AUTOMATED TRAFFIC VIOLATION MONITORING AND REPORTING SYSTEM WITH COMBINED VIDEO AND STILL-IMAGE DATA

A system for monitoring and reporting incidences of traffic violations at a traffic location is disclosed. The system comprises one or more digital still cameras and one or more digital video cameras system deployed at a traffic location. The camera system is coupled to a data processing system, which comprises an image processor for compiling vehicle and scene images produced by the digital camera system, a verification process for verifying the validity of the vehicle images, an image processing system for identifying driver information from the vehicle images, and a notification process for transmitting potential violation information to one or more law enforcement agencies. The video camera system is configured to record footage both before and after the offense is detected. The video camera system includes a non-stop video capture buffer that records the preceding few seconds of violation. The buffer holds a number of seconds of video data in memory. When an offense is detected, a timer is started. At the end of the timer period a video clip of the current buffer contents is recorded. The resulting video clip is incorporated with the conventional evidence set comprising the digital still images of the offense with the identifying data of the car and driver.