Anyone know about dash cams?


 
JohnTak

JohnTak

TVWBB Pro
I’m trying to decide if I should get a dash cam. If so any recommended brands?
 
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We've had several over the years (3, I think). Sitting out in the hot sun takes its toll on them. We currently have the VIOFO A119, too. Have a look at dashcamtalk.com for reviews.

I keep the memorable clips and pics. Here's one from 7/25/2017. I think they actually make you a better driver...I've haven't had any accidents, but I've had a couple of close calls. When that happens, I review the footage when I get home to see where things went wonky and learn from it. I would not be without one.

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This guy went up over the curb and almost lost control right in front of me. He just managed to avoid hitting the fireplug, too. As soon as we rounded the bend in the road, there was a police cruiser going in the other direction. The guy turned quickly down a side street, but the cop didn't see him.

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This accident happened right in front of me. Traffic slowed suddenly and the guy in the white Jeep in the #4 lane swerved into my lane and at the time I thought he almost caused me to hit him. The guy behind him was following too close and smacked into the car alongside me and almost pushed the car into the car pool lane (those cars are just whizzing by!)

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I have never been in an accident where the other driver didn't try to spin things his way. Like I say, I would not be without one.

You'll notice I keep well away from the car in front of me.
 
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With the amount of goofy stuff I see on the road now, probably not a bad idea to have a dash cam.
 
@Brett-EDH , what's the industry observation on reducing insurance scams like stop & squats? Really more interested in hard data than empirical "it should be reducing" views.
 
It is one of those electronic "intrusions" into my life I have been not keen on allowing in.................................yet. But as insane as people are today I just may do so. Funny thing out new(er) now RAV4 Hybrid has IIRC 9 cameras on it, between front, upper, sides and rear. I wonder if in a pinch like the computer they can be tapped into to release what they recorded
 
JKalchik said:
@Brett-EDH , what's the industry observation on reducing insurance scams like stop & squats? Really more interested in hard data than empirical "it should be reducing" views.
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I haven’t seen any hard reports, yet. I can speak from my front line experience and that the video often corrects the at fault persons story, and quickly.

In California it is a felony to make false statements to an insurance company.

Cameras are having an impact on claims.
 
I do know things get twisted. First hand. Back in 2001, wife was on her way to pick up our oldest from girls scout meeting. A 16 yo girl driving a car belonging to her boyfriend who had no clue she had it because she made a key to it without his permission, went through a red arrow, turning left right in front of wife's mini van. Well she T-Boned that Mustang convertible and it bent like a pretzel and ended up in the bank parking lot. Boyfriend later on got some of his pals to come forward later on trying to tell police wife purposely "turned into" her. When in reality (from a credible witness sitting right behind the girl), she was rummaging in the car's console (came out later she was looking for cigarettes), went through the red left turn arrow into oncoming traffic, and noted also the huge effort wife went through to avoid her. how the girl was not killed is beyond me. The passenger door was in the driver seat, there was blood all over the car, she was transported bleeding profusely from her face, (wife actually jumped out of the van and tried to render her aid) even though she too was hurt.
Thank heaven for the local business owner who saw it all and came forward immediately to help. On a side note it was pretty amazing how much damage a Plymouth Grand Voyager was able to inflict on a brand new (at the time) Mustang convertible. Car was literally bent into a half moon shape and was through about 75' from the impact site. Pretty amazing.
 
LMichaels said:
I do know things get twisted. First hand. Back in 2001, wife was on her way to pick up our oldest from girls scout meeting. A 16 yo girl driving a car belonging to her boyfriend who had no clue she had it because she made a key to it without his permission, went through a red arrow, turning left right in front of wife's mini van. Well she T-Boned that Mustang convertible and it bent like a pretzel and ended up in the bank parking lot. Boyfriend later on got some of his pals to come forward later on trying to tell police wife purposely "turned into" her. When in reality (from a credible witness sitting right behind the girl), she was rummaging in the car's console (came out later she was looking for cigarettes), went through the red left turn arrow into oncoming traffic, and noted also the huge effort wife went through to avoid her. how the girl was not killed is beyond me. The passenger door was in the driver seat, there was blood all over the car, she was transported bleeding profusely from her face, (wife actually jumped out of the van and tried to render her aid) even though she too was hurt.
Thank heaven for the local business owner who saw it all and came forward immediately to help. On a side note it was pretty amazing how much damage a Plymouth Grand Voyager was able to inflict on a brand new (at the time) Mustang convertible. Car was literally bent into a half moon shape and was through about 75' from the impact site. Pretty amazing.
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At time of claim, people lie. It happens every day. Dash cams help solve that.

Idk how many people understand what happens to cars at different speeds. Note, these are all CG using physics. Not real but eye opening.

Enjoy:

 
Two more downsides:

There have been a few examples of people actually getting in trouble for taking the car to the shop and inadvertently allowing the dash cam to record.

Experience has shown that every safety feature built into roads/vehicles actually motivates people to take more risks.
 
In my research of dash cam installation, with all of the air bag technology the wiring of dash cams can be complicated. My car has air bags everywhere so I am hesitant to do the installation. I think like gps, dash cams will become factory installed in the future. 🤞
 
Eyewitnesses are notoriously inaccurate. Tl;dr: a friend of mine t-boned a mini-van that ran a red light, at about 45mph. The cop who took the report initally got up in my friend's face about him running the red. The ambulance driver who was behind my friend said he triggered the light override, and that the cross street NEVER got the green. All of the witnesses on the scene claimed the cross street had the green. As a side note, traffic light systems have an Intrusion Detection System that's independent of the light control. The IDS is intended to detect when conflicting traffic flows both have a right of way, and will trip the system into an emergency mode with flashing reds & yellow indicators.

I have had vehicle cams on the other vehicle work in my favor. A garbage trucked pulled out of a lot in front of me, forced me to come to a dead stop from 35mph rather quickly. I called the company traffic manager that afternoon and let him know he had a problem to solve. That truck had 4 separate cameras on it.

I did have another personal case, but I don't think a dash cam would have been sufficient, I'd have needed cameras in all directions. I'm pretty sure that I had a stop & squat tried on me, with at least 2 vehicles cooperating. They didn't expect a 3/4 ton truck to be both observant and able to brake faster & harder than they could. They ended up getting forced off onto an exit ramp while I went in a different direction. Yes, that got a call to 911 with vehicle descriptions. But without a side view camera, I had zero video evidence.
 
I've been told by my insurance agent that, should I be involved in an accident, I am under no legal obligation to tell anybody that I have a dashcam. I don't trust the police and I surely would not surrender the dashcam or SD card with 6 hours of my recent driving out of concern that it would get "lost" or the footage used against me. My intent is to say as little as possible and provide my insurance agent with the footage of the accident...then wait for the other party to spin his story and catch him in a lie.

We've all got harrowing stories, but a co-worker was involved in a 7-car chain reaction accident where it was determined by the police to be his fault. He insists he was not the cause, of course, but without footage there is no proof.
 
Bob Bass said:
Ed... 91 can be 'fun' ...
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I used to commute 60 miles daily for nearly 20 years on the 91. One of the more exciting ones was with an airplane pulling a banner...somehow, the banner got caught in a power line near the Green River Golf Course and pulled the plane down onto the freeway. Fortunately for me, I was on the Harley that day, but some of those poor people gave up and rented a hotel room.

[EDIT: I should mention here that lane-splitting is legal in CA]

One of the funnier ones was a co-worker was on his way to work when one of the earthquakes hit. He thought there was something wrong with his truck and pulled over to check it out. It was a hot day and he picked a nice, shady spot...under an overpass.
 
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I wasn't on the road when that plane made an emergency landing on the 91 in Corona, but that 18yo pilot did an outstanding job and nobody got hurt. Just another day on the 91...
 
Ed P said:
I used to commute 60 miles daily for nearly 20 years on the 91.
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I had the "pleasure" to drive the 91 east to Corona from Redondo Beach during end of the day rush hour. Thankfully it was a one-time trip visiting a friend while I was on a business trip to LA.

This was in the early 90s if I recall and I wish I had a picture of the accident I saw after the fact. Three vehicles in this order from front to back

Lifted Pickup
Corvette
panel truck

I'm guessing traffic was stopped, with the Vette stopped behind the pickup and the panel truck was not able to stop and pushed the vette under the pickup with the rear axle stopping forward progress of the vette. I think the wheels of the pickup truck were off the ground and the rear bumper was mashed onto the roof of the vette. I wish I had a camera...
 
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Ed P said:
I used to commute 60 miles daily for nearly 20 years on the 91. One of the more exciting ones was with an airplane pulling a banner...somehow, the banner got caught in a power line near the Green River Golf Course and pulled the plane down onto the freeway. Fortunately for me, I was on the Harley that day, but some of those poor people gave up and rented a hotel room.
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Somewhat familiar with this incident. A fellow employee's parents were driving the 'exposition' type high end moving truck that the plane crashed into. (the truck was one of those high asset types for shows, etc.)

Thankfully my daily driving on the 91 was during the 70s. Daily commute to and from D-Land.
 
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