Following the disappearance of a Pennsylvania woman last week, and the discovery of her car abandoned along a highway, some people are asking why investigators didn’t use highway traffic cameras to try to track her. CBS Philly reports that traffic engineers for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation say it’s because those cameras are specifically for monitoring traffic flow.
And I get that. The Spokane Regional Transportation Management Center (SRTMC) is located within the SRTC office (see picture). There are operators who sit in the SRTMC all day and watch traffic, just to make sure it’s moving like it should be and to dispatch emergency services when needed. But they don’t record the cameras nor archive video. However, they get a LOT of calls from people wanting video to support their case when pulled over by law enforcement or insurance companies and lawyers trying to prove who hit who in the case of collisions.
Sorry folks, not gonna happen. The cameras are not only not meant for this use, but there’s not the server space, equipment or staffing available to archive video. So if you were in a traffic accident, or some other kind of incident, where you noticed a traffic camera nearby, it’s not going to help your case.