Dash Mounted Camera

[bigtiller]

There have been a large number of videos "showing" police pulling over and harassing motorists, not much to show with a cop standing at your window, but what is said (and recorded) is what makes the harassment charge stick .

One high profile case in St Louis a number of years ago lead to a "known harassing officer" getting fired finally because someone finally recorded hard evidence of his actions. again it was a video of the front dash looking at an empty parking lot, but it was the audio that was used in court to defend the harassment.

If it was me and i didnt live in a 2 party state, id record the audio for sure!

That is exactly why I became interested. A little defence may help a lot in this world. I hadn't realized it could be so expensive but a lot of people would have paid a big pile of money for any type of recording to help prove their innocence.

 

[orezok]

Here is a summary of "recording" laws by state. This is published by the "Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press", so I'm guessing that it's probably accurate.

 

[3930dave]

I was having a garage-chat with my neighbour, when his daughter got dropped off by a new boyfriend. Had a quick chat with him about his fairly serious looking VW GTI, with the hood-mount for the GoPro.

I'd seen a few cars with these hood mounts before, and figured it was often the hardcore canyon-carving young guys that were into this setup.

I was partly correct. He said that twice (repeat TWICE) he had used the camera to provide evidence of staged insurance scams in/near Toronto. Both of these guys had intentionally reversed their cars into his. W/O the video evidence, he would have had a really hard time proving that he was not at fault.

Food for thought.

Rgds, D.

 

[aczlan]

I was partly correct. He said that twice (repeat TWICE) he had used the camera to provide evidence of staged insurance scams in/near Toronto. Both of these guys had intentionally reversed their cars into his. W/O the video evidence, he would have had a really hard time proving that he was not at fault.

Thats apparently a big issue in over in Russia as well.

Aaron Z

 

[3930dave]

Thats apparently a big issue in over in Russia as well.

Aaron Z

Funny you mention that.... I was thinking of the bazillion Russian dashcam vids on Youtube as I was typing that post.

I remember first coming across those and thinking "What a ****** up country". Coming soon, to a street near you...... ! :thumbdown:

Rgds, D.

 

[Xfaxman]

Here is a complete system that I have seen good reports on.


Komando Dash Cam

 

[Winmac]

I have one of these cheap ones http://dashcamsworld.com/review/2012/5/28/unboxing-vehicle-dvr.html. i bought it as a novelty but have been using it for a few months, the menus are difficult to navigate and the system is glitchy(clock keeps resetting) but it can be programed several different ways. To turn on and off with ignition, or just be manual on/off, recording sound is optional, the video quality is not near as good as a gopro but good enough for traffic accident recording.

 

[sparc]

There are smartphone apps that will record video and overlay GPS info such as direction, speed, etc.

Torque Pro is an android app for which there is an add-on to record video. There are many others, some free.

Track Recorder
MyCar Recorder
DailyRoads
VideoRoad
Blackbox Dash Cam

to name only a few

 

[kenmac]

Here is a complete system that I have seen good reports on.
View attachment 320867

Komando Dash Cam

I may just buy 1 & try it out. Kim Komando is a gadget geek

 

[TRR]

I used a Vosonic VS7 for awhile. Really good video, long recording time (5 hrs with a 16G card) and the menu is easy to use. It can be set for looping or non-looping and a bunch of other stuff. However, the downside is the battery. It only lasted 1 year, is not user replaceable, and the system will not work without the battery having a charge, even if it is plugged into the vehicle! Then after awhile it started eating $25 memory cards - That's the best description for it. Put in a new formatted card and it runs until you remove power. On start up it says "card error" reformatting the card does not fix it.

 

[timster2]

I have a Rosco Dual Vision camera for a few years now works great. I installed it after a road rage incident. Had some jerk very upset because I wasn't going fast enough for him in traffic. I was traveling the speed limit plus a few in a targeted enforcement section of route 80 at the PA NJ boarder, however, it wasn't fast enough for this guy. The unit has GPS map overlay and inertial triggers in three directions to save a section of video. It can also be set to record when a speed is exceeded. So far it has just been along for the ride hopefully I'll never need it.

 

[3930dave]

I have a Rosco Dual Vision camera...The unit has GPS map overlay and
inertial triggers in three directions to save a section of video. ...

Neat feature. I probably have 2 of 3 directions figured out...... is the third for if you drive over something significant ?

Rgds, D.

 

[timster2]

Neat feature. I probably have 2 of 3 directions figured out...... is the third for if you drive over something significant ?

Rgds, D.

Yea XYand Z axis. If you hit a good size pot hole or speed bump it records. You can set the trigger level for each, so a hard stop or fast acceleration, side impact or fast turn and pot hole or speed bump. In addition the GPS records speed and location of the event.

 

[3930dave]

Yea XYand Z axis. If you hit a good size pot hole or speed bump it records. You can set the trigger level for each, so a hard stop or fast acceleration, side impact or fast turn and pot hole or speed bump. In addition the GPS records speed and location of the event.

Perhaps that feature is more common in these units than I think.... but that seems pretty slick to me, esp. if you have multiple drivers in one car.

One other provision that would be useful is the ability to route those inertial triggered videos automatically through a cell phone - my take on a DIY dumbed-down OnStar.

Rgds, D.

 

[FredH]

I have one similar to what Xfaxman posted . Mounted in my semi , it looks out from passenger side , straight over hood , and see's out past both sides of fenders . Mine has battery back-up , but runs off 12 volt , hard wired into harness thus it is only on when truck is . Takes less than 1 minute to format SD card every morning , if nothing interesting happened the previous day . If I do catch something , I shove the card into my laptop here in truck and edit out the garbage and save any tidbits . For me , it is about saving my rear end and insurance , especially in L.A. area . It was mentioned about Europe and Russia , Well , Welcome to the life of a Trucker . There are people out there that do that garbage every day .

Bought mine on ebay and have had it a couple of years now without problems .

Fred H.