Google Street View car careens into creek after 100mph cop chase

Ever wondered why Google Maps Street View images can have such poor quality sometimes? A police incident in the US state of Indiana on Monday may offer an answer. According to Middletown Police Department, a small vehicle was observed passing several others heading westbound on US Route 36 outside Shenandoah High School. The …

[Solviva]

"The officer present, Chief Landon J Dean, dutifully began pursuit – the speed limit on interstate highways is 70mph, 15mph in a school zone – and said he was able to identify the vehicle as a Google Maps car by virtue of the 360-degree cameras mounted on the roof."

I call BS. It could have been any of several companies who do this, the fact it has a camera on the roof doesn't identify it as Google or anybody else. The text on the rear of the vehicle, however, gives the game away.

[tip pc]

i guess he thought it most likely a google car as it sped past & he likely couldn't read the bumper writing, later confirmed when it ended in the ditch.

[Solviva]

Jumping to conclusions. If he was honest he would have suspected it being a Google car (good chance it was), and 'confirmed' it by the writing on the vehicle (although how hard is it for somebody to get Google Street View printed and stick it on their car) but simply seeing the camera is no confirmation.

I knew the suspect was reaching for a weapon in his pocket so I shot him. Turns out suspect had an itch just there and no weapon.

Point being, seeing a streetview style camera on car is not a guarantee that it is indeed a Google vehicle, or vehicle operating on behalf of Google. To say that's how you concluded it was Google is blatantly false.

[DS999]

Since whether or not the car was Google's had absolutely nothing to do with his decision to pursue it I don't understand why you are so exercised over that trivial detail.

[David 132]

> Since whether or not the car was Google's had absolutely nothing to do with his decision to pursue it I don't understand why you are so exercised over that trivial detail.

<tearful>

LEAVE GOOGLE ALONE!!!

</tearful>

[Anonymous Coward]

he was able to identify the vehicle as a Google Maps car by virtue of the 360-degree cameras mounted on the roof."

I call BS.

So what? If it was speeding he was right to pursue it, no matter whose vehicle it was.

[Doctor Syntax]

What would wind forces do to a roof-mounted camera at 100mph? More BS?

[Anonymous Coward]

The same as they do to my roof box - I. E. Nothing if its properly secured. 100mph is a strong wind but has been within humans ability to engineer against for centuries. Just attach it firmly.

[John H Woods]

Re: just attach it firmly...

You must also then rock it as hard as you can and declare "that's not going anywhere" to complete the process.

[Anonymous Coward]

I weep for your gas mileage

The square law is a harsh mistress, and just because you CAN do a thing, does not mean you SHOULD do a thing.

(that being 100mph with a luggage box attached)

[SundogUK]

Re: I weep for your gas mileage

Passed a car doing over 100mph once, which had three bicycles on an upright roof rack. Didn't seem to be causing any difficulties - but we didn't fancy being behind him...

[Ken Moorhouse]

Re: which had three bicycles on an upright roof rack

Just imagine if it was a bit windy.

Brings a whole new meaning to 'hitting a cyclone'.

[DCdave]

Re: I weep for your gas mileage

I hope you reported the other driver for speeding

[Monty Cantsin]

The officer didn't actually say he was able to identify the car as as a Google Maps car by virtue of the 360-degree cameras mounted on the roof. That seems to be a fabrication by El Reg.

The Press Release from the Middletown Police Department actually says:

"As the Vehicle passed by it was identified by Dean as a Google Mapping car with several 360 degree cameras mounted on a tall antenna on top of the car."

(I've only an FB link for it: https://www.facebook.com/100067048532793/posts/press-releaseon-07312023-at-approximately-1700-hours-chief-landon-j-dean-observe/618828023695477/)

Clearly the Google Street View decals all over the car helped in in that determination, with him then merely observing that there was a camera on a structure on top of it.

[Solviva]

Then El Reg has badly paraphrased the police officer.

[Steve Button]

SO WHAT!? Now go away.

[Gene Cash]

Jesus. Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?

[Strahd Ivarius]

A Florida man?

[Chris 239]

My inlaws they call any vacuum cleaner a hoover and any tablet an ipad, I suspect this the same: any car with a camera on the roof is a Google street view car.

[tip pc]

blurred faces

i always wondered how they blurred the faces

[david 12]

Blurred Photograph

(aside)

Reading about (historical) painting in the antipodes, artists were always going on about "the light". That didn't mean anything to me until I visited part of the United States with "light" like that shown in photograph accompanying this article. That blurry/misty view is characteristic of parts of the USA at some times of the year, and is completely missing in the part of Australia where I live, where the light is clear and sharp.

... you may return to regular programming now ...

[Bebu]

Re: Blurred Photograph

《That blurry/misty view is characteristic of parts of the USA》

Same could be said of the US body politic.

It is true that there is something special about the light in AU. Even in a cosmopolitan city like Sydney. The late afternoon sunlight on the sandstone masonry of the colonial era buildings in Sydney's CBD can be utterly enchanting.

Alas... we return to normal programming.

[xyz]

Re: blurred faces

More like blurred faeces when he hit that ditch. Anyone got the gps so we can watch the chase on Google streetview?

Surely this is an ideal Playmobil recreation scenario.

[Rob]

Can't wait to use streetview in this area, will feel like I'm in hyperspace in the millennium falcon or similar.

[Doctor Syntax]

Pictures or it didn't happen!!

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Pictures

Something wrong with the one in the article?

[TheRealRoland]

You're new around here? The phrase is

"Playmobil, or it didn't happen."

[Caver_Dave]

Driving that fast won't give me time to drop my trousers to them as they pass. They take all the fun away.

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably best not to do that when they're being chased by a police car.

[rcxb]

Aye, that's whot kilts are fer.

[carolinahomes]

Updating, please wait a moment

There's a single spot in front of 5062 N Raider Rd (northbound lane, near a stop sign just a bit to the south of Shenandoah High School) that is a couple years older than the surrounding. It shows three small trees with no fence, whereas all the other nearby streetview photos show 2 larger trees inside a new chain-link fence (the littlest tree didn't survive).

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0055214,-85.5281324,3a,75y,6.22h,70.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1si6QUorZADORSpxFaOVyR6w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[Bowlers]

Re: Updating, please wait a moment

We were due to meet at a restaurant in a city I didn't know. Used street view to check for parking etc. Going up the road the restaurant was a Chinese, on the way down it was a Thai restaurant.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Updating, please wait a moment

Do it was in fact a Korean one?

[heyrick]

Re: Updating, please wait a moment

Aldershot. Bottom of the pedestrian area. You can see lots of boarded up shops. Walk around along the road and suddenly it's a building site.

I think urban weirdness from stitching together images of various ages is quite common.

I wish Google would put proper dates on their imagery, or in the case of the overhead views, any dates. Where I live, for example, the images are from early 2020. I can tell that because it's after early spring when I did the ground with a ride-on mower for the first time, but before late spring when I used the time of Covid lockdown to sort out a massive pile of brambles.

[Ken Moorhouse]

Re: I wish Google would put proper dates on their imagery

Streetview tells you month and year of the image. Click on "see more dates" to look at old versions of the same view. My road was last surveyed Sept 2022 and prior to that, May 2019.

[Paul Hovnanian]

They had better ...

... keep an eye on that creek for a few months. There will be an inevitable rash of GPS-guided drivers who will make that same turn.

[b0llchit]

Google Creek View

Coming to a browser near you: Google Creek View, with 360 degree views of fishy parking spots.

[Miguel Vieira]

Vroom Vroom Chroom Chroom

[Gene Cash]

Florida driving license

Last weekend, here in my podunk little Florida town, I came up to the stoplight at the NE corner of town and noticed it wasn't working.

This is at the intersection of 2 4-lane roads. So the procedure is to "treat a failed light as a 4-way stop" i.e. you stop and let others already present proceed, then proceed yourself.

Nope. I watched as people whizzed through at 50mph until **BANG!!!** two of them tried to occupy the same space at the same time.

I can definitely say all parties in that crash (not "accident") were 100% at fault.

Then people STILL tried to whizz through, attempting to avoid the crashed cars and the road debris, not understanding they'd be stranded a couple blocks up with flat tires from said debris.

Sigh.

[DS999]

Re: Florida driving license

I came up to the stoplight at the NE corner of town and noticed it wasn't working

Was it flashing or was it out completely? If the latter the fault is on the town for not putting up temporary stop signs.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Florida driving license

"Was it flashing or was it out completely? If the latter the fault is on the town for not putting up temporary stop signs."

Towns will put up temp signs if the light is expected to be out for some time and they know about it but it's not their fault for an accident if they don't. If the lights are not working at an intersection, the law states that it must be treated as a 4-way stop (in the US, in all the states I'm aware of). If you don't see the signals, you aren't paying attention. If you have seen them and there is no color lit, you must stop.

[DS999]

Re: Florida driving license

How are you going to see traffic signals at night that aren't lit/flashing?

[emfiliane]

Re: Florida driving license

Same way you spot anything that's completely unlit: An OH SHIT moment when you get close and slam on the brakes.

Most traffic light overheads are in cities that have some kind of lighting, though, and are at least a little visible from a distance if you're paying attention. If the whole neighborhood's power is out and dark, well, that's a solid reason to treat driving through with an abundance of extreme caution.

[PhilipN]

treat driving through with an abundance of extreme caution

Exactly so. It is what we are supposed to bloody well do anyway - all the time.

[heyrick]

Re: Florida driving license

Speaking from the point of view of a foreigner who got stuck on Captchas... y'all put your traffic lights in really weird places!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Florida driving license

Your state mandated headlights will show you there is an intersection, the lack of a stop sign means it's an uncontrolled intersection, and you need to stop before entering and proceed at like 15 mph.

If you were driving to fast in the dark to notice you were traveling to fast for conditions and are at fault if you wreck and can be cited. Bonus points as you are also probably traveling double the posted speed limit, and possibly more than 25 miles an hour over the speed limit, which kick in reckless driving and possibly make it a felony.

Seriously, don't just F* around an blow through intersections in the dark folks. I assure you unless you are an ambulance or a fire truck, you are not in that big a hurry.

[Yes Me]

Re: Florida driving license

And I've noticed that emergency vehicles usually proceed carefully, even through green lights. Better they arrive a few seconds later than not arrive at all.

When they don't take care, oops.

[disgruntled yank]

Re: Florida driving license

I have heard of the experienced police officer who disliked riding with rookies, because rookies had a tendency to believe that the lights and siren worked magic.

[Number6]

Re: Florida driving license

Generally, emergency vehicles don't just blow through intersections, in the dark or otherwise, except in movies. They usually slow right down and check for idiots before proceeding, especially if they don't have a green light. Otherwise you can be sure that Murphy will make sure they do meet one of those idiots.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Florida driving license

"especially if they don't have a green light."

Even when they do have a green light, there will be one person that doesn't realize that everybody is stopped because they saw/heard an emergency vehicle approaching. That person will just think "Nice, an opening to make a right/left against red, I better hurry" and there they are directly in the path of the vehicle with all of the lights on.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Florida driving license

"How are you going to see traffic signals at night that aren't lit/flashing?"

ummmm, headlights on the car.

You've pointed out an issue with autonomous cars. What do THEY do when they encounter a controlled intersection where the lights aren't working? They should know that there should be lights, but if they aren't working they won't be able to detect anything. In those instances, there can be a lot of hand waving, eye contact and give/take. Cars aren't going to be able to do that on their own.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Florida driving license

@Gene C(r)ash, you just got a front row seat to the latest installment of "Florida man" meme.

[ProfessorLarry]

Re: Florida driving license

When I was consulting in Moscow back around peristroika (early 90s), I was assigned a driver who consistently sped through red lights. I asked my interpreter about this and he told me the classic Russian joke that this guy was a "Master Driver" who would duly stop when encountering a green light, just in case there was another Master Driver coming on the cross street.

[chivo243]

Somehow...

Darwin is chuckling along... The only thing missing is the 'Hold my beer" moment.

[Howard Sway]

at that point that the driver lost control and careened through a yard into a creek

That must have been when he pressed the "I'm feeling lucky" button on the Google dashboard.....

After he lost control and went through the yard, hopefully there was the obligatory flock of chickens flying into the air, before he ran through a clothes line full of bedsheets and then through a fence, leaving a perfect car + camera shaped hole.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: at that point that the driver lost control and careened through a yard into a creek

You are Harold Lloyd - or possibly Mack Sennett - and I claim my five pounds!

[DJV]

Re: at that point that the driver lost control and careened through a yard into a creek

Don't forget the big pile of empty cardboard boxes left in the middle of the road for no apparent reason!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF-T1FB3Yno

[David 132]

Re: at that point that the driver lost control and careened through a yard into a creek

Ah how did I know - and hope - that your link was Father Ted?

Excellent.

Now WE PUT THE BRICK ON THE ACCELERATOR.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Re: at that point that the driver lost control and careened through a yard into a creek

TED ! you forgot your brick!

[NXM]

Re: at that point that the driver lost control and careened through a yard into a creek

Do you mind if I put my massive tool in Mrs Doyle's box?

[PRR]

For readers outsie the US

> the speed limit on interstate highways is 70mph

US36 is not an "Interstate Highway". US routes are legacy local roads with federal money. US36 past the high school there is a plain 2-lane road, looks like 1940s concrete with decades of blacktop topping. Just 4-way at-grade intersections. Parts outside towns are posted 55MPH (88kph); 45 through small towns.

Highways come from wars. After WWI the Fed realized shipments would go better if the 48 separate highway number systems were rationalized. To get state govs to cooperate on a Federal problem, the fed had to give out money. The shining example (and driver's hell) is US Rt 1 from Florida to Maine, linking the river-ports along the way. This system was staggering when the US went into WWII and doing all that feed-Britain and Lend-Lease stuff, but we limped through. Eisenhower and others saw the German Autobahns and said "Gotta have that at home!" THAT is the "Interstate Highway" system with limited access, cloverleafs, flyovers, and 50-60-70-80+MPH limits.

[My other car WAS an IAV Stryker]

Re: For readers outsie the US

It's not always 70 MPH for interstate highways either. In metro areas it is often less (55 / 60 / 65), and in rural areas it can be more (75 is the max in Michigan, but I've heard of 80 or 85 in some states).

Your history of the "Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways" (according to Wikipedia) is spot on, though.

[johnfbw]

Re: For readers outsie the US

Aw 85mph. *Laughs in German*

[Anonymous Coward]

Or in a differnt state

Any speed that is safe and reasonable(at least in the day time)

Still blowing through intersections in the dark makes you a stupid bell end, regardless of your state or nation.

[Ideasource]

Re: For readers outsie the US

I've got mixed feelings about Eisenhower.

But I realized that he wasn't the same person for his entire term.

The identity of a person is best measured by their direction and methodology of thought.

When that becomes compromised or replaced any previous reputation becomes in effect deceitful.

In the second half of his administration, he went quite literally insane, at least according to history reports of those who worked closely with him.

But his public appeal and position was too great to be officially recognized and dealt with effectively.

So yay for the interstates.

But boo for the treasonous act of subverting US culture from that of religious tolerance to pro-christian and subsequent erosion of appropriate separation of church and state.

That dangerous shortcut utilized as unifying war propaganda has continued to precipitate ignorance and hateful acts still to modern day.

[PhilipN]

Re: For readers outsie the US

Ike - per Macarthur : "The best secretary I ever had"

[Number6]

Re: For readers outsie the US

I've not seen anything faster than 70 MPH in California, but like in the UK, you're unlucky to get pulled for less than 80 unless you're doing something else daft. I-80 through Utah is 80MPH but they'll pull you for even a hair over that. A lot of the big western states typically have 70 or 75 limits on interstates. Montana was "Reasonable and prudent", don't know if it still is.

[My other car WAS an IAV Stryker]

Re: For readers outsie the US

Montana's experiment lasted only a year or two after the Feds started letting the states set the rules (previous max was 60 urban, 65 rural).

Michigan's cops -- and this is from cops attending my church -- don't care about the highways until you're 15 over. Surface streets, it depends on the jurisdiction and actual road in question (15 for major routes, 5 or 10 for others).

But Ohio... If you have out-of-state plates -- especially Michigan -- don't go even ONE over, no matter what the rest of traffic is doing, at least on the I-80/I-90 Ohio Turnpike (toll road). I've driven some off-highway Ohio state routes with nothing but farms around for miles, cruising a nice 5 to 10 over and no one in sight to stop me.

Wisconsin (I-94) acts similarly to Minnesotan plates: 5 over, no more, but traffic will be passing you.

[MachDiamond]

Re: For readers outsie the US

"If you have out-of-state plates"

That's ringing the cash register. Chances are slim that you'll come back to fight a citation for being 3 over. The officer will chat you up to see if you are just passing through. The court can then book all of those tickets to be heard on a particular day since the officer might need to be present if anybody wishes to fight the ticket. If only a couple of people might show up, they can have 100 citations all booked for that day and just stamp the rest as being "no contest" with the officer available to continue on producing more income for the town.

[Jonathan Richards 1]

Re: For readers outside the US

>from cops attending my church

What sort of church has to call the cops?

[Old Used Programmer]

Re: For readers outsie the US

US 1 (or parts of it, anyway) started life as the Boston Post Road.

The other requirement for Interstate highways is to have enough clearance under overpasses for a tank on a transporter to go through. As tanks have gotten bigger, older Interstates sometimes get overpasses re-built for more clearance. (The four in the town where I live got re-done by raising them about 18 inches within the last coupe of years.)

[Version 1.0]

A Google "upgrade"?

If they were originally paying $11-$17 an hour then he would have been driving a lot slower. Maybe Google is now paying $11-$17 per hundred miles which would explain his speed.

[MachDiamond]

Re: A Google "upgrade"?

"Maybe Google is now paying $11-$17 per hundred miles which would explain his speed."

That would open Google up for legal action over not paying minimum wage. Companies can pay people based on piece work, but it has to be enough that somebody with reasonable skills will earn at least the local minimum wage. Needing to grossly exceed the speed limit wouldn't be reasonable. Amazon is playing with those requirements with their drivers and contract companies. Another case of being so big they can ignore many employment laws.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Mash-up

Would have been an interesting sight if, when he was jumping the red light, there had been a Tesla on "autopilot" entering the junction.

[Christoph]

"According to the police statement, he told officers he worked for Google and was afraid to stop"

Why was he afraid to stop? If he is black then he did have good reason.

[Jonathan Richards 1]

afraid to stop

If you're any colo(u)r at all, and you've just barrelled past a school and a police officer, doing a hundred mph, then you're going to be afraid that it's turning out to be a bad day. Doubling down and trying to run is pretty dumb. See icon =>

[Spanners]

We need to see the pictures!

I doubt they will end up on Google maps but they should be made public. Is that something US courts do?

[Anonymous Coward]

[You find yourself in a meeting room with a whiteboard and several non-descript executives]

[A Streetview executive enters]

"From August 1 we expect a dramatic boost in productivity now we have shifted to paying the labour units by-the-mile, instead of by-the-hour.

[ChoHag]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this.

And what's up with "All a contractor has to do is drive around at the speed limit"? Driving *at* the speed limit is almost always impossible. What do these drivers' contracts say?

Unfortunately this guy's an idiot: he could have got off with a speeding ticket and a good rant that puts Google firmly into the same employee-relations camp as Uber and Amazon, where people would have been happy to blame everything this person's ever done on the faceless techbro employer.

[MachDiamond]

"What do these drivers' contracts say?"

The contract is going to say that the driver must follow all traffic laws at all times. The telling question is what the supervisor is saying to them off the books.

[John Brown (no body)]

Yeah, that is true in so many case. BiL worked a short while for a national courier service. "All traffic laws etc must be obeyed, no excuses", but the local managers wanted a certain minimum number of "drops" per day, irregardless of the drivers routes. Routes covering even partially any rural areas were impossible to meet the targets that officially didn't exist. Hw quit and told them what he thought of the borderline illegal employment practices (he was being diplomatic!)

[Ken Moorhouse]

Stop & Search

The police officer saw it was a Google vehicle, so he thought he would do a Stop & Search.

[WayneS]

Contract wording?

"All a contractor has to do is drive around at the speed limit".

Whats the speed limit of the car with that contraption on the roof? At 100 mph was he just doing his contracted job? I doubt it'd have gone much faster.

[Ken Moorhouse]

Fisheye lens

The driver heard that the lenses they use on these cameras were wide-angle, so he thought he would compare it with what a fish would see.

[Bebu]

Dukes of Hazzard episode?

Anyone else thinking this might of been a revenant of one the less memorable Dukes of Hazzard tv series?

The pursuing officer could have been Sheriff Coltrane with Boss Hogg somewhere in the background and not looking too clever if he were in the rear seat of the pursuit vehicle.