Freeway Safety and Surveillance Cameras

Surveillance Cameras - Freeways and Public Transportation

The Surveillance World is here and no mistake about it. During the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a state of the art computer system scanned video images of city streets 24/7 looking for everything from troublemakers to terrorists. And here in the US, sophisticated electronic surveillance devices are up and running everywhere - in the home, at the office, at your bank and in the supermarket. And most recently, on the nation's freeways.

In San Diego, for example, Caltrans is presently installing nearly 100 pivoting freeway incident surveillance cameras on urban freeways. This new technology will enable California Highway Patrol officers to quickly respond to hazards and accidents. The system is expected to improve motorist safety by reducing CHP response times as well as time required to clear freeways of debris. Thanks to on-site visuals officers will know in advance what type of equipment will be needed to deal with the incident. Pivoting freeway surveillance cameras are already in use in Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.

In Los Angeles special freeway surveillance cameras will soon be installed that will detect pollutants emitted by vehicles, especially older cars. A sensor detects pollutants as the vehicle accelerates and the camera snaps an image of the car's license plate. Owners of polluting cars will then be encouraged to scrap their vehicles or apply for government-financed smog repairs.

"You can't meet our air quality goals without addressing this problem," according to Victor Weisser, chairman of California's Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee. "We have made great strides with cleaner gasoline and new engines, but you can't make bigger reductions until you get some of these [older] cars off the road."

My 89 BMW has been snogged and as far as I know does not emit pollutants. But if the new technology singles out my vehicle I will immediately make the necessary repairs, with or without government assistance, because clean air is everybody's responsibility. I mean, I don't want to scrap my Beemer, but I don't want to add to the pollution either.

In San Francisco, BART will be spending $5.4 million to upgrade and expand its security camera system to help protect Bay Area transit riders from terrorist attacks and ordinary crimes. Cameras will be deployed in stations, on the trains, along tracks, in the Transbay Tube and in parking lots. BART's new camera system will allow officers to better zoom in on suspicious people and items. Sophisticated software will detect suspicious activity such as an unattended backpack on a boarding platform or trespassers venturing into areas off limits to the public.

The deterrence factor of surveillance cameras cannot be overstated. For example, BART spokesman Linton Johnson reports that graffiti dropped 98 percent after BART'S original cameras were installed on trains.

Security cameras on freeways? Good or bad? Good, in my opinion. In Dallas recently a woman was reportedly pushed out of a fast moving car on a freeway after rejecting the driver's sexual advances. Security cameras recorded the incident. I watched this video (-Woman thrown from moving car for not giving sex") on You Tube, and it left no doubt in my mind that freeway surveillance cameras are a good thing. Thanks to the visual record of this incident the police have a make on the car and will hopefully apprehend the person who committed this heartless crime. Moreover, I don't think that the privacy argument can legitimately apply to the freeway environment. Freeways are a public place. Anybody and his brother can jump into a car and join the party. So it makes good sense to have as many safeguards as possible in this dangerous and random environment.