{"id":20230,"date":"2015-06-15T11:40:25","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T17:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lasertech.com\/?p=20230"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:46:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T20:46:49","slug":"video-backed-traffic-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lasertech.com\/video-backed-traffic-enforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Video-Backed Traffic Enforcement Mandates on the Horizon for U.S. Police Departments"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Proven Technology and Tactics that Reduces Road Fatalities<\/h3>\n

\"\"\u201cThe most positive changes to road user behavior occur when road safety legislation is supported by strong and sustained enforcement, and public awareness.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 World Health Organization (WHO)<\/strong><\/p>\n

CENTENNIAL, Colorado \u2013 Video imaging will soon be a basic requirement for hand-held traffic enforcement devices in the United States, technology and law enforcement experts say, as some U.S. police departments mimic a global trend toward mandatory video and image evidence for speeding and other related citations.<\/p>\n

Speeding continues to be the most violated traffic law around the world, one that accounts for 27 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths annually \u2013 nearly 10,000 people \u2013 in the U.S. alone. With growing mandates for dashboard cameras inside police cruisers and the increased call for departments to equip officers with body cams, video-equipped traffic enforcement devices are the next step toward enhanced roadway policing, experts say.<\/p>\n

In fact, the World Health Organization\u2019s most recent Global Status Report on Road Safety<\/a> sets a lofty Sustainable Development Goal for reducing traffic fatalities around the world, and the United States has a long way to go in doing its part to help reduce global traffic-related deaths and injuries by 50% by 2020, something U.S. experts must look to improve with more stringent enforcement of the laws already in place.<\/p>\n

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According to the WHO report, \u201cthe most positive changes to road user behavior occur when road safety legislation is supported by strong and sustained enforcement, and public awareness.\u201d<\/strong> <\/em>The United States traditionally lags behind other countries in these areas, partially because of its general disagreement over mandating video-backed traffic enforcement cameras.<\/p>\n

While some municipalities across the U.S. are beginning to adopt video traffic enforcement, many more are reluctant to make the change as courts continue to stand by the testimony of sworn police officers as proof enough and consider it overkill to mandate video evidence.<\/p>\n

Ohio, for instance, has been an action-packed battleground in the U.S. debate over camera enforcement. A 2015 law<\/a> required traffic enforcement cameras be manned by sworn police officers, but that requirement recently was struck down in a state Supreme Court ruling<\/a>. Without officers required to be present for ticketing, critics say these cameras are merely a \u201ccash grab\u201d mechanism to boost public coffers and that they may even violate drivers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cVideo enforcement hasn\u2019t been widely established here yet, but it\u2019s just a matter of time before it dramatically improves officers\u2019 jobs, because we know it works.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert Barret, Ohio Police Officer<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, experts say evidence-based traffic enforcement delivers much-needed transparency for traffic citations, which will be the real force driving adoption across U.S. departments rather than a need to generate revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about generating income; it\u2019s about deterring habitual speeders and tailgaters from causing unnecessarily unsafe conditions,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> said Robert Barrett, a Police Officer and Subject Matter Expert in Traffic Enforcement in Ohio. \u201cHighly prosecutable enforcement reduces unsafe driving in problem areas.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Given the sometimes unfavorable public perception of police all over the world in recent years, video evidence supporting what the ticketing officer is enforcing will actually help restore confidence in law enforcement while also protecting drivers and their rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cVideo enforcement hasn\u2019t been widely established here yet, but it\u2019s just a matter of time before it dramatically improves officers\u2019 jobs, because we know it works,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Barrett said. \u201cAs long as the video portrays what the officer is reporting, it\u2019ll be a useful tool. Video is now part of the law enforcement system, and it\u2019s not going away.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

While video enforcement may not be going away, it hasn\u2019t caught on in the U.S. as it has internationally.<\/p>\n

Success Abroad<\/h3>\n

The end goal, experts say, is to increase safety on U.S. roadways as successfully as it\u2019s been done internationally. That\u2019s because video-backed traffic enforcement has caught on much more quickly outside the U.S. and has demonstrated real promise in curbing chronic speeding, reducing traffic-related injuries and deaths, and generally improving safety along roadways.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral countries around the world have made highly public campaigns to increase road safety using video-backed enforcement tools,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> said Franck Margerin, Europe & Africa Sales Director, Laser Technology Inc. (LTI). \u201cThe goal is to reduce the forces dedicated to speed enforcement and have them transferred to higher-priority security tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some recent examples:<\/h4>\n