TLPA

IN-VEHICLE CAMERAS

The highest attended TLPA educational breakout sessions at the recent TLPA Annual Convention in Las Vegas was on the subject of In-Vehicle Camera Systems. Ells Houston, President Birmingham Yellow Cab, Birmingham, Alabama moderated the session. Ellis’ opening remarks follow:

“For a point of reference, I operate taxicab and paratransit vehicles in Birmingham, Alabama and Little Rock, Arkansas. With me on the panel are some of TLPA’s most distinguished members:

• Jeb Corey from Charleston, West Virginia. Jeb is TLPA’s youngest board member;
  
• One of our esteemed past presidents, Judy Swystun, from Norfolk, Virginia; and
  
• John Doherty, a past recipient of TLPA’s prestigious Paratransit Operator of the Year award, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I look forward to us having a very informative and vibrant discussion on camera systems this morning in the short time we are allotted. In line with this, each of our panel members is going to spend a few minutes sharing their experience with you on this subject matter from several different viewpoints.

Before we begin, I would like for the audience to note that while none of the members on this panel dismiss the importance and value of digital still shot cameras from strictly a driver security prospective, most of our panel discussion will focus on duel-lens-multi-function camera technology with g-force activated capabilities. “

Jeb Corey, C & H Taxi Company, Charleston, West Virginia, one of the longest users of this technology in the taxicab industry, showed several film clips that showed the benefits of his company’s g-force activated duel lens cameras from both a claims’ prospective and a driver security prospective. Jeb also delighted the audience with several humorous film clips of driver events.

Judy Swystun, Black & White Cars, Norfolk, Virginia, talked about her company moving from digital cameras to g- force activated cameras. One of the facts Judy conveyed to the audience was that her claims expense year to date was about 25 percent less on her fleet with the new cameras opposed to her fleet without cameras. Judy also talked about the driver safety and security aspect of the cameras

John Doherty, Transit Express, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, discussed how the new camera technology was benefiting his paratransit company by modifying the behavior of his company’s drivers, and therefore reducing both their claims and maintenance expense. John also showed some film clips of how he was using the new camera technology to help his company reconstruct accidents.

Ellis Houston concluded the session by conveying to the audience his view based on a six month investigation he recently completed on where in-vehicle camera system technology is headed in the future. He stated:

“I’m going to spend a few minutes talking about where I believe this camera system technology is headed.

First, I want to convey that I was one of our industry’s foremost skeptics of this technology. I saw nothing but a downside until I purchased and field-tested 10 of these g-force activated camera units.

Ladies and gentlemen, it was only a matter of days after my testing began before I was no longer a skeptic, but a shopper for 200 plus units to install in my companies’ vehicles. As a shopper, I spent the first six months of this year investigating this technology as head of a loose knit coalition of taxi, limousine and paratransit companies whose goals were the same as mine — to find the best g-force duel lens camera product on the market at a price we felt was appropriate for this type of technology.

When I started my investigation, I only knew of one camera vendor with a duel lens, g-force activated camera product. When I completed my investigation a few months back and placed a camera order for my companies I had looked at and/or field-tested approximately 15 different camera systems that were either in the marketplace, or were in various stages of development.

During this process, I came to the conclusion that there is currently not a one-shoe-fits all camera system on the market today for the taxicab, paratransit and limousine industry. The reason being is we all want something a little different.

For example,

• a taxicab operator may want a system without audio that films forward and backward, including all the occupants in the vehicle;
  
• a limousine operator may want a system that films forward and backward, including the driver, but not any passengers; and
  
• a paratransit operator may want a system with audio that films forward and backward.

With that said, I did look at some camera systems in development which I do believe will have the capabilities to serve the future needs of the entire for-hire transportation industry. These camera systems of the future will not be stand alone, but will become an add on to a full blown in-vehicle mini computer system.

Ladies and gentlemen, an easily programmable computer in the vehicle is going to open up endless possibilities for our industry. Not only will we be able to customize a camera system for our specific individual needs, we will be able to:

• extract braking, speed and idle time, etc. from a vehicle’s diagnostic port;
  
• we will be able to add vehicle collision avoidance sensors;
  
• we will be able to easily add vehicle GPS and Mapping software; and
  
• we will be able to easily connect to any public service network, such as Verizon, Cingular, etc. for remote downloading of data and/or to provide in-vehicle internet client services.
  

I could continue on but I believe you get the picture.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, when I placed my order for a camera system I did so knowing the system I chose today may not be the one I choose to use a couple of years down the road because of the many technical advances I see forthcoming. For this reason, I would be very hesitant to endorse any specific camera system vendor.

However, I believe I can speak for all of the members of this panel in stating we encourage TLPA’s membership to support the vendors that support our association by purchasing booth space and displaying their products and services at our trade shows.”

Harold Morgan, TLPA Director of Research & Education, submitted this article.

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