Dash cams...

[Dominic]

What are the thoughts of SE on use of dash cams?

Is anyone using one?

Mrs S had a bump last year, not her fault, in fact quite clearly the other party's fault. It ended up requiring lawyers to resolve the claim. Had we been using a dash cam, it would have been resolved very quickly.

I have previously not been a fan of using a dash cam for fear of incriminating myself. Also not keen on the entire "big brother" thing. Not sure I need one in the elise (simply as I don't do much mileage in it ) but for my daily, I am tempted to get a camera. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't think I really do much to incriminate myself these days, so have been wondering if a dash cam could offer some protection / defense should something go wrong. I am quite sure that I won't turn into a do-gooder christian motorist type. Also wonder if my (already very high ) driving standard might improve a little with the thought that I am recording things. Thoughts?

[j2 lot]

I went through the same thought process Dom but after Ann got a red light ticket that she disputed but had to accept we decided it was worthwhile.
The first one we got was quite expensive but the next ones were from Lidl and they work just as well. You don't need to spend more than about £20-30 but you will need a memory card and I also got longer power leads so you can run cables to get the camera where you want it on the windscreen.
Each car will have a different point to get the best view but out of your line of sight. I have one top left, one top centre and the Evora bottom centre.
I do think it makes you think twice about how youre driving which is a good thing but the reality is it everyone else with cameras that should make you more aware of what your doing.

[flyingscot68]

One of our taxis had a head on recently with a guy who was driving down the wrong side of the road.
Having the dashcam helped a bit but you need to be aware that some insurance companies will not accept dash cam footage, I have no idea why.

Also bear in mind that if you are travelling to Europe many countries there have a law against the use of them.

To me they are a handy thing to have, but hopefully you'll never need it.

Cheers,

Kenny

[David]

I've been using one in the van for a couple of years now. No particular incident made me get one, but I had been stopped by police a few time on the way home from work (early hours) and just felt that being in the car on my own most of the time, it would be some form of back up. Only ever review incidents a handful of times, and I was surprised how your own perception of events can differ.

Only advice would to be to buy the high the temperature memory cards (sold by Kingston as dash cam cards) as the standard cards will fail within a year if exposed to the sun in a car.

[Dark]

A lot of cars seem to fitted with dash cams these days.
Worth bearing in mind every time you overtake somebody on a single carriage road, video of anything that could be construed as slightly dodgy could be sent to the police.

[campbell]

Beginning of the end, Mark.

[Dominic]

Thanks for the replies, most helpful!

Ended up ordering these;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... UTF8&psc=1

Seems pretty decent for the money. I did not want anything too large - not keen on obscuring my view. These work a treat as they fit neatly behind the rear view mirror on the windscreen. There were some others that looked quite neat, but they would be glued to the screen, which I was not keen on - sucker attachment works better for when it comes to changing cars. It did not come with a memory card which was ideal further to David's comment about the high temp the standard cards are exposed to.

[flyingscot68]

On hot days (not that we actually get that many) the suckers do have a tendency to fall off.

[Dominic]

Yea, I s'pose so - the camera is fairly light so I guess it would dangle by it's wire which is well tucked in above the edge of the headlining. I will deal with that on the day or two of hot weather we get. Prefer that than trying to scrape adhesive from the windscreen when I change cars.. and re-sticking to the next car.

[BiggestNizzy]

Old man has one and tidied seem to speed things up when a guy drove into him. However if you have been upto anything and get stopped its tge first thing the police will grab as 'evidence'