Tristan Calvo has seen some stuff in his time cruising the hard-scrabble streets of Burnaby (OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration).
While driving and cycling, he’s see stuff that would terrify most people if they viewed it live. Stuff so stupid that it makes you wonder if you could ever have faith in humanity again.
He’s talking about the stupidity of drivers on Burnaby roads.
Calvo said that, one day, his wife was nearly killed by a tanker truck that failed to yield – someone that day had dash cam video of the incident.
That’s when he decided to get his own dash cam for his car and a Go Pro for his bicycle helmet. It didn’t take long to capture some horrific decision making by local drivers – there’s a screenshot attached to this story of a huge truck nearly hitting a cyclist. He even took to posting some of these videos on YouTube to document the lunacy.
“I see so much every day that I could spend an hour loading (videos of) dangerous drivers on the road every day,” Calvo said. “Most of the time, I just delete them and am thankful that no one got hurt.”
But now he wants to do more with the videos than just post them on the internet – he wants these videos to actually punish terrible drivers.
I love it.
Calvo has written to B.C. Attorney-General David Eby about his plan. He says that since the province can’t put red light cameras everywhere, then the government should rely more on the public to help catch crazy drivers. He wants ICBC to set up a program in which people can submit their dash cam or helmet-cam videos of such infractions as speeding through a school zone or not yielding to pedestrians in a crosswalk.
“The driver that causes the infraction gets a ticket and the driver that reports it gets a percentage off their insurance when they go to renew,” Calvo wrote to Eby. “So someone speeding through a red light might think twice not knowing who is watching them. This would not only save ICBC money, but it could potentially free up first responders time from having to then clean up the mess, our medical system for not having our emergency rooms filled and long-term injury payouts.”
It’s an interesting idea. Police are already asking the public to send them dash cam footage in the wake of serious incidents – why not formalize the process a little more?
I think the rebate idea would motivate the public to be more vigilant. I doubt the government would actually do this, but it’s a fascinating idea. Calvo did receive a government response, but that mainly just outlined all the efforts it is taking to improve driver safety.
Calvo has resorted to all of this because he can’t take the insanity any longer.
“There are a lot of drivers that should not be on the road,” he said. “They are a danger to themselves and everyone else. I have taught my daughter not to take her foot off the curb until everyone stops - even if the light is green or the crosswalk is lit up.”
So there you go. People like Calvo are out there recording idiot drivers, so be warned.
I might just have to get a dash cam myself.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
