Why did you buy a dash cam?
- Thread starter yogibear1
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![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Should I move to a risk appraisal model of internet scaremongering and selective Youtube viewing?
Maybe that'd work for insurers too? They could put AMG Merc insurance up 500% due to the increased number of AMG drifting videos on YouTube
I try to avoid getting parking damage by parking as far away from everyone else as possible in car parks, although this doesn't always work:
Photo
My Good that would infuriate me.
Man of Honour
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[TW]Fox;27587712 said:
Perhaps I'll quote you here:
My past experiences have been only in a vehicle, so that's what I'm basing my risk on.
In all fairness, between office CCTV, dashcams and wearing Body Worn Video on duty, so actually there's not much time that I'm not being recorded during any given day.
My Good that would infuriate me.
I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. So I took a photo!
Soldato
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People willingly fitting these I fear will lead to insurance companies making them compulsory.
We are already on the slippery slope with black boxes which will be fitted as standard to new cars. I have read that within 6-7 years it will almost be impossible to insure a car without a black box.
Cameras are now almost standard in many Eastern European countries for insurance purposes.
In my mind this is not about safety it is purely about liability.
I have been driving 25 years, I have seen cases of poor driving many times. I consider myself a safe driver and have never had an accident. I also have to be honest and have made some terrible errors and have been lucky, but genuine mistakes and bad judgement.
The thought that every time an error was made somebody would have it on camera to go crying to police or uploading to Youtube is worrying.
We are already on the slippery slope with black boxes which will be fitted as standard to new cars. I have read that within 6-7 years it will almost be impossible to insure a car without a black box.
Cameras are now almost standard in many Eastern European countries for insurance purposes.
In my mind this is not about safety it is purely about liability.
I have been driving 25 years, I have seen cases of poor driving many times. I consider myself a safe driver and have never had an accident. I also have to be honest and have made some terrible errors and have been lucky, but genuine mistakes and bad judgement.
The thought that every time an error was made somebody would have it on camera to go crying to police or uploading to Youtube is worrying.
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Man of Honour
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Source?
Cars get lonely when they're on their own
Mine definitely doesn't. It likes to be left alone. It takes after its owner.
[TW]Fox;27587492 said:Although there is an existing thread for daschcam users this seems like as good a place as any to discuss why or why not you might have one and not derail the other thread with ‘why bother’ comments.
I don’t have a dashcam and neither do I want one – infact the increasing prevelance of them is IMHO not exactly a good thing. We have enough surveillence in our society without introducing even more.
I don’t have a dashcam. I have been driving now for 13 years and in that time I have had precisely zero experiences on the road where I felt a dashcam would have been useful.
From the videos on youtube and scaremongering news stories you’d think scamming third parties are lurking on every street and it’s a case of when not if you are going to get screwed in a fake accident or something. But IMHO in reality the chances of this happening are very rare and the standard of driving in our country is sufficiently high that rigging up your car with numerous front and rear facing high definition video cameras is bordering on a bit weird rather than an essential precaution.
Every so often you see some footage that makes you think a dashcam is a no brainer, until you realise that was ONE event out of what, millions of daily car journeys.
Have a look for Russian dashcam footage on Youtube and you are given hours and hours and hours of completely bizarre driving and often horrific accidents. No wonder they all protect themselves with Dashcams. Have a look for UK dashcam footage on youtube and despite there being more cars and more people on the internet in the UK there is almost nothing other than a succession of tediously dull videos of people whinging about ‘guy who didn’t indicate’ or ‘red light jumper’. This is anecdotal evidence for sure but it seems to me like it’s a total waste of time.
Currently if you go for a drive and overtake the doddery fool in the beige Rover 45 who is doing 30 in a 60 the worst you’ll get is a flash of the headlights but it’s becoming increasingly more common you might end up on YouTube
IMHO the best way to avoid being caught out in a ‘cash for crash’ scam is to maintain a safe distance behind the car in front so that if they stop suddenly you can stop too. After all, if the car in front emergency brakes you should be able to stop whether they’ve done it for whippy compo or whether they’ve done it because there is a genuine emergency situation. More alert driving is the answer, not rigging your car up as a mobile recording studio. Though frankly if that’s your choice don’t forget that one day when somebody does an emergency stop because of an obstruction and you pile into the back of them with your video footage of what you assume was a cash for crash scam it might be useful evidence for the prosecution
Whilst I agree with some of the points you make, that one in a million chance you say, it could make a significant impact, and the dashcam might be a useful too.
Plus its not just about crash scams, but people making false claims, or lying in an accident, a dashcam footage would be really useful.
I don't have one myself but may fit one at some point if I can be bothered. It's certainly not a necessity in this country.
Time spent on the road is a factor too. Personally I haven't bothered as majority of my car trips are 10 mins to work then 10 mins back home. If I was in a 2 hour commute, then it would probably be a worthwhile investment. More chance of something happening if more of your day is spent on the road.
Soldato
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...it-powerless-stop-Big-Brother-technology.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/6479603/EU-proposes-black-boxes-for-cars.html
http://www.keithborer.co.uk/news/view-article/the-future-of-black-boxes-in-cars
Thankfully the UK is trying to push back the deadline, sadly only by two years.
My worry is that black boxes were the most important piece of kit required for the pay per mile tax scheme. Even this Government said early on that pay per mile was inevitable with the rise of electric vehicles.
I am not opposed to the tax part of pay per mile. However I think it will be perverted into automatic speeding and parking fines and generally making road use generally expensive and unpleasant.
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Don
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I had an incident where without video evidence I was unable to claim without affecting my no-claims as the driver left the scene and claimed (perhaps genuinely) ignorance of the event.
I got a camera as a direct result.
I got a camera as a direct result.
The liability couldn't be ANY clearer - there is absolutely no need for video footage for that accident, it is clear who is at fault.
The dash cams fitted to the 2500trucks in our fleet have already paid for themselves in settling claims that would otherwise have gone against the company (they are self insured), which is a pretty strong argument for them!
I don't have one in my car at the moment but am considering one if the price is right and its descreet.
I don't have one in my car at the moment but am considering one if the price is right and its descreet.
[TW]Fox;27587563 said:
£100 seems like a no brainer compared to the potential £1000's you'd pay in increased premiums from a 50/50 claim or conviction, lying witnesses, false claims, hit and runs etc. Not to mention possible injuries you have to live with and have no recompense for because someone lied about circumstance.
I really don't see why you wouldn't get one - so many homes and businesses and buses have CCTV - why? Because you need evidence in case something happens. It might never be used but at least you have it!
In any case, I think the chance of having a scuff or minor ding is quite a bit higher than 'one in a million' - especially in car parks. To me, that piece of mind is worth £100. It might never happen in my entire lifetime (unlikely!) but I have the piece of mind that I'm better protecting myself and my property and I can post angry YouTube videos to get valuable internet points
[TW]Fox;27587563 said:Didn't you used to have a Supra? Good job that wasn't fitted with a dashcam
I did yeah - and actually, I wish that had been fitted with a dash cam to disprove a lot of the false allegations at the time. Let's not go there again
It's a strong argument for them if you run a fleet of vehicles in near continuous use - how many miles on your current truck and how old is it?
How many accidents have you been involved in when driving your truck? You must have driven a huge amount more miles than anyone else on here and I'd wager you've had hardly any crashes with disputed liability personally...
Non fault doesn't mean unavoidable. A huge amount of non fault accidents could have been avoided by the innocent party. We've all had occasions where we've braked or swerved around a plonker where, had we not bothered, it wouldn't have technically been 'our fault'.
[TW]Fox;27589447 said:It's a strong argument for them if you run a fleet of vehicles in near continuous use - how many miles on your current truck and how old is it?
How many accidents have you been involved in when driving your truck? You must have driven a huge amount more miles than anyone else on here and I'd wager you've had hardly any crashes with disputed liability personally...
Non fault doesn't mean unavoidable. A huge amount of non fault accidents could have been avoided by the innocent party. We've all had occasions where we've braked or swerved around a plonker where, had we not bothered, it wouldn't have technically been 'our fault'.
Indeed, your right, the last bump I had in my truck was around 3 years ago a car aquaplaned into me, thankfully it went in my favour because the other guy admitted liability straight away.
I hate to think of the mileage I've driven in those three years, you do have a point.
As a company, they do get a lot of disputed claims so it's a sensible commercial decision.
As for my own use, I'm considering it, it'll be say a £100 ish investment which hopefully I'll never need, but, should I have an incident where the footage helps me then its money well spent, it's a case of the tech is readily available these days at a favourable cost, I view it in a similar way as I would insurance, I hope I won't need it but it's there just in case.