Thousands of agencies across the country use volunteers to fill vital roles in a wide range of capacities throughout the department. Citizen volunteers help supplement and support officers and civilian personnel by allowing them to concentrate on their primary duties. Volunteer roles may include performing clerical tasks, assisting with search and rescue activities, writing citations for accessible parking violations and operating speed reader boards and monitoring speeds in the community. Volunteering with your local police department can be an excellent way to give back to your community.
Unlike law enforcement volunteer programs, Underwriting Resources’ Traffic Surveillance Initiative is operated independently of any law enforcement agency and is not under contract to provide traffic surveillance services to any government entity. Participating members are free to contribute time and efforts to monitoring and recording traffic activities that do not involve invoking the powers of a peace officer. Our goal is to encourage driver awareness of the hazards of speeding and related driving offenses in hopes of reducing traffic accidents, bodily injury and deaths. Our approach is to electronically document traffic offenses identifying offenders in real time and, through secure web-based database publication, provide exclusive access to law enforcement agencies and the automotive insurance industry which can adjust insurance premiums to reduce risk of insuring customers with aggressive driving behavior.
Establish web-based unofficial National Traffic Offender Databank (NTOD) utilizing state-of-the-art laser (lidar) technology that satisfies judicial notice (acceptable in courts of law). Activities will be limited to Underwriting Resources electronically recording traffic offenses for restricted access web publication without offender interaction or law enforcement involvement/intervention. Surveillance sites will be located on private property or public property where permitted in accordance with all applicable laws and randomly relocated. Equipment operators will be adequately trained and certified in the proper deployment of automated integrated lidar speed measuring devices and camera systems.
Only excessive speeding violations of 10 mph or more over the posted speed limit will be web published. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Survey of the States on speeding found that in most States the public perceives that there is a cushion or threshold above the speed limit in which officers will not cite offenders. In many of the states this is the enforcement practice, usually allowing for a threshold between 5-10 mph above the speed limit (GHSA, 2005). While speed limits are legally binding, some tolerance is often applied in order to focus enforcement on the most dangerous vehicles. Persistent offenders may be targeted for police enforcement.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held in 2009 that issuing a citation to vehicle owners (or lessees) instead of the driver is constitutionally permissible. There is a legal presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle is the individual driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged violation. Similarly, with the Traffic Surveillance Initiative, traffic offenders’ vehicles owners will be identified through state DMV online records checks in compliance with the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994, specifically permissible use by any insurer or insurance support organization or by a self-insured entity, or its agents, employees, or contractors, in connection with claims investigation activities, antifraud activities, rating or underwriting. The NTOD is securely accessible only by the insurance industry and law enforcement agencies.
Vehicle owner/driver will be notified by mail with reference to recorded traffic offense and provided password access to web-based pre-publication video with supporting documentation. First offense vehicle owner/drivers will be offered a 30-day notice reduced-pricing opportunity to purchase exclusive copyright ownership of referenced material to avoid financial and legal consequences of NTOD publication. Proceeds will be used to further traffic safety endeavors. Optionally, vehicle owner/driver may circumvent payment to obtain copyright ownership and avoid publication by submitting proof of having retaken and passing the state’s driver’s license written examination within 30 days of violation notification.
NTOD publication will include recorded materials obtained by laser (lidar) technology including video and stills of vehicle recorded during offense, license plate number, vehicle velocity, speed limit, GPS coordinates, date, time, tailgating documentation if applicable, etc.
Offender documentation on the NTOD can be accessed by nature of offense, vehicle owners name and address, license plate number, vehicle identification number (VIN), date and location of offense, vehicle markings such as advertising, legal jurisdiction and other possible search terms. The NTOD is securely accessible only by the insurance industry and law enforcement agencies.
The NTOD will include all recorded individual violations and related documentation not purchased by offenders. As Underwriting Resources’ membership is composed of traffic safety advocates, website, trafficoffenders.us, will contain statistical information regarding hazards of speeding, tailgating, DUI, texting while driving, etc. Website will describe recording methods, operational procedures, equipment validations including calibrations, etc.
Photography and Copyright Law - In simple terms, copyright for photographers means owning property. With ownership, you get certain exclusive rights to that property. For photographic copyrights, the ownership includes the rights
Found in the U.S. Copyright Act at 17 U.S.C. 106 (http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#106) the U.S. Supreme Court describes driving as a regulated activity on public roads where there is no personal expectation of privacy. Driving is not a private activity. It is voluntarily done in plain sight, on public roads by licensed individuals who agree to abide by traffic laws.
Copyright Notice will appear on every offense entry as follows:
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Published individual traffic surveillance events including speeding and/or tailgating offenses as recorded by court admissible lidar technology, video and still image capture are the sole property of Underwriting Resources, LLC.
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