The police are significantly arming themselves in the fight for more safety on German autobahns. In Brandenburg, officials checked the distances between trucks from the air – and informed colleagues on the motorcycle.
Too little distance, too much speed, dangerous overtaking manoeuvres: there is a lot going on on German autobahns. Too much to allow effective control on the ground. The solution: once again, the Brandenburg police used a drone that gave the uniformed pilots an overview “close to the Bundesautobahn 2”.
Shouts from the air – with great success
Within just four hours, the police managed to document 24 “significant distance violations”, including two offenses by dangerous goods transporters, the police summed up. The control measure went as follows: The Technical Task Force (TEE) of the “Special Services” Directorate positioned themselves near the motorway and let a drone fly. In the event of violations by road users, the officials passed on the information to a motorcycle squadron and took an aerial view of the vehicles involved. The alleged Raudis were then directed to a parking lot, where a checkpoint was already waiting for the invited guests.
A comparison shows how effective traffic monitoring by drone is. The police reports that a civilian police video car was on the road at the same time – and only reported three distance violations and four speeding violations.
DJI drone for 15,000 euros
According to information from the “Berliner Zeitung”, the police drones are currently the “Matrice M300” model from the Chinese manufacturer DJI. The company calls the drone “the workhorse” and states that the M300 is a top model for the commercial drone industry.
The quadcopter achieves impressive performance data: the flight time with one battery is 55 minutes, the maximum range is 15 kilometers. The drone records in Full HD and flies at up to 82 kilometers per hour. The maximum flight altitude is 7 kilometers. Under “Tracking” DJI proudly writes: “Identify and track moving subjects such as people, vehicles and boats with the tracking function. The auto-zoom function ensures steady tracking and display.”
The price for such a drone – without special structures – starts at around 10,000 euros. According to the “Berliner Zeitung”, the police drone should cost around 15,000 euros. It is probably only a matter of time before such controls are not only used for distance offenses, but also for speed measurements. A repeat of the truck controls has already been announced.
Source: Brandenburg Police, Berliner Zeitung
