, signaling left, is clearly visible. Without any warning, the SUV turns right, directly across the path of the ambulance. With absolutely no chance of avoiding a collision, the ambulance smashes into the SUV. One of the crew can be heard exclaiming “What are you doing?” as the ambulance rolls to a halt following the collision.
How do we know so much about this innocent? Well, firstly it’s on YouTube. But it got there through an increasingly growing market for dashboard mounted surveillance cameras. Originally used to gather evidence of traffic stops gone wrong by police forces, their subsequent capturing of accidents has let insurance companies to offer discounts on vehicle insurance to organizations and even individuals who agree to install these cameras in their vehicles. These devices now cost less than five hundred dollars and are often found combined with GPS satellite receivers which can determine speed and direction of travel, all factors that can contribute to accidents. They store their footage on solid state SD cards of the variety sold for digital cameras, and have a mercury collision switch inside them which is triggered by a collision. The cameras constantly record and discard thirty to sixty seconds depending on model. When a collision occurs, the ten seconds prior to the collision and the ten seconds following are permanently stored on the SD card which can then be downloaded to prove liability. These cameras have also proved when an implausible story turned out to be true. In 2008 a rear facing dashboard camera captured the horrifying moment when the steering wheel link sheered leaving the driver of the bus with no steering control. The bus crashed into a parking lot and crushed a fortunately unattended car, and the driver was subsequently cleared of driving dangerously partially as a result of the dashboard camera footage which led to the investigation into the accident focusing on the steering column which was found to be defective. In the United Kingdom a system of cameras has been used in police cars for many years called ANPR – Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Motorola now manufacture a North American equivalent called ALPR for Canadian and American police forces. The cameras detect and read the license plates of all passing vehicles, and then compare the license plates to databases of taxation, inspection and insurance. Lack of any of these documents sounds an alarm and brings up the relevant details on the computer screen of the police car, enabling them to target uninsured vehicles aggressively whilst those vehicles are being used. Legislative changes in the UK now allow police to seize an uninsured vehicle on the spot; the vehicle is towed to a compound where it is held for up to a month. The owners can reclaim the vehicle – subject to paying a fine and storage costs – by attending the compound and proving that their documentation is now in order. Failure to do so within a month leads to the vehicle being crushed. The system was expanded in 2004 to include roadside cameras and cameras mounted in enforcement vehicles, and also to include on its list vehicles where the registered owner is suspected of being involved in serious crime such as drug smuggling or theft. Needless to say any stolen vehicle is also placed on the watch list, which effectively means that in a very short time following the report of a vehicle robbery, ANPR equipped police vehicles are monitoring every passing vehicle for the license plate of a stolen vehicle. This has led to an increase in numbers of vehicles recovered within the first hour after their theft. Cameras are fitted on busses and coaches these days to capture assaults and unruly behavior or vandalism on bus and coach services. Not only has this been effective in lowering the rates of vandalism or fights on buses, but felons are less likely to attack a bus driver who indicates the vandal proof camera and points out that any activity is being captured on film and may be handed to police to assist in prosecution. In fights where there are conflicting stories the camera is often the deciding factor in who is the primary aggressor. The age of the vehicle cameras has arrived and is here to stay. Whether fitted to protect the driver, to determine responsibility for traffic collisions or to gather evidence for criminal prosecutions, surveillance cameras form as much of a front line in the war against car crime as experienced officers. |
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