With the rapid development of drone technology, the application of drones in the field of traffic enforcement is gradually becoming a reality. Traffic enforcement drones will become an auxiliary means of traditional ground traffic enforcement and an emerging force in the future urban smart traffic supervision.
With the increasing complexity of urban traffic, drones have greater advantages in traffic monitoring, illegal evidence collection and accident handling, and can directly fly over moving vehicles for all-round monitoring and evidence collection.
Can you use a drone to fly over a moving vehicle?
In the United States, drone pilots operating under Part 107 may fly over crowds and moving vehicles at night without exemptions as long as they meet the requirements defined in the rules. Airspace authorization is still required for nighttime operations in controlled airspace below 400 feet.
According to 14 CFR § 107.145, drones flying over moving vehicles must meet the following conditions:
The operation must be in a closed or restricted area, and the occupants of the vehicle must be aware that the drone may fly over;
The drone must not fly over moving vehicles continuously unless it meets a specific category (such as Category 1, 2, 4).
Although drone technology is becoming more and more mature, the promotion of traffic law enforcement drones still needs to pay attention to flight altitude and airspace restrictions, data privacy protection, the legitimacy of the chain of evidence, the public's right to know and transparency.
Therefore, during the pilot phase, traffic management departments in many places will choose the "assisted law enforcement" + "manual review" method to gradually transition to the "automatic collection + penalty processing" mechanism.
Advantages of flying over moving vehicles by traffic enforcement drones
Traditional ground traffic enforcement usually uses traditional fixed monitoring equipment, such as road cameras, speed radars, etc., which has certain limitations.
Ground fixed law enforcement monitoring equipment has fixed points, many blind spots, cannot track temporary road violations, and responds slowly to mobile traffic incidents, which is easy to cause disputes in some scenarios.
Drones with overflight capabilities can arrive at the scene as soon as possible, dynamically track high-speed vehicles, take aerial aerial photos of license plates, behaviors and surrounding environments, quickly deploy, be flexible, and improve law enforcement safety.
For example, when the traffic law enforcement department is equipped with a drone with a high-zoom RGB camera and image recognition system, it can lock speeding, reverse driving, illegal lane changes or vehicles that do not give way to pedestrians from the air without interfering with traffic.
Overflight enforcement by traffic drones
1. Expressways and expressways
In areas where it is difficult to deploy cameras in the past, drones can fly over target vehicles in the air and use thermal imaging + high-definition visible light images to identify vehicle speed, lane changes, illegal overtaking and other behaviors.
2. Urban traffic rush hour
Drones fly over traffic, identify lane occupation, emergency lane violations, and jamming through AI analysis software, and immediately synchronize illegal information to the traffic police system.
3. Traffic accidents and emergency response
After an accident, drones can quickly fly over the scene, fly around the accident vehicle, take real-time photos of traffic conditions on the scene, and assist in dispatching police and rescue vehicles.
4. Specific law enforcement tasks
When performing some specific law enforcement tasks, such as night checks for drunk driving and tracking suspect vehicles, drones can monitor the whereabouts of suspected vehicles from the air, fly over them to continuously record driving behaviors, and provide video evidence without disturbing the other party's silent flight.
Read More: Road Enforcement Drones | Drone Solutions
How to choose a traffic law enforcement drone?
In order to achieve effective overflight and tracking of ground moving vehicle targets, traffic enforcement drones must have the following core technologies:
- Three-axis stabilized gimbal
- High-definition imaging at night
- GPS/GLONASS precise positioning system
- High-power optical zoom camera
- Automatic flight planning and intelligent tracking algorithm
- Real-time image return system
- AI illegal behavior recognition model
Autelpilot recommends the Autel EVO II Enterprise series and EVO MAX series to you. The powerful drone performance can perform high-definition zoom shooting and stable identification tracking as well as long-term endurance, providing power for smart traffic law enforcement.
Summary
Drones have evolved from toy drones with cameras to smart law enforcement terminals, and have outstanding performance in various industries. Traffic enforcement drones flying over moving vehicles and serving traffic scenes will eventually become normalized applications with the continuous innovation of drone technology and the improvement of management regulations.
