1. He has spoken to both the traffic branch and the public prosecutor about prosecuting based on my interpretation of rule 146 "A driver on a multi-lane road must drive so the driver’s vehicle is completely in a marked lane, unless ...". My interpretation is that a vehicle can't straddle a lane line unless it is changing lanes. Both traffic branch and the public prosecutor disagree, and their view is the rule does not stop a vehicle from overtaking a cyclist while straddling 2 lanes. Maybe they are right. I don't care if people do it, just so long as they do it a safe distance away from me. When they do it while doing a deliberate close shave, I saw it as a method of throwing the book at them if a unsafe overtaking infringement wouldn't stick (kind of like getting Al Capone for tax avoidance).
2. To prosecute using my video as actual evidence would not be able to stand up in court, as the defence can pull it apart because the footage is not from a calibrated, secure and independent source - the whole chain of evidence thing. Apparently CCTV cameras in the city and valley have to be run by a non-police group to maintain it as independent evidence for use in court, and downloads etc all follow a strict process to ensure the chain of evidence is clean. Additionally, my video could have been modified. Note this is coming from the prosecutors, not from the officer.
3. If I was killed they would be able to use the video footage as part of a brief but it still wouldn't be proper evidence for court.
4. He has been able to take action where the motorist admits that they remember the event and that they did something wrong. In most cases, they claim they don't remember it and he can often tell they are lying.
As I said, we are going to talk again next week to look for ways we can do something productive. I'm looking for ways the videos can still be productive in the sense of reducing the rage out there and increasing safety.
a) I wonder if the call from the police about an issue is enough to stop most of the bad drivers from doing it again, even though there was no adverse outcome (TIN etc) for themselves - although for the many that lie, I'm not sure.
b) I also wonder if a TIN could be issued based on the video, with the hope they would not contest it in court not knowing about the evidence issue if it is real (can we make this thread readable only by forum members?
) c) I'm also curious about evidentiary requirements for videos to be able to be used in court, and if the prosecutors are being slack here or not. I would presume a shop's cctv camera could be used as evidence for a robbery or assault (although there will be other evidence in these cases as well, maybe the cctv is just used to investigate and corroborate injuries, fingerprints etc). I guess part of the problem here is a camera can make something look closer or further away than it really was, and closeness is the main problem in most of my videos - whereas footage of somebody hitting a shopkeeper with a cricket bat is fairly unequivocal.
ps. The officer has been looking at my videos at home, because they can't access youtube at work. Something about too many officers using it to watch things they shouldn't be
Edit: Note the officer has encouraged me to keep reporting the incidents.
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