Inspired by the postings of Mr Paul Anderegg, here's some "police action" news type footage shot at night time.

PMW300 sample night car crash footage - YouTube

It was shot with a studio daylight profile running in the camera. I didn't bother white balancing as it looked right as it was. :)

Running 12db gain on the sensor block for this. This is raw footage straight out of the camera but edited down a bit. Didn't have the boom mic on (I forgot when grabbing the camera), so audio is from the inbuilt mics that go to audio channels 3 and 4. The only prep was essentially to grab the camera from the kit bag after first visiting the scene to check that all was well.

Andrew

Andrew - good job "telling the story" even without narration because the footage covered from almost the beginning (not the crash) but included the officers inspecting the site and the inside of the car, EMTs picking up the, I assume, driver, the arrival of the tow truck (they have flat beds now), plus one of the wheels was missing!, rolling the car to make it upright, the interview, and then the utility repair crew.

Would have liked some "voice emphasis" for the interview but that, of course, depends on the NLE (FCP has it, kinda handy). This part is just me, would have liked to see more on the utility repair work (I into construction).
Did the bottles come out of the vehicle?

Any chance to sell the footage to the local TV station?
Those night shots with bright lights have got to be among the most difficult. The interviewee did a good job ad-libbing a recap of the accident.

It's stuff like this makes me think twice about the safety of riding a bike while sharing the road with cars. This guy almost took out a light pole. A cyclist would have been road kill.

Hi John,

I was on the scene originally within a minute or two (plus putting on shoes) and the police were there already. A passing police car (ferrying a dodgy bro') came across the scene almost instantly and was in attendance with others soon joining it.

Those on the scene first helped the guy get out of his vehicle. They later told me he brought his Maccas (McDonald's takeaway food) out with him as well as his beer bottles. After exiting the vehicle he promptly used his mouth to take the lid off a bottle and started drinking. Police on scene at that stage soon put a stop to it. They also prevented him from eating his food as he would have most likely been in shock from the accident and later thrown it all up anyway.

I didn't think the girl in the interview was very tight and concise with what she was saying and I wasn't putting too much effort in to it as on average if it got used it would most likely be footage played whilst the anchor talks over it. Also, it was mostly shot so I could see how the camera performed. I've got a copy of Izotope RX and could have separated the voice out a little more if needed, but couldn't be bothered for this one.

Historically the stations have their weekend news running out of Sydney with minimal staff elsewhere on weekends. Didn't bother calling my fav station until Monday morning and as it turns out they now run a full newsroom 7 days a week. They would have loved the footage but on Monday it was then old news.

My suspicion is that the guy, on his way back from a food and booze run, came around the corner too fast. Remembering that we drive on the left side of the road over here, he hit the curb with the front left wheel as he almost made the full turn. This caused that wheel to come off as the jolt (plus inertia) then caused the car to roll over.

He had some abdominal tenderness which is standard stuff form when the seat belt does its job and stops you from being flung forward. There was also an airbag that went off. He was a bit of a "stunned mullet" (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=stunned%20mullet) as we say, otherwise known as being a point or two short on the Glasgow scale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Coma_Scale).

[On a side note, I've been at an accident where the occupants were removed from the vehicle and sat down at the side of the road. They'd ask you the same questions over and over, not remembering that you have just answered it for them. No wonder the ambos just place them there and then get on with the more urgent stuff. That's the ol' bump to the head for you.]

Anyway, in proper context you're perfectly safe riding your bike (and similarly flying is safer than driving). Your life is already finite as it is, and therefore embarrassingly short in the face of eternity. Worry about eternity.

Andrew