“Long Way Round” cameras to be introduced for motorcycle police?

[Bob]

Plans are in place to introduce the camera technology used in the “Long Way Round” and “Long Way Down” series to police forces across Britain.

The helmet-mounted cameras are being adopted to capture instances of bad riding and identify potential accident black spots from the rider’s perspective. The camera sends an image to a small recorder on the riders’ waistband, which can be downloaded onto a laptop at the side of the road.

Simon Jones, head of design and marketing for Birmingham-based Sonic Communications – the company that devised the system - said: "The idea involves a helmet-mounted camera attached by Velcro. This means it can be transferred from helmet to helmet at the end of officers' shifts."

"By being mounted on the helmet and not on the bike itself, it provides precisely the same view of the road that the rider would see.”

[Bikernereid]

Just how safe are they at high speeds, not being an expert in velco?



Plans are in place to introduce the camera technology used in the “Long Way Round” and “Long Way Down” series to police forces across Britain.

The helmet-mounted cameras are being adopted to capture instances of bad riding and identify potential accident black spots from the rider’s perspective. The camera sends an image to a small recorder on the riders’ waistband, which can be downloaded onto a laptop at the side of the road.

Simon Jones, head of design and marketing for Birmingham-based Sonic Communications – the company that devised the system - said: "The idea involves a helmet-mounted camera attached by Velcro. This means it can be transferred from helmet to helmet at the end of officers' shifts."

"By being mounted on the helmet and not on the bike itself, it provides precisely the same view of the road that the rider would see.”

[Bob]

Well I can't ever recall them coming off McGregor or Boorman's heads, even when they fell off the bikes!

Velcro is amazingly strong directionally - and the cameras are pretty small. Combine the two and I'd say they will be fine.

[Bikernereid]

Just another toy for the cops to play with. So will they have to drive like a loons to keep up and video the offenses as they are being committed?


Well I can't ever recall them coming off McGregor or Boorman's heads, even when they fell off the bikes!

Velcro is amazingly strong directionally - and the cameras are pretty small. Combine the two and I'd say they will be fine.

[steveb64]

Just another toy for the cops to play with. So will they have to drive like a loons to keep up and video the offenses as they are being committed?

Yeah - but the evidence would be hard to beat in court. I wish they'd adopt the same system here... ...mounted into patrol cars also. With todays digital technology, and hard drive recorders, it's not like it'd be difficult to do...

[bugjuice]

cool.. so if I find a cop with one, and wheelie past him, when he finally catches up, I can see where I'm at with them.. coooooool

[discotex]

Just imagine the gold that'll be leaked to youtube!

[geoffm]

Yeah - but the evidence would be hard to beat in court. I wish they'd adopt the same system here... ...mounted into patrol cars also. With todays digital technology, and hard drive recorders, it's not like it'd be difficult to do...

If they had video, then theoy would be obliged to provide proof for tickets, rather than making stuff up, and having their word as gospel. Not that the cops would ever lie of course, it was just a figment of my imagination a number of years ago
G

[steveb64]

If they had video, then theoy would be obliged to provide proof for tickets, rather than making stuff up, and having their word as gospel. Not that the cops would ever lie of course, it was just a figment of my imagination a number of years ago
G

Yeah... the thought was that if they can rely on video evidence, then they'll not need to rely on 'memory'... ...or 'estimation'...

[motorbyclist]

classic one i heard from a cop not long ago (at about 1am on a weeknight) was that i was going "too fast" as he had to do "over 115kph" to catch up to me.

fact was i went past him while he had pulled someone over, and i was only doing 60 (40 while i went past) - then i went into a 70kph zone where i did 80.

was his decision to jump back in his car and do dangerous speeds to catch up with the mighty fxr 150 - safe to say i never got a ticket cause when i saw him in my mirror i made damn sure i was sitting on 70kph.


my point? if they had cameras they'd theoretically be accountable for that sort of "oh look a bike, quick back in the car let's go for a burn!" behaviour.


oh, velcro is perfect for helmet camera applications, it's piss easy to set up a helmet/dashboard camera if a bit expensive (unless you do it the el cheapo way for $250), though it can be difficult to get the camera pointing where you're looking

[Swoop]

cool.. so if I find a cop with one, and wheelie past him, when he finally catches up, I can see where I'm at with them.. coooooool
Saves a lot of money for bikers! Good plan.

my point? if they had cameras they'd theoretically be accountable for that sort of "oh look a bike, quick back in the car let's go for a burn!" behaviour.
Or the "let them go for a while - then we get to have a longer high-speed chase"...
Like that dosen't happen.

oh, velcro is perfect for helmet camera applications, it's piss easy to set up a helmet/dashboard camera if a bit expensive (unless you do it the el cheapo way for $250), though it can be difficult to get the camera pointing where you're looking
Or get a company like this (http://www.boneheadcomposites.com/cammount.htm) to provide a mounting system?

[motorbyclist]

Or get a company like this (http://www.boneheadcomposites.com/cammount.htm) to provide a mounting system?

why? helmet cams are very easy to mount, and every one i've seen has had a mount

we're not talking a handheld strapped to a helmet here

my $250 helmet cam is a single self contained unit (camera and recorder in one), so while it is a bit bigger, i don't have any cables to run and the thing is very shock resistant. fell off my mate's tank once and still works fine, even if it is a bit scratched:first: