Sitting behind the wheel and going out onto the road, we find ourselves under the watchful eye of the cameras of photo and video recording of violations. It is difficult, probably, to find at least one driver who has never received a "letter of happiness" from the traffic police. Today we will understand how cameras for automatic recording of traffic violations work and why they sometimes make mistakes.
Cameras are everywhere
Almost every driver in our country knows what a camera of automatic photo-video recording of traffic violations is. Today they are installed on the roads in almost all constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Over the past year, with their help, more than 50 million decisions were made in cases of administrative offenses, and this is already 67% of all decisions made for traffic violations, and these figures are growing from year to year. At the same time, not only the number of imposed fines increases, but also the number of articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses for which such fines are issued.
According to the State Traffic Inspectorate, almost 10 thousand of these cameras are already working on the roads of the country. But so far 76% of them are able to track only speed violations. This is 89% of automatically recorded violations. But more and more cameras are used to recognize other types of violations, including:
- non-passage of pedestrians at pedestrian crossings;
- leaving on the oncoming traffic lane and under the "No entry" sign;
- violation of the rules for driving at regulated intersections and level crossings;
- violation of the requirements of the sign "The movement of trucks is prohibited";
- exit of the vehicle to the lane of public transport;
- violation of the rules of stopping and parking.
Further more. This year, a joint experiment of the State Traffic Inspectorate and the Russian Union of Auto Insurers was supposed to start to check the presence of an OSAGO policy using video cameras. Due to the presence in the PCA database of a lot of erroneous information, the start of the project was suspended so as not to escalate social tension. But this idea will definitely come back as soon as the databases are straightened out. Since July of this year, the capital's photo-and-video cameras have begun to detect cars moving during the day with their headlights off. And in the Moscow region, the authorities are planning to start an experiment that will help fight drivers who litter the roads. The theoretical list of capabilities of automatic fixation complexes is much wider. Manufacturers compete with each other, adding more and more new features. Most likely, sooner or later, all of them will be adopted by the State Traffic Inspectorate.
Cameras are effective not only in the fight against traffic offenders, but also with debtors for utilities. In Izhevsk, bailiffs, together with traffic police officers, arrested nine cars of defaulters. In the traffic flow, the cars of the debtors were monitored by the AvtoUragan complex of photo and video recordings.
Basic principles of work
According to the principle of operation, the complexes used now are divided into radar, photo-video recording and laser. According to the method of use - for mobile and stationary. The principle of operation of radar fixation systems is based on the Doppler effect. Electromagnetic waves are sent towards the vehicle. They are reflected already with a changed frequency, which is recorded by the radar. The frequency change determines how fast the vehicle is approaching or moving away from the radar. Laser speed measurement systems work in much the same way. Radars based on the Doppler effect are used not only to determine the speed of vehicles, but also to determine the speeds of aircraft, ships and even clouds. The effect itself has found application in astronomy: it is used to determine the radial speed of movement of celestial bodies, including galaxies and stars.
The camera, working in tandem with the radar, takes a picture of the car at the moment of measuring the speed, so that there is no dispute about who exactly committed the violation. Strelka-ST is one of the most widespread domestic photo-video recording systems. It consists of two parts: the radar itself and the wide-angle camera. The radar, according to the manufacturer, is based on technologies used in Russian military aviation. The wide angle of view of the camera allows the system to "see" up to five lanes at a time. The direction of movement of cars in this case does not matter. In view of the high cost of the Arrow complex, it is advisable to install it on the main highways with multi-lane traffic.
But the complex for fixing violations "AvtoUragan" does without a radar. He only has a wide-angle video camera in his arsenal. But this does not prevent him from determining the speed of cars passing by him with an error of only 2 km / h. By the number of frames in which the vehicle number is present, the vehicle travel time is determined. The dimensions of the roadbed are set when the camera is installed. Using these parameters, the complex easily calculates the speed of the car.
But, as it was said, modern cameras record not only speeding. The stationary complex of photo and video recording "AvtoUragan-VSM" is capable of recording already 16 types of traffic violations. A video analysis program is already working here. For example, "AutoHurricane" identifies certain control zones of the location of vehicle headlights and is able to independently determine whether the headlights are on or not.
The system of recognition of the complex of fixing violations "CORDON-M", according to the manufacturer, is created on the basis of neural networks technology. The technology provides the ability to quickly learn new formats of state registration plates.
In addition to the radar and camera, the standard set of devices for almost all tracking systems includes an infrared searchlight, a module for determining GLONASS / GPS coordinates. In addition, they are equipped with power supplies, storage and information processing devices. Almost all cameras used on the roads for fixing violations of domestic production. Today in Russia there are about ten manufacturers of such automatic systems.
The complex sends information about the violation to the server. Here, after processing the image, information about the license plate and the violation, such as speeding, is "extracted" from the set of frames. Further, the system automatically determines the identity of the vehicle owner and forms an administrative offense order. The system works almost independently. But at the same time, no violation can be processed without human intervention. Initially, the operator of the center for fixing violations must confirm that the system has done everything correctly. I was not mistaken, for example, in the search results for the owner of the car due to poorly readable numbers. But the employees of such centers, as a rule, are civilians, so they cannot make decisions on prosecution. If the center employee is not alerted, he sends a file with information about the violation to the traffic police inspector. But if there is any doubt, the material is thrown into the basket and no longer goes further.
The qualification of the driver's actions as a violation and the issuance of a fine is the prerogative of the traffic police officer. The decision on violation is certified by an electronic digital signature and sent to the server. Now it can be printed on paper, packed in an envelope and sent to the offender. Such letters must be sent with acknowledgment of receipt.
Since the whole process from fixing the violation to the issuance of a decision is carried out in electronic form, it is technically possible to notify the violator of this in a form convenient for him immediately after signing the decision with a digital signature. In order for the car owner to receive such notifications, he needs to register on the Single portal of public services and request the service of informing about the presence of traffic police fines. In your personal account, in addition to your data, you need to specify the data of your car and choose a convenient way to receive information: SMS to a mobile phone number or an e-mail message. If the "Gosuslugi" mobile application is installed on a smartphone or tablet, then information about fines can come in the form of push notifications. Knowing about the issuance of the order, it is enough to go to the site and find all the information about the violation. You can also pay a fine online now. But if they do not agree with the violation, then it can and should be appealed.
Letters of Happiness
In practice, there are also errors in the operation of equipment and employees. Poor visibility on the road due to rain or snow makes the camera unable to correctly recognize the vehicle registration number. Sometimes some car owners do their best to prevent the numbers from being recognized by the system: they seal individual numbers with tape, overwrite them with a white marker. The algorithms of the violation recognition system are not always sufficiently developed. All this should be corrected by an employee of the fixation center, because his duties include viewing the captured photo and video material, however, he can also make a mistake. So, recently, a Moscow car enthusiast received a "letter of happiness", from which it followed that his car had crossed a solid marking line. But upon examining the photograph, it turned out that it was not the car that drove to the side of the road, but its shadow crossed the continuous lane.
The driver filed a complaint about the unreasonable fine through the official website of the traffic police. The story received a public response and, probably, therefore, the reaction to the appeal followed quickly. The traffic police of Moscow explained the incident by a malfunction in the work of the photo-video fixation complex. The order to impose a fine will be canceled.
In case of receiving a "letter of happiness", you need to understand that the presumption of innocence does not apply to such cases. The car owner will have to prove the absence of guilt (Article 1.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
What to do if you receive an order but disagree with it. The photo is not your car or, as in the previous example, only the shadow crossed the dividing line. There is no point in ignoring the payment of the fine. Sooner or later it will have to be paid. There may be other unpleasant consequences, for example, restrictions on traveling abroad. The decision can be appealed within 10 days from the date of its delivery. Since the "letter of happiness" is sent with an acknowledgment of receipt, the car owner receives it by mail, and from that moment the countdown of the days until the end of the appeal period begins. If during this time the car owner does not use his right to appeal, then the decision comes into force. 60 days are given to pay the fine. Do not have time to pay - the case will be transferred to the bailiff service. The decision is appealed either through the traffic police department that issued the order, or through the court. As a rule, it is most convenient to submit a complaint through the traffic police website.