Eye spy – CCTV spy vehicle requires to the streets

Spy vehicles just are not what they employed to be.

When we had James Bond’s amphibious Lotus or completely-loaded Aston Martin. Now we’ve got runabouts with huge CCTV cameras sitting on prime.

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The spy auto has gone from becoming an object of wish to a supply of ire. And the undesirable news is a new “super” spy car is about to hit the streets and bring errant motorists to book from hundreds of feet away.

Study this: 10 charts only a driver will understand

Eyes on the road

The latest addition to the spy automobiles fleet will be Peugeot 108s fitted with a ‘military grade’ camera systems that go by the slightly terrifying name of the Predator PTZ – although the name loses some of its impact when you discover PTZ stands for pan/tilt/zoom.

The principal camera can spot visitors transgressions taking location hundreds of yards away, and a secondary system has a 360-degree field of vision.

All very hi-tech, and all certain to grind the gears of motorists up and down the country.

The camera-fitted car will price around £40,000 and will no doubt appeal to councils across Britain, although they won’t be capable to use it to swell their coffers with further parking fines.

How CCTV evidence can nonetheless be utilized

The lately-enacted Deregulation Act imposes a ban on enforcing on-street parking offences by way of CCTV evidence, but the car’s makers, Videalert, appear confident it’ll nonetheless be of use to neighborhood authorities.

Had a parking fine? Read this!

CCTV evidence can nonetheless be employed to prosecute motorist who park outside schools and those use bus lanes illegally, as well as a number of moving visitors offences such as entering a box junction, driving the wrong way down a 1-way street and creating an illegal u-turn.

David Richmond, chief executive of Videalert, mentioned: “This is a true multipurpose CCTV automobile. It is adaptable and we can expect to see it replacing the existing CCTV cars, as councils need to justify their costs. Other cars are a single-trick ponies this one can be employed for a assortment of enforcement purposes.”

It’s all a far cry from the days when spy automobiles had been utilized to help depose villainous despots.

t&gt

Eye spy – CCTV spy vehicle requires to the streets

Safety requires that we slow down and not swerve to hit or miss animals on our roads

Every year, thousands of animals, including birds and reptiles are killed on South Africa’;s notoriously dangerous roads due to vehicle collision with animals.

Colliding with wildlife is likely to cause significant harm to the driver, passengers, animals and the vehicle,yet evidence from a recent Endangered Wildlife Trust(EWT)study reveals that some drivers may in fact deliberately swerve to hit the animals. Roadkill research undertaken by the EWT in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA), northern Limpopo, found evidence that a number of species are deliberately killed on the roads (including snakes and Black-backed Jackal).

A preliminary study in the GMTFCA, using fake animals (chameleon, snake and grasshopper), also showed that 2 out of 50 drivers deliberately swerved to ‘squash’ the fake chameleon. Out of 600 drivers surveyed by the EWT in the GMTFCA, 5-per-cent admitted to deliberately killing animals on roads.

The main reason given was dislike of the animal, either through superstitious folklore within local communities, or a landowner ‘vendetta’ against certain carnivores (e.g. Black-backed Jackal and Caracal), which are believed to be responsible for livestock killing. “Through the Wildlife and Roads Project, the EWT has been working to raise awareness of the threat to wildlife from roads and road users. We are also identifying, developing and implementing relevant mitigation strategies that will ultimately protect wildlife from roads and improve human safety” remarked Wendy Collinson, Project executant: Wildlife and Roads Project.

South Africa already experiences a high accident rate due to road factors such as slippery roads, potholes, sharp bends and poor visibility. As we are fast approaching the festive and holiday season, the EWT cautions drivers to be vigilant and exercise caution when driving on the roads where wildlife is present. Swerving for animals has been reported to cause injury or death to vehicle occupants and to the animals.

The Automobile Association recommends that drivers do not swerve at all since swerving to avoid an animal can often cause a more serious crash or result in loss of control behind the wheel. “Swerving at high speeds can be fatal for the driver and vehicle passengers. Complacency is high on rural roads due to a general lack of traffic but obstructions can occur anywhere. It is best to be alert at all times”, said Collinson.

The EWT’s Wildlife and Roads Project is supported by Bridgestone SA and Arrow Bulk Logistics, with logistical support from Mopane Bush Lodge. For further information please contact Wendy Collinson on wendyc@ewt.org.za

Also view:

Avoiding Animals on the Road

What do you need to do if you crash into a stray animal

Safety requires that we slow down and not swerve to hit or miss animals on our roads

Safety requires that we slow down and not swerve to hit or miss animals on our roads

Every year, thousands of animals, including birds and reptiles are killed on South Africa’;s notoriously dangerous roads due to vehicle collision with animals.

Colliding with wildlife is likely to cause significant harm to the driver, passengers, animals and the vehicle,yet evidence from a recent Endangered Wildlife Trust(EWT)study reveals that some drivers may in fact deliberately swerve to hit the animals. Roadkill research undertaken by the EWT in the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area (GMTFCA), northern Limpopo, found evidence that a number of species are deliberately killed on the roads (including snakes and Black-backed Jackal).

A preliminary study in the GMTFCA, using fake animals (chameleon, snake and grasshopper), also showed that 2 out of 50 drivers deliberately swerved to ‘squash’ the fake chameleon. Out of 600 drivers surveyed by the EWT in the GMTFCA, 5-per-cent admitted to deliberately killing animals on roads.

The main reason given was dislike of the animal, either through superstitious folklore within local communities, or a landowner ‘vendetta’ against certain carnivores (e.g. Black-backed Jackal and Caracal), which are believed to be responsible for livestock killing. “Through the Wildlife and Roads Project, the EWT has been working to raise awareness of the threat to wildlife from roads and road users. We are also identifying, developing and implementing relevant mitigation strategies that will ultimately protect wildlife from roads and improve human safety” remarked Wendy Collinson, Project executant: Wildlife and Roads Project.

South Africa already experiences a high accident rate due to road factors such as slippery roads, potholes, sharp bends and poor visibility. As we are fast approaching the festive and holiday season, the EWT cautions drivers to be vigilant and exercise caution when driving on the roads where wildlife is present. Swerving for animals has been reported to cause injury or death to vehicle occupants and to the animals.

The Automobile Association recommends that drivers do not swerve at all since swerving to avoid an animal can often cause a more serious crash or result in loss of control behind the wheel. “Swerving at high speeds can be fatal for the driver and vehicle passengers. Complacency is high on rural roads due to a general lack of traffic but obstructions can occur anywhere. It is best to be alert at all times”, said Collinson.

The EWT’s Wildlife and Roads Project is supported by Bridgestone SA and Arrow Bulk Logistics, with logistical support from Mopane Bush Lodge. For further information please contact Wendy Collinson on wendyc@ewt.org.za

Also view:

Avoiding Animals on the Road

What do you need to do if you crash into a stray animal

Safety requires that we slow down and not swerve to hit or miss animals on our roads

Texting at the wheel requires its toll

How essential is it to send a text while you’re driving? As crucial as someone’s life?

Of course not. But it is incredibly tempting to study and even respond to texts while at the wheel. And it is extremely harmful, as current incidents confirm.

Tragic texts

There’s the case of 13-year-old Hope Fennell, who was crushed by an 18-ton lorry on her way house from college.

The driver, Darren Foster, had been arguing with his girlfriend by means of text in the run-up to the accident. He was so worried the texts would be employed against him that he deleted them from his phone whilst Hope lay dying.

Foster admitted dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice, but the coroner ruled that he was not to blame for Hope’s death.

Then there’s 19-year-old Jordan Wickington, who was cycling to operate when he was run down by Kiera Coultas.

She was composing a text message at the time, and was subsequently jailed for 4 years after getting located guilty of causing death by harmful driving.

Mobile menace

In 2012, 378 accidents were reported involving the use of mobile phones at the wheel, according to the Department for Transport. The accidents led to 548 casualties and 17 deaths.

But the actual death toll is probably significantly larger. So-called ‘in-car distractions’, which could incorporate mobile phones, led to a lot more than 9,000 accidents and 196 deaths among 2010 and 2012.

Driver ignorance

It has been illegal to use a hand-held mobile telephone at the wheel for a decade, but a lot of motorists are ignorant of the law.

RAC analysis shows that 12% of drivers do not know that texting and driving is illegal and 21% do not realise it is illegal to verify Facebook and Twitter even though driving.

If that were not undesirable sufficient, a shocking 61% of motorists have not got the message that texting at the wheel of a stationary vehicle with the engine on is also against the law.

Research findings

The investigation maybe explains why it is so frequent to see somebody chatting on their mobile although on the move.

In the RAC survey, 3 quarters of motorists reported frequently spotting a driver on a hand-held mobile, with virtually half claiming they witness other motorists talking on a mobile on most journeys.

Texting while a car is stationary is typical, with over half of motorists (53%) frequently seeing other men and women texting in stationary visitors in the course of half or some of their journeys.

Perception gap

We may be happy to tell tales on other road users, but we are apparently significantly less keen to confess to our own crimes, with just 8% admitting to utilizing a hand-held phone although driving.

But several of us are conscious of the dangers. More than a third (34%) worry about other drivers becoming distracted by speaking on mobile phones whilst at the wheel.

The distractions are certainly critical. The Transport Investigation Laboratory, a private consider tank, has conducted some study into the impact of mobiles on the driving skills of motorists among the ages of 17 and 24.

The results show that reaction times slowed by 13% when drivers had been at the drink drive limit, by 21% when they had been higher on cannabis, by 26.5% when speaking on a hands-totally free mobile and by 37% when texting.

Getting away with it

So why are so a lot of motorists satisfied to use their mobile behind the wheel?

Maybe we don’t count on to be caught. Just more than half (51%) believe it is unlikely they will be caught sending texts while their vehicle is stationary even though 4 in 10 (42%) motorists consider it unlikely they will be collared for texting whilst driving, and 16% consider it ‘extremely unlikely’.

Or probably there is not a strong enough deterrent. If you are caught, the punishment is 3 penalty points and a £100 fine, increasing to a feasible £1,000 on conviction in court.

Tougher penalties

There is a for that reason a growing get in touch with for tougher penalties, with a lot of professionals believing that drivers caught on their mobiles ought to at the extremely least obtain a 1-year ban – the exact same punishment as drink drivers.

A police crackdown wouldn’t go amiss, either. Or perhaps a tough-hitting public awareness campaign, related to the anti-speeding and anti drink-driving campaigns.

Of course, it’s also late for many bereaved families. But it is never ever too late to save one more life. So next time you want to choose up your mobile, just think, who is genuinely dying to take the get in touch with.

Texting at the wheel requires its toll