Mobile traffic police crews in Vitebsk region will be equipped with video recorders

According to police officers, and the drivers themselves, the need for this has been long overdue. It has been observed that even the most brazen and hooligan "road" offenders change for the better when caught on video cameras. After talking with specialists and going on a raid with traffic police officers, the "VV" correspondent became convinced of this personally.

Road Checks

Evenings and nights on weekends are a "hot" time for traffic police officers. Serious accidents happen more often, and gross violations of traffic rules are committed. In the regional center, there are usually 5-6 mobile traffic police crews on duty at this time. One Friday evening, I "worked" with one of these crews.

…Captains Mikhail Anyukhovsky and Alexander Avdeev have been working in the traffic police for a long time and have seen a lot on duty, so they welcome the installation of video recorders.

— Some of our officers independently acquire video recorders, "arm themselves" with dictaphones, — says Mikhail Anyukhovsky. — You sometimes chase a speeder who ignores the stop signals, and the device records everything. And when the unfortunate driver starts to lie brazenly, claiming that he did not violate anything and simply "did not notice" the patrol car, it is enough to say that there is a video recording. And we record drunk or overly aggressive drivers on the dictaphone. This is a great help in subsequent proceedings.

A traffic police crew's work shift is nine hours. During this time, 10-15 violation reports are usually drawn up, and several traffic accidents are processed. Recently, the main headache for the State Automobile Inspectorate officers has been parking in the wrong places, speeding, and also drunk pedestrians.

Unfortunately, in the evenings, it's appropriate to station traffic police officers near all large stores located by the roads. Despite the presence of a pedestrian crossing nearby, dozens of pedestrians cross the road in the wrong place. We catch up with a middle-aged man who flagrantly violates traffic rules: he climbs over the road barrier and, talking on his mobile phone, crosses in the wrong place, and even drags a child by the hand. After introducing themselves and explaining the situation, the police officers seat the offender in a service vehicle. He does not object, only quietly says: "No need to lecture. I'm guilty. How much do I have to pay?". While the report was being drawn up (and the fine, by the way, was 100 thousand rubles), I learned his opinion about dashcams. "It's a useful thing," the man said. "Then we will violate less, and the police will be more correct."

Half an hour later, we were already on one of the busy streets of the city with a radar, where the speed limit is 40 km/h. Although some speed enthusiasts are not deterred by such a sign. Recently, there was a case where police officers recorded a speed of 148 km/h using a radar. The daredevil had to give up his license for six months.

We stop three foreign cars one after another for speeding, and two of them have working dashcams. All drivers sign the reports without question and pay the fines.

"What can you say about this?" one of the speeders forces out. "I drive under a camera, and with a motion sensor and speed recording. If I violate, I'll pay, but if I'm wronged, I'll prove my case."

Closer to midnight, I am "handed over" to another traffic police crew, which has detained a drunk driver in a "Zhiguli" with Russian license plates. 1.72 per mille of alcohol in the blood! Almost 6 times higher than the permissible limit. The guy, about thirty years old, stumbles, speaks with a lisp, but knows his rights. "And who are you?" he nods at me. "Why are you recording on a dictaphone, maybe you'll take pictures too? I forbid it!". The traffic police officers barely manage to calm down the heated motorist. His story is simple: he has no license (and never had one!), works in Russia, where he got the car from a friend, and came home to visit.

When dealing with such inadequate individuals, video recording is a real lifesaver for law enforcement officers. Given the increased responsibility for drunk driving, one can expect anything. For example, one intoxicated female driver even started tearing her clothes off, shouting that she was being raped, another drunk individual locked himself in the car, hoping to sober up that way, and how many tried to escape... Under the "lens" of cameras, such "antics" will surely become less frequent.

Expert Opinion

The head of the inter-district department of the traffic police of the regional executive committee's internal affairs department, Alexander Stepanov, has been involved in administrative practice for many years, and a lion's share of traffic rule violators pass through him. He calls the current situation on our roads controllable but believes that video recorders will be very useful.

— I have personally been using this device for two years now, — says Alexander Evgenievich. — I feel more protected. Moreover, it seems to me that the more cameras there are on the roads, the calmer motorists behave, and there is less outright rudeness.

To initiate traffic police checks for various traffic violations, only a written application or an electronic request is required. Now, these are often supplemented with a disc containing a video recording or a link to a video online. Moreover, there are more and more concerned citizens in Vitebsk. Drivers, outraged by the behavior of road hooligans, bring recordings of violations of maneuvering rules, running red lights, and emergency situations to the traffic police. They are found and punished. And recently, for example, a video recording helped determine the culprit in a traffic accident. One driver parked on the roadside and was backing out onto the road. At that time, another car was moving past, and a collision occurred. The driver of the parked car claimed that their car, which was calmly parked on the roadside, was brazenly hit. Fortunately, the dispute was resolved by the driver of a nearby car. His dashcam put all the dots on the "i"s.

"However, it should be understood that a video itself is not proof of guilt," explains Alexander Stepanov. "Like any other source of evidence, it is subject to verification. There was a case where a Russian citizen approached us, accusing traffic police officers of exceeding their authority. But the video recording from his dashcam was crudely edited."

Another competent interlocutor of mine, Vladimir Bonadysenko, commander of the traffic patrol service battalion of the traffic police department of the regional executive committee, also drives a service vehicle equipped with a dashcam. Explaining why, he opens a small video archive on his work computer. Several accidents, gross violations of traffic rules.

"I am always at work," he explains. "And when you start dealing with incidents, it's enough to say that there's a dashcam in the car. A lot of questions disappear on their own. And when all service cars are equipped with them, imagine how many complainants will be left without grounds?"

Yevgeny Burunov, Chairman of the Court of the Oktyabrsky District of Vitebsk, also drives with a dashcam. He says he bought it after he almost got into an accident. The car in front of him had no working brake lights, and when it braked sharply, Yevgeny Illarionovich barely managed to react. "And then that driver would have claimed that I wasn't keeping a safe distance and was at fault for the accident," explains the judge. According to him, in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus, dashcam video recordings can be classified as "other sources of evidence" in court proceedings. "However, considering the development of video editing technologies," explains Yevgeny Burunov, "all evidence will be considered in court as a whole, not just the video. It is especially important to determine the place and time of the event, and in this regard, dashcams may not always be accurate."

Abroad

In neighboring Russia, dashcams have repeatedly been the cause of high-profile disputes and court cases. Russians are now acquiring them en masse and consider them almost the only salvation from lawlessness on the roads.

In Western Europe, the situation in this regard is calmer, and all major roads are equipped with video cameras. This is probably why, for example, in Austria, private individuals are even prohibited from installing video recorders in their cars. This decision was made by the Data Protection Commission, which is convinced that video recording devices capture not only accidents and traffic violations but also ordinary pedestrians, which constitutes an invasion of privacy. In Spain, video recorders are also not very popular: they are practically not sold anywhere, although there is no ban on their use.

Which device is better?

The choice of video recorders in our stores is currently large. The price range is from $100 to $200, although there are more expensive devices. Recorders with two cameras and a touchscreen (for recording inside and outside the cabin) cost more. It is very important not to skimp on camera parameters. The resolution of a video recorder's sensor can range from 0.3 MP to 12 MP, with the video recording resolution ranging from 640x480 to 1920x1080 pixels. The higher the video resolution, the more detailed the image will be, allowing you to see, for example, the license plates of a car within the field of view. The number of frames per second also matters: the higher the frame rate, the smoother the video playback and the clearer the image recorded by the recorder will be when the car is moving at high speed. Modern devices record video at a rate of 15 fps to 60 fps. A rate of 25 fps and above is considered optimal. Night vision with infrared illumination or LED lamps is a nice addition to a recorder.

Alexander Kutynko, Vitebskiye Vesti