Paul Vogel,like most commuters, gets annoyed when people block his way as they're breaking the law. But he handles it a little differently than most of us. He takes pictures — lots of them —through a small camera mounted on the front of his bike, and which takes time-lapse photos automatically as he rides from his domestic in Prospect Heights to Midtown Manhattan."You can see everything that everyone is doing," he observed. "It's astounding how many people are on their phone. You can see what people are eating. You see people putting on their makeup." Vogel, a 43-year-old fundraiser for a nonprofit, and has been doing this for about a year. He was motivated by a few things: a Tumblr page committed to showing cops parked in the bike lanes; a few nasty exchanges with inflamed drivers; and the death of 3-year-old Allison Liao as she was crossing a street in Flushing with her grandmother. "I know that somebody’s dashcam footage helped resolve that case," he said.
He thought perhaps his images could help a traffic victim or bring someone to justice. He began submitting the photos of traffic infractions to city agencies and 311. He said some agencies absorb taken action, especially the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, or which has issued fines to taxi drivers based on the photos. In mid-September when WNYC launched its Bike Blockers project on bike lane obstructions,his photos had another exercise. He became a super-contributor. Out of the more than 3200 photos WNYC has received, over 700 of them absorb advance from him.
That's a fair amount of vigilance. But doesn't he ever wreck traffic rules?
Vogel began documenting what he saw on the city streets in the hopes of preventing traffic misconduct. He did not want his face photographed because of the nature of his photographs.
(Elaine Chen/WNYC)
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Source: wnyc.org