Dashcams!

Soldato
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Its got to be worth a shot. It would just be typical if an incident occurred and it would be at a point where the cam stopped running (if you have luck like mine)!
 
Soldato
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It happened to me the other day, I took the SD card out of my cam and forgot to put it back before I drove the car and about 5 minutes into my journey a dog ran right out into the road with the owner chasing it so I slammed on the brakes and stopped about 2 inches short of taking dog and owner out.

Drove back home shaking like a leaf only to realise I hadn't put the bloody card in the cam. Lesson learned!
 
Soldato
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Haha, no but she gave it a right *******ing. It was her fault though as there was a dog the opposite side of the road and she wasn't holding the leash, it was just dragging on the floor behind her dog and her dog made a bee line for the other dog so she ran out into the road right behind it.
 
Soldato
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It happened to me the other day, I took the SD card out of my cam and forgot to put it back before I drove the car and about 5 minutes into my journey a dog ran right out into the road with the owner chasing it so I slammed on the brakes and stopped about 2 inches short of taking dog and owner out.

Drove back home shaking like a leaf only to realise I hadn't put the bloody card in the cam. Lesson learned!

Serious question... What actual use would dashcam footage have been in that situation?
 
Soldato
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No use at all mate, but it was the only incident I have had since getting the camera and it was when I didn't have the SD card inserted. :)

Ah fair enough. I'm still dubious about the whole dashcam thing and thought you were suggesting that was an example of where they'd be of use!
 
Soldato
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I just bought a cheap camera to play with because gadget ;)

I don't think I would be without it now though to be honest.

They are becoming cheap enough that it seems like a no brainier. But there's just something I can't put my finger on about the whole thing... I've been driving for 13 years and never needed one
 

mrk

mrk

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They are becoming cheap enough that it seems like a no brainier. But there's just something I can't put my finger on about the whole thing... I've been driving for 13 years and never needed one

Almost 15 years here! But the difference is there are more people on the roads these days and the majority of them are idiots and more likely to cause a situation that could well benefit having hard evidence of. I'm not on about people hooning around and generally having a bit of a good old time (!) but instead those people that genuinely couldn't give a crap about other road users or their own safety.

That's the beauty of the set and forget cameras, the ones that tuck away quietly in the corner of your windscreen and silently record. 99% of the time you won't even remember it's there.
 
Soldato
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Does anyone have any examples of these being used in an actual legal dispute? I know CCTV in business environments has to meet certain standards to be legally admissible - which these would never satisfy. I get that it's normally just a "he said she said" argument with insurance companies but would be interesting to know if anything would stand up in court.

Also, are insurance companies geared up to accept footage? So if you're filling out the claim form, could you attach the footage and say "see for yourself"?
 
Soldato
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Serious question... What actual use would dashcam footage have been in that situation?

No use at all mate, but it was the only incident I have had since getting the camera and it was when I didn't have the SD card inserted. :)

I disagree... if the owner (assuming he survived) accused you of driving like a boy racer and speeding, your footage would have proved otherwise. Eye witnesses and even our own memories can be unreliable.
 
Soldato
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I disagree... if the owner (assuming he survived) accused you of driving like a boy racer and speeding, your footage would have proved otherwise. Eye witnesses and even our own memories can be unreliable.

"Accused" in what sort of basis? Going to the police about it? I very much doubt the police would follow up one person saying you were "driving like a boy racer"
 
Soldato
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Does anyone have any examples of these being used in an actual legal dispute? I know CCTV in business environments has to meet certain standards to be legally admissible - which these would never satisfy. I get that it's normally just a "he said she said" argument with insurance companies but would be interesting to know if anything would stand up in court.

Also, are insurance companies geared up to accept footage? So if you're filling out the claim form, could you attach the footage and say "see for yourself"?

I don't know of SPECIFIC cases, but I know the police accept footage from cyclists who have recorded dangerous driving etc. as a friend of mine recorded someone nearly knocking him off his bike, and the guy ended up being charged for dangerous driving. It is 100% admissable as far as I'm aware. After all, how can you argue with it? It's unbiased and unequivocal... I can think of few incidents where it wouldn't represent a true and clear picture of exactly what's happened. Thrown in GPS and speed data (as some cameras log) and you have it all. There are many ways in which you could send your footage to your insurance company, so no issues there.
 
Soldato
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"Accused" in what sort of basis? Going to the police about it? I very much doubt the police would follow up one person saying you were "driving like a boy racer"

Simple. If the driver killed the guy's dog and broke his leg, and in his grief and anger he accused the driver of speeding, the police would naturally look in to this... although it could not be easily proved anyway. Video footage would put it to rest straightaway and no doubt save a lot of hassle. Always better to have it than not. There are many more examples of course... and in no incident would anyone ever say, oh I wish I'd never recorded that... unless it WAS their fault lol!
 
Soldato
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FYI the requirements for CCTV in a commercial environment are about preventing tampering, modification etc.

For fixed installations it's simpler to chop footage about, modify timestamps and the like. For example if your premises are burgled and someone is taken to court, if they could prove that the timestamp wasn't accurate then it could call into question whether it was that person or not - could have been somewhere else at that time. Same applies to recordings of phone calls, have to be encrypted and stored on a system that logs downloads and playbacks.

Anyhoo obviously a lot of this doesn't apply, with moving cameras it's very difficult to chop footage around so it's harder/impossible to dispute. Was just curious if there was examples of it being used successfully or otherwise
 
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