Truck cam prompts police complaint

THREE ACROSS: A picture taken from Drivecam footage shows the dangerous activity.

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Police have received a complaint about poor driving that was caught on video by a Christchurch waste company.

Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Al Stewart said police were investigating the complaint.

The footage was recorded by cameras mounted on rubbish trucks, and was released to The Press by Canterbury Waste Services.

The cameras have recorded cars running red lights and stop signs, running other cars off the road through dangerous overtaking, pulling out in front of oncoming traffic, driving three abreast on two-lane roundabouts and skidding around corners in wet conditions.

Haydn Bowbyes, project manager for in-vehicle camera systems for Lumley General Insurance, said the cameras had been used in New Zealand for the past four years.

They could be tailored for other vehicles, including buses and taxis, he said.

There were also $995 units for private-vehicle use. They could also be used by parents to monitor their children's driving habits.

Canterbury Waste Services (CWS) general manager Gareth James said as well as helping with driver training and monitoring, the cameras provided protection for the company if its drivers were blamed for causing accidents.

"Whenever there's an incident and someone suggests our driver was in the wrong, we say `let's have a look at the video'.

"It gives us strong protection to prove what actually happened," he said.

In the two years since Drivecam was introduced at CWS, the system had not recorded any incidents caused by company drivers.

- © Fairfax NZ News