***Also at work so excuse any grammar, spelling, or repeats. Was actually on a conference call when typing this up
ShortyInCanada said:
"puts a measure of law enforcement capability into 100% civilian hands."
Actually, the equipment is in private hands but the onus of everything reported would still be through the local law enforcement system. You would have no more control over enforcement of laws than you do now. The only difference is that you would be another set of eyes for spotting violations. It will still be up to the "system" to determine IF you were correct and IF further actions should be made.
While in theory you care correct, in practice you are not. Providing another way for people to snitch on each other will cause overzealous enforcement, which will be detrimental, and can easily get out of hand.
The whole idea of this "system" seems very Orwellian to me.
"Sometimes cops do an awful job"
A surveilance system in private cars would hold them accountable to laws too. You ever have a "cop" drive in a way that constitutes above the law that you have seen ? There are strict rules & regulations for them too. A picture or video would be undeniable proof.
In many states in the US you are not even allowed to film on duty police officers. While this would be great, in equalizing enforcement and "watching the watchers" it will never fly.
Strict traffic enforcement for cops?... Now that's a laugh. Cops are the only ones that are specifically exempt from
any traffic rules in most cases. Even without a siren on.
"one bad driver chasing another trying to catch a shot of a license plate"
A mounted system in your vehicle would make this uneccessary. Low grade video imaging devices with computer filtering and control already are in use around the world for collecting tolls on bridges, finding parking violators, etc. The technology to locate, read, and record license plates is cheap and easily available.
While the technology is certainly out there, I think you're ignoring the human factor, and that the technology has a crapload of flaws and problems.
If you give people a reason to chase one another, they will.
"you have the right to face your accuser,"
This is an easy one as the evidence is the "accuser" in the legal system. The admissablility of video and photo evidence has been established. The picture or video is deemed to be the "accuser" as it is a more reliable and completely unbiased reporter of the events.The trick will be to make it so the driver is recognizable.
In this case you're 100% off base. Since the cameras are mounted on your personal vehicle and being operated by you... YOU are the primary witness.
Also tinted windows, and glare aside, more often then not, you're going to be seeing and paying attention to acts in FRONT of you. This means in most cases your camera won't see the driver. Even multiple cameras would not be sufficient in most cases, and the LAST thing that should happen is someone actually using a handheld camera.
Finally let's not forget the whole privacy issue. Do you remember the whole google street view fiasco? Specifically the fact that they were required to blur out all faces, and not take pictures of certain areas? If not, google it.
Bottom line... it's not happening.
"solution to shitty driving is not all out enforcement and punishment. It's education."
In concept this is true. However making it work is the problem. This is why enforcement & punishment are the hardest part of laws. I took that into consideration and as history proves, only after getting enough press about the violators being caught in the act do people start to pay attention and change their ways. If you couldn't tell who might be able to provide proof of your bad driving habits and illegal activities then you would have to be more careful ALL the time.
Actually more often then not, history proves the opposite. For example consider murder. People have been caught red handed (sometimes literally) for centuries. Has that stopped murders?
Great, so now I have to worry about that freaking grandpa doing 50mph on a 55mph highway, reporting me when I blow past him doing 70?
Sorry but I'll pass (put intended) on this idea. It's enough that these are usually the same guys constantly calling in their suspicions from watching neighbors through binoculars.
"take note of the license plate and call it in. "
Although this leans towards your other point of "one bad driver chasing another trying to catch a shot of a license plate" there is another problem with this idea. I have tried reporting incidents like I described with multiple plates and vehicle descriptions. Unfortunately the authorities can do nothing without confirmation of the operator of the vehicle as someone can always claim that they weren't driving it at the time. That is why you need high quality optics for video to capture the operators likeness. This could be easily compared to the picture from the driver's license photo on file with the DMV.
Comes back to the issue of tech, and handheld cameras... not a good idea.
"you could take the driving test in languages other than english?"
Here in BC it is available in multiple languages. And if you drive around there are more & more communities with most, if not all, of their signage in another language. I am starting to believe that white English speaking people are the minority around here.
If it's not the case already, it will be soon. I don't really see it as a problem though. White people will continue to be a very large minority and most powerful minority. What pisses me off is
any kind of double standard. Laws should be equal to everyone.
Don't overlook that the first action by the authorities would simply be a letter or two telling you that you have been noticed driving unsafely. Only by continuing to drive poorly or recklessly would it escalate to more.
Included in my original thought was the recording of information about the person doing the recording too. Think about that ! If you are speeding down a highway at 2 A.M. doing 20% faster than the posted speed when someone in a $500,000 lightning bolt on wheels blows by you...if you want to report him you incriminate yourself too.
This would work as a check & balance system for the "recorder". So either you drive like prude all the time OR you learn to take things in stride and only worry and report the really bad instances.
A point that most people would reach in, I would hope, a fairly short time. And then you still would need to download the info, submit it for consideration, then if accepted you would need to verify the submission and authenticate a legal chain of posession/transport for the submission. etc. Enough of a legal hassle to further weed out superfluous submissions.
I would expect that the end result would be that maybe 1% of the events witnessed and recorded would end up being prosecuted.
BUT the general perception of the public (if the press is good enough) would be exagerated enough that a much larger percentage would alter their bad driving habits.
This is the end result that would be desired.
If your goal is behavior modification... start putting up signs that display the speed limit. These have shown to actually do a very good job in getting people to alter their driving habits.
And what a crash recording you would have if you were involved in a motor vehicle accident too.
Most newer cars already have that. It's called an event data recorder. You have to remember that newer cars especially, have a whole lot of processing power in them and record data such as speed, gas pedal application, break pedal application, turning of the wheel, etc,.
Unfortunately there is no regulation for the gathering of this information, or calibration of the equipment... so again, law hasn't come close to catching up technology, and neither caught up to common sense.
Lastly remember that there are already devices in the very vast majority of cars that detect the movement of the car, the identity of who is occupying the car (to a degree) and a whole lot of other data.
These devices are cell phones.
All in all, it's been an interesting discussion, but I see no way that you can overcame several very major obstacles to the idea of drivers monitoring drivers.
