ORLANDO, Fla. -- Florida Highway Patrol is hoping a new 360-degree camera system will help improve safety on area roads.
- New 360-degree camera to help improve road safety
- FHP to install on more than 2,000 vehicles by end of Aug.
- $3.6 million requested to make upgrades
Florida Highway Patrol is scheduled to install a network of cameras in their entire statewide fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles by the end of August. Each vehicle will be outfitted with four individual cameras, facing forward, back, and to each side.
Troopers say the camera system will eliminate dangerous blind spots, and help study crashes.
“If we have a patrol car that gets rear-ended out on the Interstate, we’re going to be able to see what transpired prior to the collision, why the car lost control,” Lt. Tim Freebern with Florida Highway Patrol said. “If the trooper gets in a scuffle off to the side of the road, we’re going to have details we weren’t able to see before.”
Lt. Freebern says this week alone, three drivers crashed into troopers working on Interstate 4 in Central Florida.
There were more than 200 crashes in 2017 involving drivers and first responders working on the side of busy highways.
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles requested $3.6 million from the Legislature to make the upgrades. FHP becomes the first law enforcement agency to install this kind of in-car camera system.