Last year, we presented a tactical tip from a Police1 Member who noted that with backup cameras becoming commonplace on vehicles, some bad guys have begun to use them for better view of your approach at a traffic stop. Late last week, we got word from another Police1 Member who discovered a new take on this some officer safety issue that he discovered while shopping for a new car for his wife.
A new standard feature on 2015 model Honda Civics and Accords that potentially poses a threat to law enforcement is called “LaneWatch” and its purpose is to improve the driver’s passenger-side visibility by way of a tiny camera installed on the passenger-side mirror.
“I just learned of these cameras as my wife’s new 2015 Civic has one in which the viewpoint and video quality are exceptional, even at night. Therefore, please remain attentive of these cameras when executing passenger-side approaches on new model Hondas,” Police1 Member Russell McDermott wrote in an email.
The Honda LaneWatch camera automatically activates when the driver signals to make a right turn — assuming that drivers still do such a thing — displaying a live video feed on the eight-inch display screen mounted in the center of the dashboard. Honda says that “LaneWatch” covers roughly four times more area — about 80 degrees of view versus about 20 degrees of view from the passenger-side mirror alone. “The display can show cars from one or two lanes to the right and cars up to 50 yards behind the vehicle,” according to the Honda website.
In addition, the camera can also be manually activated at by the push of a button on the column, without the car’s right-turn blinker being illuminated. Interestingly, the feature is not installed on the driver’s side mirror.
According to Honda, this feature is not offered by any other manufacturer, but in any copycat industry (and automobile manufacturing is certainly that) other brands are sure to follow with similar offerings. Assume on every traffic stop that the driver is closely watching your approach — whether that’s driver’s side or passenger side, and whether it’s on the new model Hondas or any other car.
Stay safe out there.
