The police need some help.

[Matthew_T]

Just out and about minding my own business today when this guy comes bombing it past me at about 60 mph in a 30 zone. I was in a very vulnerable position as I was passing parked cars and totally didnt expect something like this:



I saw a group of about 4 bobbies straight around the corner and offered my assistance by asking them if they wanted the video footage. They said it would be a great help and I told them that I would put the vid on YouTube and told them my username, so they could find it.

It is very hard to see the number plate so I was wondering if anyone on here would be able to decifer it?

 

[Herzog]

I'm surprised he/she saw you...

 

[ComedyPilot]

Just demonstrates some driver's complete lack of respect for the community to drive like that. Should be banned. I would guess driving like that they are 'local', they know the area and are showing off or trying to impress passengers/pedestrians. A stranger to an area wouldn't drive like that. Just plot a traffic car out tonight and they'll be back showing off having forgotten what they did, and will be easy to spot given the blue number plate light.

 

[Matthew_T]

I will be keeping my eyes peeled in case I see them again. I did go looking for them on my way home cut didnt see anything.
I think that if I had a GoPro on my head, it would still not tell the numberplate. Shame.

 

[HLaB]

Try converting the video to still jpegs it may make it legible. I used this program for my Msc to do similar.

 

[Hip Priest]

Haven't got the foggiest Matthew. He seemed to be going very fast, especially for a built up area. It's horrible when you're riding and you hear someone gunning the engine like that.

 

[Matthew_T]

Haven't got the foggiest Matthew. He seemed to be going very fast, especially for a built up area. It's horrible when you're riding and you hear someone gunning the engine like that.

Well the thing is that he was going so fast that I didnt hear him coming. I saw his lights from around the corner and decided to pull out for the parked cars earlier than normal and indicate. He didnt pass me closely or agressively, just general absence of care for other road users.

I bet he peed himself when he passed the bobbies though. They knew he was way over the speed limit.

Shame the camera was poor though.

 

[ianrauk]

Blimey, that was nasty.

 

[CamPhil]

If you want to get the registration from the video, you need to use the original footage, not the version that's been munged and compressed to within an inch of it's life by YouTube.
If you can lift stills from the video, it is possible to enhance the registration number by combining information from several frames (you can't do that if only one frame shows the number, irrespective of what they may show on CSI - information that isn't there cannot be magically created, and would have zero value as evidence even if it could). The more (similar) frames you have with the registration number in them, the more chance there is of getting a legible result (I used to know someone who developed image enhancement software algorithms for cancer scanning, which is where I learned about it).
But anyone will need the original file to work with, the police will probably only bother if there are some serious crimes involved, and would need the unaltered original media for the video to have any evidential value.
It's worth keeping a spare memory card in case the contents of one need to be preserved as evidence.

 

[Brandane]

the police will probably only bother if there are some serious crimes involved, and would need the unaltered original media for the video to have any evidential value.
It's worth keeping a spare memory card in case the contents of one need to be preserved as evidence.

Correct. It was, in the grand scheme of things, a minor traffic offence in their eyes. The chances of them following it up are NIL. I doubt very much that any of the 4 Cops who the OP spoke to really want to trace the car involved. The clip will not prove anything that will be sufficient to secure a conviction, and therefore as far as the Police are concerned it would be another piece of paperwork with no real purpose.

 

[Matthew_T]

Well if that is true, they were really polite in saying "Yes we would like to get the driver if you can figure out the number plate, but if not then we wont do anything".

 

[gaz]

The police will probably only bother if there are some serious crimes involved, and would need the unaltered original media for the video to have any evidential value.
It's worth keeping a spare memory card in case the contents of one need to be preserved as evidence.

Not strickly true, you can trim the video to your liking and supply it on any format you like. This is speaking from personal experience (note that certain police forces may prefer it in a certain format to make their life easier, a CD is definitely easier than a SD or microSD car.)

 

[cd365]

Can the police actually do anything now? There is no proof as to how fast he was going.

 

[Arsen Gere]

My knowledge is out of date but you did not need to know the speed to prove an offence but you did need corroboration.
ie 2 PC's, a civilian and a PC, a video camera and a civilian would do.

 

[Banjo]

Well the thing is that he was going so fast that I didnt hear him coming. I saw his lights from around the corner and decided to pull out for the parked cars earlier than normal and indicate. He didnt pass me closely or agressively, just general absence of care for other road users.

I bet he peed himself when he passed the bobbies though. They knew he was way over the speed limit.

Shame the camera was poor though.

The bobbies new he was speeding you knew he was speeding but no way of proving it even with the reg number.The most that he will get is a talking to which is better than nothing .

A while ago a guy on here (Magnaton ? )had graphic footage of being run off the road at a roundabout by a tanker lorry. Police couldnt prosecute without an independant witness despite the video.

Personally I think replaying video of dodgy overtakes etc is just raising your stress levels and achieving zilch.