Canada Using Special Camera Scope To Bust Distracted Drivers

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This is the most ridiculous looking thing I've ever seen but, according to this article, it works like a charm. Apparently the goofy camera scope allows the camera to take pictures of distracted drivers up to three quarters of a mile away.

"It's not always safe or it doesn't always make sense to stand where drivers can see us," said Wutke. "So we'll stand back where we're not necessarily being noticed right off the bat and we'll train the scope on the windshield of the vehicle so as vehicles are coming up, stopped at a light or stopped at a stop sign, we can be looking inside that vehicle and then, when we see a violator, we can have them pulled over once they're back on their way again."
 
not sure if it's illegal there to even have a phone on your lap (or to use it) while stopped... but it seems kinda amazing that how the article is written it sounds like they're actively looking for people doing stuff while not moving... and not anything for those that are moving (besides the normal stuff)? Granted, i've been irritated enough at people not paying attention at stop lights and completely missing the fact that they should be moving.

but anyways. I guess it's time to remove extra seats, electronics and anything else that could be distracting in a car.
 
Armenius said:
They're catching people when they're stopped? I do things in my car all the time at a red light because it's safer than when the car is in motion. Dumbasses...
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So you are that jerk that sits there for up to a minute when the light or arrow turns green?
 
Not really a goofy camera scope. It is just a telescope made for a camera to mount on.

You can get them for pretty cheap off of eBay and other places.

The only "goofy" part is that they are saying that they attach a camera with a 50mm lens to the scope.

The 50mm lens.. if they are actually using a setup like that is not necessary and would require some type of custom setup and would reduce incoming light when compared to a normal scope.
 
Mivoc said:
So you are that jerk that sits there for up to a minute when the light or arrow turns green?
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Well by "things" I generally mean fooling around with the radio or talking to my passenger. My cell is on silent mode while driving. But I am the guy will honk my horn if I'm second in line at a light and the guy takes more than 3 seconds to notice the light turned green :smug:.
 
that "special camera" scope looks awfully like a long range rifle spotting scope.
 
So... people need to make an in-dash phone holder that will imitate the LCDs shipped with the car? How would that be judged?
 
This kind of setup is also used when using a telescope when taking a picture of the stars.
 
Armenius said:
They're catching people when they're stopped? I do things in my car all the time at a red light because it's safer than when the car is in motion. Dumbasses...
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Yes, that's correct. Even when we are stopped at a red light. There was even a recent case where a guy got a ticket for using his phone up here while going through a Tim Horton's drive thru. Turns out the guy was being a major dick to the cop, which didn't help his cause, but still..

While I agree that distracted driving is a major issue, and causes a lot of accidents and injuries. I think they go a little too far sometimes. Cops up here will ticket you for everything and anything they possibly can to meet their quota.

It's now actually getting to the point here that if you knowingly are texting someone that is driving, you can be charged.. How fucking stupid is that?
 
Mivoc said:
So you are that jerk that sits there for up to a minute when the light or arrow turns green?
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i agree, but there's a distinct difference in annoying and illegal/dangerous. if we're out to catch all of the annoying people, 90% of the general populace is screwed.
 
So polarized/filtered windows are about to become a good market to jump into lol.

Mivoc said:
So you are that jerk that sits there for up to a minute when the light or arrow turns green?
Click to expand...

Where I live where there are tractors and horses, a few more minutes at a light really isn't a big deal. Many people lose their minds if they have to wait another minute. The life you lose from anger/stress is more lost life than another minute at the traffic light :)
 
Armenius said:
They're catching people when they're stopped? I do things in my car all the time at a red light because it's safer than when the car is in motion. Dumbasses...
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yes even when they are stopped. because idiots will sit at green lights fucking with their phone. up here it is illegal to be doing anything but paying attention and driving. Distracted Driving - Royal Canadian Mounted Police
 
This isn't photography, it’s surveillance. You may as well let the local police office use NSA satellites for speeding tickets. This is the sort of thing that usually is extremely limited in scope or would require a warrant here in the states. With this Administration, however, it won't be long before they attempt to do this here ... for the children.
It is absolutely scary how much freedom sheeple blindly give government. Especially after all the blood that was spilled in forming the LIMITED government we are supposed to be living in.
 
Hey, I guess all of your problems in Canada have been solved except this one.
 
Building your own adapter for your camera in order to digiscope is a very geeky thing to do in the optics world. Like case mods i.e. Blowholes.
However the scope and camera companies caught on and now your can buy adapters for everything even for your smartphone.
It looks like she has a Vortex Viper HD Spotting Scope and some Canon DSLR.
 
From the looks of it, I believe the camera is not automated so I'm curious the type of person who would want the job of standing there for however long staring down at the camera. They will either find it exciting thinking "who am I going to catch today?" or monotonous thinking "damn my neck is cramping up."

Mivoc said:
So you are that jerk that sits there for up to a minute when the light or arrow turns green?
Click to expand...
Armenius could be a very efficient driver who can do what needs to be done in a short time such as perform a re-route on the GPS before the light even changes. I know I do it every now and then and have not missed a light. IMO.
 
Mivoc said:
So you are that jerk that sits there for up to a minute when the light or arrow turns green?
Click to expand...
I occasionally use my phone at stop lights; it's pretty easy to check the opposing lights periodically -- if the other side has a green, I can type a couple words and then check again. When their light starts to cycle, I put the phone away. Bonus points if there's a countdown timer for pedestrians.
 
toast0 said:
I occasionally use my phone at stop lights; it's pretty easy to check the opposing lights periodically -- if the other side has a green, I can type a couple words and then check again. When their light starts to cycle, I put the phone away. Bonus points if there's a countdown timer for pedestrians.
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and that's good for you, but you guys act like because you can handle checking your phone at a red light means everyone can. Me and my son were almost hit at a light because some jackass was checking his phone at a red light, light went green and we started walking. He didn't see the light at first, then I watched him look up from his phone, see the light and go "oh shit" and start turning not noticing us walking. He stopped in time and looked guilty as hell but the fact stands if he was paying attention to the road like he was suppose to he wouldn't of almost hit us.

Then you get the people who text at a red light and see it change and start driving but are determined to finish their text so they start driving and not paying attention, seen a few rear end accidents because of this. I don't care if 75% of the drivers out there can handle simple things like checking a text at a red light the other 25% make this shit needed. People act like cops are just out to get you, I hear the phrase "don't they have a murder to solve?" but I'd rather them work on preventing shit from happening then trying to catch the person who ran over a family at the light or caused a fatal crash.
 
Ragenrok said:
and that's good for you, but you guys act like because you can handle checking your phone at a red light means everyone can. Me and my son were almost hit at a light because some jackass was checking his phone at a red light, light went green and we started walking. He didn't see the light at first, then I watched him look up from his phone, see the light and go "oh shit" and start turning not noticing us walking. He stopped in time and looked guilty as hell but the fact stands if he was paying attention to the road like he was suppose to he wouldn't of almost hit us.

Then you get the people who text at a red light and see it change and start driving but are determined to finish their text so they start driving and not paying attention, seen a few rear end accidents because of this. I don't care if 75% of the drivers out there can handle simple things like checking a text at a red light the other 25% make this shit needed. People act like cops are just out to get you, I hear the phrase "don't they have a murder to solve?" but I'd rather them work on preventing shit from happening then trying to catch the person who ran over a family at the light or caused a fatal crash.
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There is no such thing as crime prevention, only punishment. I am not arguing with you but do you really think those drivers you encounter will become better because of a law passed and camera for texting? Speeding is illegal, that sure stopped those speeders lol. Not saying we should ditch all laws because they don't fix things, just saying this system wont magically make driving a better experience. Bad drivers are bad no matter what is in place.
 
Darunion said:
There is no such thing as crime prevention, only punishment. I am not arguing with you but do you really think those drivers you encounter will become better because of a law passed and camera for texting? Speeding is illegal, that sure stopped those speeders lol. Not saying we should ditch all laws because they don't fix things, just saying this system wont magically make driving a better experience. Bad drivers are bad no matter what is in place.
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it does, I use to speed from work to my house. It's a 10 minute drive with half being on a 70km/hour road and I would always do 90. After 2 photo radar tickets guess what I don't do anymore? Speed lol, and it really doesn't affect me all that much, now it take 11 minutes instead of 10 to get home. People do and will learn from being caught when they realize they can't afford it anymore.
 
Ragenrok said:
it does, I use to speed from work to my house. It's a 10 minute drive with half being on a 70km/hour road and I would always do 90. After 2 photo radar tickets guess what I don't do anymore? Speed lol, and it really doesn't affect me all that much, now it take 11 minutes instead of 10 to get home. People do and will learn from being caught when they realize they can't afford it anymore.
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Fair enough.

Speeding really is just a mental issue. The speed it takes to actually cut down travel time is crazy otherwise you really only shave seconds off. I just drove for business a couple weeks ago, 5hr drive and spent a good portion about 15mph over the limit, still arrived within a couple minutes of gps estimate before leaving.
 
Loop242 said:
Building your own adapter for your camera in order to digiscope is a very geeky thing to do in the optics world. Like case mods i.e. Blowholes.
However the scope and camera companies caught on and now your can buy adapters for everything even for your smartphone.
It looks like she has a Vortex Viper HD Spotting Scope and some Canon DSLR.
Click to expand...
Yep, Vortex makes some half decent reasonably priced stuff. Easy enough... Not sure I really like the way they're doing the enforcement. Touch your phone while you're at a stop light and I really don't gaf, especially $588 worth of fucks. But whatever, their country, their rules.

Darunion said:
Fair enough.

Speeding really is just a mental issue. The speed it takes to actually cut down travel time is crazy otherwise you really only shave seconds off. I just drove for business a couple weeks ago, 5hr drive and spent a good portion about 15mph over the limit, still arrived within a couple minutes of gps estimate before leaving.
Click to expand...
Most GPSs like Google Maps these days use average traffics speeds, not speed limits for obvious reasons. They also don't account for any breaks of stops obviously...
 
Darunion said:
Fair enough.

Speeding really is just a mental issue. The speed it takes to actually cut down travel time is crazy otherwise you really only shave seconds off. I just drove for business a couple weeks ago, 5hr drive and spent a good portion about 15mph over the limit, still arrived within a couple minutes of gps estimate before leaving.
Click to expand...
yup, Ive discovered podcasts and audio books for long drives, just set the cruise at 5 over and enjoy the trip. 5 over is the magic spot, cops don't care and it leaves a dead zone around you (those who do the speed limit don't catch you and those that want to speed pass you quickly so very little people around you)
 
I believe CA changed the law where you can use a phone if the car isn't moving, based on either a lawsuit or tickets getting thrown out in court by people challenging tickets issued when they were parked at a red light and using the a phone.

At least this is what I remember hearing on the radio...dunno if anyone knows the actual facts.
 
Armenius said:
They're catching people when they're stopped? I do things in my car all the time at a red light because it's safer than when the car is in motion. Dumbasses...
Click to expand...

I too thought this.

I no longer even look at my phone when I'm driving, stopped or not, but I don't see how they can automatically assume that a car at a dead stop has a 'distracted' driver in it (I guess by definition you're distracted at a stop anyway...but people who don't look at their phones can be distracted too). Sure, the chances are higher that they'd use the phone in motion but it's not a given.

Up next:

Taking pictures of people through bar windows to catch them for a DWI.
 
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Sonicks said:
but I don't see how they can automatically assume that a car at a dead stop has a 'distracted' driver in it
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because if your attention is taken away from the road and the cars around you, for any reason, you are distracted from your primary task at hand. driving. even when you are stopped you are still on the road and in a running vehicle and should be paying attention to all the vehicles and everything going on around you. its driver awareness and it prevents accidents.
 
Sonicks said:
I too thought this.

I no longer even look at my phone when I'm driving, stopped or not, but I don't see how they can automatically assume that a car at a dead stop has a 'distracted' driver in it (I guess by definition you're distracted at a stop anyway...but people who don't look at their phones can be distracted too). Sure, the chances are higher that they'd use the phone in motion but it's not a given.

Up next:

Taking pictures of people through bar windows to catch them for a DWI.
Click to expand...

I would assume that they would need the picture to actually see the phone in the persons hands, otherwise how do you prove that the driver wasn't just adjusting the air conditioning or something like that..
 
sboucher said:
Yes, that's correct. Even when we are stopped at a red light. There was even a recent case where a guy got a ticket for using his phone up here while going through a Tim Horton's drive thru. Turns out the guy was being a major dick to the cop, which didn't help his cause, but still..

While I agree that distracted driving is a major issue, and causes a lot of accidents and injuries. I think they go a little too far sometimes. Cops up here will ticket you for everything and anything they possibly can to meet their quota.

It's now actually getting to the point here that if you knowingly are texting someone that is driving, you can be charged.. How fucking stupid is that?
Click to expand...

Hell no.

I was at a legal crosswalk, 3000lb SUV barreling down the road....swerving all over the damned road across the line. Thought DUI for sure. Nope. Blonde behind the wheel was texting her BFF on her steering wheel instead of even pretending to try to control her 3000lb moving weapon. Nailing people for it needs to happen. NOW.


You think "I can handle it, after all I'm a unique snowflake with superpowers of multitasking"....nope. You are THAT person who's been damned lucky not to kill people with your negligent behavior.
 
Skripka said:
Hell no.

I was at a legal crosswalk, 3000lb SUV barreling down the road....swerving all over the damned road across the line. Thought DUI for sure. Nope. Blonde behind the wheel was texting her BFF on her steering wheel instead of even pretending to try to control her 3000lb moving weapon. Nailing people for it needs to happen. NOW.


You think "I can handle it, after all I'm a unique snowflake with superpowers of multitasking"....nope. You are THAT person who's been damned lucky not to kill people with your negligent behavior.
Click to expand...

Cute, but your example is so far the opposite end of the spectrum from what I suggested. So no, I am most definitely that person.
 
So you can see a person being distracted while waiting at a light not moving and charge them for being distracted when NOT MOVING. I think the British camera vans that catch you in the act while driving down the road sounds atleast realistic in comparison to hey you were looking at the GPS for directions on your phone while at a full stop waiting at a traffic light so here is a ticket? WTF.
 
Yes because doing something other than stareing blandly at the road while stopped was the most dangerous thing.

This is almost as stupid as the fact that you can be busted for drink driving just for being in the possession of the car keys while under the influence.
 
When I'm at a light and I want to look at my phone, I hold it at the top of my steering wheel. This lets me focus on the screen, but still see the car/light in front of me, and the rear view mirror in my peripheral vision.

This will only train people to keep their phones in their lap, making them even less aware of their surroundings.
 
Wrecked Em said:
When I'm at a light and I want to look at my phone, I hold it at the top of my steering wheel. This lets me focus on the screen, but still see the car/light in front of me, and the rear view mirror in my peripheral vision.
Click to expand...

And in California you will get you a ticket if a cop sees you. Doesn't mater if you are stopped at a red light and just glance at a text message.
The penalty is the same as if you where sending text messages while weaving down the street.
 
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