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Drones to Be Used in Crash Scene Investigations, Michigan Police Files for Authorization

When huge crashes happen on the interstate, that section of hit could stay blocked for days because the investigators have to do a ton of measurements and take thousands of photos for later analysis. Hopefully, this ordeal could be eradicated using those unmanned flying aircraft that have started to find their way into more and more domains. Yes, drones...
Aeryon SkyRanger drone 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Remember the 193-vehicle pileup that shut down a section of Interstate 94 between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek earlier this month? It took two days to reopen it, mostly because the crash investigators had to do the required measurements before clearing out the wreckages.

Hopefully, this problem will be solved in the near future. The Michigan State Police, at least, filed for an authorization to deploy an aerial drone to photograph crash scenes and also give an overview first look for other emergency situations according to Detroit News’ report.

Efforts already begun

The aforementioned institution already trained its men for more than a year to remotely pilot a $158,000 Aeryon SkyRanger drone that takes hundreds of overlapping photos of the accident for a computer program to stitch together and create a 3D map of the crash for further investigations.

"I personally think it's going to change how we do law enforcement," said Bush, commander of field support and aviation at the Michigan State Police. "The quicker we can get accidents cleared, to me that's a gamechanger for how we do law enforcement."

If the authorization gets approved, the Michigan State Police would become the first agency with permission to deploy the remote-controlled aircraft anywhere in the state. The only limitation is for crashes next to airports or other airfields, for the drone not to interfere with the normal air traffic.

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