That wasn't the situation though - my question was about the actual situation that he described, where nothing actually happened
That wasn't the situation though - my question was about the actual situation that he described, where nothing actually happened
Well yes, in that case, there was no accident. He was lucky. I was simply extrapolating the worst case scenario had he not been so fortunate, and therefore why a dashcam is so invaluable... because you just never know what's going to happen. If he'd simply left the house 2 seconds later than he did, very different outcome.
Exactly, plus there's been a rise in insurance fraud over the last few yeasr. Cars pulling infront of you, then braking hard so you rear end them. Without video footage it's completely your fault.
This is one of the main reasons I want to get one.
Absolutely. Some insurance companies actually reduce your premium if you tell them you have one installed.
(Although I read that in Germany they have very strict video recording laws meaning sometimes dash cam footage is inadmissible)
As a bonus, if you do manage to get any decent footage and post it online. There's a chance you could sell the rights to it. I saw a very mediocre clip the other day that some guy posted online of some relatively mundane footage and some video hoster paid him $100 for the rights.
Have a browse through some of the footage here. It's currently filtered by top rated of all time, but you can change the filter to links submitted in the last week or month to get more recent footage.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Roadcam/top/?sort=top&t=all
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Soldato
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What actually spurred me to get the camera was some one attempted a crash for cash scam on my auntie, she did not have a cam but luckily there were witnesses.
Another incident I had only a couple of years after passing my test and dash cams didn't really exist, a woman in a Yaris reversed out of a side road and hit the rear quarter of my car, she admitted fault at the roadside but then denied it when insurance stepped in. It all got sorted in the end thankfully but a camera would likely have made things move more swiftly.
Another incident I had only a couple of years after passing my test and dash cams didn't really exist, a woman in a Yaris reversed out of a side road and hit the rear quarter of my car, she admitted fault at the roadside but then denied it when insurance stepped in. It all got sorted in the end thankfully but a camera would likely have made things move more swiftly.
Always carry a spare SD card and always swap out the SD card after an incident as if you don't the incident may get overwritten.
Soldato
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The funny thing is, I only took it out to post a pic of an old BMW I saw in the daily encounters thread.
In my experience you can think of a hundred reasons why you'd need a dashcam, but invariably it's the occurences you can never imagine that end up making one so invaluable. On modern roads and given the way some people drive, I think they're absolutely essential, and I think it's inevitable that one day they'll be built-in to cars.
Soldato
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I agree, to me for the little they cost it just seemed a bit of a no brainer. I hope I never need it but if something does happen it could prove to be very helpful.
You may never need one. Until you do.
There are the dashcam warriors that post absolutely every indiscretion on YouTube, usually with an expletive filled commentary or dreadful taste in music playing. Then there are those that 'set and forget' until something happens when it proves useful. There have been countless threads here and on other forums where blame has been admitted at the scene but then the story has changed when the incident has been reported to the insurance companies. Video footage will stop that. And the five other people that magically appear on the claim form saying they have whiplash when there was only one person in the car at the time!
Underboss
Have thought about getting a dash cam of some sort (front and rear) but worried about leaving it in the car for thieves, what do you think about this ?
Man of Honour
You can always unclip it and stash it in the a glovebox. But dashcams are low value items these days anyway, Are opportunist thieves willing to risk being caught on someone else's camera breaking into a car for such a low value item?
I've been driving over 20 years and never 'needed' one either, but I've been in numerous close situations that I had I not been so fortunate then a dashcam would have been vital in proving the other driver at fault. So now I have one recording permanently on loop 'just in case'. This very morning for example, I was driving down the street, parked car on the right, my side of the road clear, approaching car floors it to get around and I have to go hard on the brakes and almost drive up the curb to avoid him... he missed my wing mirror by a cm. Had that situation turned out differently the footage would have proved invaluable. It doesn't matter how good a driver you are or how event-free your driving experience over the years has proven, like MissChief says, you may never need one until the day that you do.
Mine has been left in the car since 2010 with parking mode on and had no problems at all. However some of the cheaper ones with sucker cup type mounts will be easy to spot stuck to a window.
Underboss
Thanks, so how is yours mounted?
Forgot about this, but my mom was involved in a hit and run a few years back in which a dash cam would have been invaluable.
She had right of way on a small roundabout and a white van drove straight into the side of her at a decent speed and then legged it.
We tried to find it with the help of the police, but to no avail. Ended up costing my Mom a pretty penny as there was no other insurance party that we could follow up with, in addition to the huge emotional toll from the stress of the situation.
At the time dash cams weren't as good or as cheap as they are now. After shopping around this week it seems like it would almost be silly not to invest in one of the cheap £50 ones at the very least. What with the automatic operation, once it's installed and setup you can just forget about it.
She had right of way on a small roundabout and a white van drove straight into the side of her at a decent speed and then legged it.
We tried to find it with the help of the police, but to no avail. Ended up costing my Mom a pretty penny as there was no other insurance party that we could follow up with, in addition to the huge emotional toll from the stress of the situation.
At the time dash cams weren't as good or as cheap as they are now. After shopping around this week it seems like it would almost be silly not to invest in one of the cheap £50 ones at the very least. What with the automatic operation, once it's installed and setup you can just forget about it.
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Soldato
I suspect we will start to see cars with some recording capability built in, sooner rather than later. Can't be that complicated - my CLS has cameras front, rear and sides; chuck in a decent SD card, or record to onboard HDD that powers Nav etc., job's a good 'un!
Associate
totally agree kevpuk, the amount of headaches/trouble it could potentially save is worth it. considering a dash cam myself recently, tho I may incriminate myself with one :'(
Man of Honour
Nonsense! You'd only incriminate yourself if you're breaking the law literally everywhere and some plod sees you and the camera and confiscates it.
Exactly, quite surprised they're not more common place even as optional extras.
Factory fitted ones could blend in so much better too, build it into the rear view mirror, rear bumper, hook it up to the alarm system, add a dedicated battery for motion detected operation when parked so it doesn't feed off the main battery.