smasha

the driver had previously entered a guilty plea for the RLJ ($150 fine) but he seemed undecided about the improper lane charge. the investigating officer (who signed the ticket) and the prosecutor (a sworn officer) thought he was going to enter a guilty plea, so the investigating officer didn't show up to court and the prosecutor hadn't seen the video or read the complaint.

before the trial i had a few minutes to talk to the prosecutor, then we sat in court and waited for the case to be called. i was called as a witness, we watched the video, and then we played Q&A for a few minutes.

then it was the driver's turn to give testimony. the guy claimed that he was doing everything he could to give the cyclists room, but it hadn't occurred to him to just wait behind the group. he said that the trailer made it impossible for him to make the turn from the turn lane.

the court found him guilty of turning from a no-turn lane. this normally carries a $150 fine but the court bought into his mitigating factors, so they reduced the fine to $40. in the end, it only cost him about $172, with court costs.

unfortunately, both these charges DON'T incur points in NZ. i've written to some MPs to question that.

without video, this probably wouldn't have gotten past he-said-she-said. lacking any "real" evidence, the investigating officer would have just told me and the driver to be safe and careful. this isn't the first time i've had a driver busted with my footage, but it's the first time anyone challenged the charge and it went to court. IIUC the reduced fine doesn't matter; i showed up to give testimony, the investigating officer and prosecution check the "guilty" box, and this improves their confidence in working with me again. OTOH if i'd flaked out and not shown up to court, the guy would have likely had the charge dismissed and i would expect the police to not take my future complaints seriously.

sometimes people see my cameras and ask if i work for the police. no, i pay taxes; the police work for me!

those videos were done with HERO-960s. i also had a contour-HD on my helmet, but that didn't really add anything useful. i've since upgraded my front and rear cameras to HERO2s and use a HERO-960 as a 3rd camera on the seat-tube.

in the near future i may (depending on whether or not the guy decides to be reasonable) file a civil case (disputes tribunal, NZ version of small claims court) against someone who hit me and caused damage to my wheels. in addition to the formal warning he received from the police, video evidence will probably help my case.

Standalone 

rock on.

mtbikerinpa

Kudos. I have in the last 2 weeks posed witness to a car wreck and caught a dozen bad passers with my vivitar 480. Hopefully soon I will have enough ammo to do something with that, but like I tell my friends and family if I get incapacitated due to a wreck look at the camera footage. The black-box of biking...

lineinthewater

I started a thread on this topic - about possibility of using video footage to submit to police. Maybe you can chime in over there, as I don't want to threadjack. Also, I'd be interested in how much you think it would cost to equip myself - perhaps by PM or other for same threadjack reason? I guess some of it is kind of on-topic. I haven't looked into hardware at all - just interested in the same "black box" benefit you mention.

smasha

i should point out that there's not much of a practical difference between NZ traffic court and any traffic court i've seen in the US. the biggest difference was that NZ traffic court wasn't crowded. the rules and procedures are nearly identical.

dynodonn 

I have numerous videos of US motorists right and left hooking me, the only time that my videos might be played in court if a collision has occurred.

PaPa

In my US state, nearly any citizen can (and many do), file a complaint, collision or not. And reality is, any evidence such as, license #, driver ID, witnesses, AND videos) is usually admissible to prosecute the offender.

smasha

^^ i'd be surprised if any state is different. again, this is also how it works in NZ (legal systems in both US and NZ evolved from british legal systems). of course there's a step between a complaint and charges known as "police discretion" and that varies wildly from one jurisdiction to another. i've filed plenty of complaints that never resulted in charges, but (nearly?) all of them have resulted in the motorists getting a verbal or formal warning from the police.

Dchiefransom

Heh, heh, in California, $172 wouldn't even be court costs.

dynodonn 

I definitely use any concrete information (license numbers, vehicle/motorist description) gathered from my videos to report an offending motorist, but in the making of any of my last reports, a video was not needed.

The showing of any of my personal videos to any local law enforcement agency will probably only happen if an incident goes to court due to a collision, and then again if the incident devolves into a "I said, they said" situation.

Zaneluke

Ok, I watched the video. Did I miss something? All the guy in the car did was cut someone off?

dynodonn 

You didn't miss anything, it took me a few replays of the last portion of the video to realize what had happened, with my reaching the same conclusion.

smasha

here's one: i'm riding home at night, and according to the officer who watched the video i was "clearly lit up like a christmas tree"; car cuts me off while making an illegal lane change through an intersection; the driver of the car later told the cop that they didn't see anyone on a bike; the cop gave them a "careless driving" ticket and the cop and i both agreed that the driver seemed to suffer from "selective amnesia" when giving a statement to the cop. regardless of the "selective amnesia" i'm happy with the charge filed.

without video, that would have been NOTHING more than "your word against theirs".

and of course we all hear stories about intersection crashes where both parties say they had a green light and the other party went through a red. without video, a bicyclist will almost always be assumed to have run a red.

i've been instructed by the local office that investigates these complaints to provide a DVD with each complaint i file. that way they have the video available as soon as they read the complaint. whether or not they file charges is always a matter of police discretion and they don't leave that decision up to me.

smasha

the light turned red about 1.5 car lengths before his front bumper went past the limit line, and he's making a turn from a "no turn" lane. the license plate on his trailer is hidden. i thought they'd give him a ticket for the red light, but i was surprised to hear they also gave him a ticket for turning from the wrong lane. i suspect that he got grumpy while talking to the cop, and that earned him the 2nd ticket.

dynodonn 

Personally, I'll limit my reporting motorists to just high speed extreme close passing incidents, since these are the most dangerous that I have encountered so far (no collisions with automobiles in all my years of riding). Right/left hooks, and pullouts by motorists have been done at a distance that has not even equaled the close passing distances, plus I can spot the hooks/pullouts much easier and quicker.

smasha

how about being nearly run off the road? here's the footage from the guy who told the cop he didn't see anyone on a bike, and then got himself a careless driving ticket - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tozX109UMbY

the local cops have insisted that "close passing" isn't technically illegal, and those should be reported using the informal "roadwatch" complaint system. i was pleasantly surprised when they issued an "unsafe passing" ticket against this guy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79rvTY_0xQo
that would've been an informal complaint, if not for overtaking on a flush median.

dynodonn 

Same here, but if the motorist has a poor driving record, it will generally garner a written warning from the local authorities. Again, unless there's a collision and the incident looks like it will turn into a debating contest in court, my personal videos will be only viewed by me, and just for information gathering.

smasha

@dynodonn - i think it partly depends on the driver's record, and partly on their attitude when questioned by the police. again, "police discretion".

police here assume that ANY allegation of bad driving will degrade into "your word against theirs", so unless a) they witness an offense first-hand or b) someone is seriously injured or killed, they won't spend time on it without evidence (eg video). this was frustrating before i got cameras on the bike, but it makes sense. really all they can do in those situations (where they have nothing but a written complaint) is make a phone call, ask some questions, and remind everyone to be safe

dynodonn 

Due to our area's high collision rate, local law enforcement will take a dangerous driving report seriously, especially when very detailed information on the vehicle and incident is given, which was as equally frustrating to acquire before I had cameras mounted to my bike. Still, no video was needed in order to report a motorist to law enforcement.

smasha

i'm not sure whether or not i should be jealous of that....

sggoodri

It's pretty clear from the video that the driver was impatient and decided to run a red light and turn from the wrong lane rather than waiting for other traffic ahead of him in the lane he was required to use.

They should have thrown the book at him.

dynodonn 

If our local court system threw the book at all our impatient, red light/stop sign running, wrong lane turning motorists, our local judges would end up wearing an arm sling on both arms.

invisiblehand

Thanks for sharing smasha.