OHTA.ca

Hello Members,

I drive Tractor Trailer (LTL in GTA) I recently set up a make shift Video camera on my passenger side windshield. I have seen to many of my fellow drivers fall prey to the MTO, and those MTO inspection stations that you pull your trunk into, can tear up your world in no time.

My question here is if I have to go to court, how much weight does my audio-video footage hold, I know in some states it is illegal to video an officer while he is preforming his duty. Thx

There is a whole section on red light camera evidence.. but nothing about recording an officer... i'd say go for it! Better to have some evidence then none

Good luck

SteveSmith wrote:Hello Members,

I drive Tractor Trailer (LTL in GTA) I recently set up a make shift Video camera on my passenger side windshield. I have seen to many of my fellow drivers fall prey to the MTO, and those MTO inspection stations that you pull your trunk into, can tear up your world in no time.

My question here is if I have to go to court, how much weight does my audio-video footage hold, I know in some states it is illegal to video an officer while he is preforming his duty. Thx

There's no laws in Canada that would prevent you from recording in a public place. The same goes for recording officers. There's no expectation of privacy in a public area. I'd imagine an inspection station is considered public rather than a concert venue, which would be private. Officers do though have a right to freely go about performing their duties. You are free to record, but it's not a license to be a nuisance. By nuisance I mean getting in the way physically or interfering, not the act of recording itself.

Officers can't go out of their way to take your camera away, take your memory card, or delete pictures. I'm not a truck driver entering inspection stations so i'm not familiar with the reasoning behind the recording. That being said, if you feel it could save your bacon one day, you're free to do so. Whether or not it will help you in a court setting depends on what you're trying to prove in the first place.

I know in some States they have tried to charge people for recording under bogus wiretapping or newly created laws pushed by the increase of camera phones. It's few and far in between and in the end they have a way of working themselves out in court. It's not an issue in Canada.

AlienPrime wrote:There is a whole section on red light camera evidence.. but nothing about recording an officer... i'd say go for it! Better to have some evidence then none

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statut ... .htm#BK320

Good luck

This has nothing to do with anything.

Out of curiosity, what is it that youd hope to capture on camera while at an inspection station? I get that while youre driving around a dash cam might be nice to show whos at fault in an accident, etc., but I though inspection stations were more about making sure paper works in order, vehicle is mechanically fit, etc.

SteveSmith wrote:I have seen to many of my fellow drivers fall prey to the MTO, and those MTO inspection stations that you pull your trunk into, can tear up your world in no time.

Genuine curiousity here, what do you mean by this? And how would a recording change any of that?

SteveSmith wrote:My question here is if I have to go to court, how much weight does my audio-video footage hold, I know in some states it is illegal to video an officer while he is preforming his duty. Thx

In Canada we have what is referred to as "single party consent", that is you can record any conversation you are a party to. Where your recording might be illegal is if a private conversation took place in the cab of your truck while you were not present - in this case it might be considered "interception of a private communication".

As for the admissability of your video, this is where the "make shift" camera makes me nervous. You'd want to demonstrate the time and place of the recording (timestamp) and that the video had not been altered. It's a *EDIT* shoot. I might shop around on ebay, integrated multi camera dashcam units can be had for $70 or so, and will automatically date/time stamp the video and incorporate GPS coords.

Your recording equipment is unlikely to be seized unless it's evidence of an offence.

bend wrote:

This has nothing to do with anything.

looool not exactly.. i was making a point showing that's the only mention of cameras in the act hahahaha