Dashcam - Asking for trouble?

[SDarks]

I've been thinking about getting a dash cam for a while now, it seems every day you see some sort of footage in the news and they seem pretty common place.

A few years ago I was driven into by a van (side swiped), the driver tried to claim 50/50. This took over a year to resolve and to prove the van driver was 100% at fault was a ridiculously long process. With a dash cam this would have been a quick closed case.

The only thing holding me back is fear of incriminating myself by having the camera on all the time.I sometimes drive 'progressively' where suitable & my daily commute features some lovely country roads.

There are many horror stories in the motorcycling community of riders with Go-pros being pulled, cameras and memory cards seized and footage of them blipping 100+ (easily done on a sports bike) used to prosecute. For this reason I have never felt the desire of using my Go-pro on the bike.

My questions are

- Can the Police seize dash cam footage if suspected speeding?
- In the event of an accident, is all the footage shown/analysed or can you only show short series of the events leading up to the crash and the incident itself?
- Are any of the cams encrypted so only you can access the footage?

Thanks

[untakenname]

For those worried about self incrimination then the smaller the sd card the better, a 1gb would only record 10 minutes or so of footage before looping and wiping.

I've got a 64gb card but have a very discrete hardwire where the dashcam has been taken apart and the lens extended then all placed behind the rainsensor plastic shielding that the rear view mirror hangs off, unless you're looking for it you can't see it.

Some Amberella chipset dashcams can be changed so that the gps speed can be set to mph but have kph shown on the osd so if you're doing 100mph it shows you as doing 60 instead.

Edited by untakenname on Friday 28th October 13:28

[Wyvern971]

SDarks said:

My questions are

- Can the Police seize dash cam footage if suspected speeding?

I don't know, but in the event of an accident they can (and do), a friends son got a years driving ban for dangerous driving when one of his friends crashed and they siezed his go pro

SDarks said:

- In the event of an accident, is all the footage shown/analysed or can you only show short series of the events leading up to the crash and the incident itself?

All of it is, case above, at the time of the accident they weren't being silly at the time, that was about half an hour prior

SDarks said:

- Are any of the cams encrypted so only you can access the footage?

No idea, but you can I believe required to provide decryption credentials or face prosecution for not doing so. (Though if this is blanket, or terror related).

[covboy]

I can understand perhaps in the event of an accident, but shirley, the siezure of dashcam footage in other circumstances comes under the same as trying to seize any other type of camera footage - a court order is required.

[Sten.]

I just swiftly pull the power cable out of mine any time I.. don't want it to record. Simple but effective.

[tapereel]

SDarks said:

I've been thinking about getting a dash cam for a while now, it seems every day you see some sort of footage in the news and they seem pretty common place.

A few years ago I was driven into by a van (side swiped), the driver tried to claim 50/50. This took over a year to resolve and to prove the van driver was 100% at fault was a ridiculously long process. With a dash cam this would have been a quick closed case.

The only thing holding me back is fear of incriminating myself by having the camera on all the time.I sometimes drive 'progressively' where suitable & my daily commute features some lovely country roads.

There are many horror stories in the motorcycling community of riders with Go-pros being pulled, cameras and memory cards seized and footage of them blipping 100+ (easily done on a sports bike) used to prosecute. For this reason I have never felt the desire of using my Go-pro on the bike.

My questions are

- Can the Police seize dash cam footage if suspected speeding?
- In the event of an accident, is all the footage shown/analysed or can you only show short series of the events leading up to the crash and the incident itself?
- Are any of the cams encrypted so only you can access the footage?

Thanks

- Can the Police seize dash cam footage if suspected speeding?
They can seize any dashcam footage if they suspect it may assist in the detection of a crime.

- In the event of an accident, is all the footage shown/analysed or can you only show short series of the events leading up to the crash and the incident itself?
If you want to use video footage then edited clips will not be admissible and any opposing parties will demand contiguous video records if you want to have material admitted.

- Are any of the cams encrypted so only you can access the footage?
See answer above; you will need to decrypt all of the material not just clips convenient to your part of the case.

HEre are some samples of dashcam/video evidence that has been seized and used in evidence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFB05gZ5JQM

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2016/july/biker...

http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/24/biker-caught-speedin...

http://www.driving.co.uk/news/fast-footage-why-pol...

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/video-police-r...

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/w...

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news...

http://www.wrexham.com/news/video-driver-sentenced...

Asking for trouble? Yer' Darn Tootin'

[ModernAndy]

Can you get a dashcam that doesn't record speed or at least has a setting where you can turn this feature completely off? I ask not because I plan on setting fire to the road but because up here in Scotland there's a lot of talk about prosecuting anything above the speed limit so showing 72mph on the motorway could technically be a risk.

[SDarks]

tapereel said:

http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/24/biker-caught-speedin...


Asking for trouble? Yer' Darn Tootin'

"Jailed for 2 years" seems crazy to me!

Thanks for the responses, until they create a wipe all footage button I'm going off the idea of a dash cam.

[Driver101]

Unless you upload the video to the internet nobody is going to see your bad driving.

It's double standards that there is so many dashcam grasses out there, but they wouldn't dare own up to their errors. They just get edited out of videos.

[Dr Jekyll]

Are there any cases where the footage has been used to exonerate someone?

[superlightr]

I would add that since getting a dash cam - I drive a lot more carefully. I don't want to self incriminate so that's a good thing tbh as it has made me more careful on my driving. I'm also confident that if I have crash its more likely to be someone else going into me and why a cam is good to have.

So 2 benefits really.

[fangio]

My Mobius doesn't record speed and is practically invisible behind/in front of my mirror.

[1878]

untakenname said:

Some Amberella chipset dashcams can be changed so that the gps speed can be set to mph but have kph shown on the osd so if you're doing 100mph it shows you as doing 60 instead.

Edited by untakenname on Friday 28th October 13:28

But 100mph is 160 kph or am I just inviting a parrot?

[esxste]

ModernAndy said:

Can you get a dashcam that doesn't record speed or at least has a setting where you can turn this feature completely off? I ask not because I plan on setting fire to the road but because up here in Scotland there's a lot of talk about prosecuting anything above the speed limit so showing 72mph on the motorway could technically be a risk.

Speed can be worked out from the footage. Simple calculation of distance over time to get speed. While this wouldn't be accurate enough for +2 mph over 70 - it would be enough to prosecute 100+.

[spookly]

It doesn't matter if they record speed. If it looks like you are obviously speeding and it is a serious enough offence committed then it isn't difficult to measure the time between two fixed objects in the video, measure the distance between the objects in the real world, and deduce your speed.

I don't have a dashcam as I wouldn't want to self incriminate. Too many times where I *might* be a little over the limit.

I do drive and ride fast, but also cautiously and defensively. I haven't had a crash, or had anyone hit me, in nearly 20 years.

I did think about getting a dashcam, but decided against, for the reasons above.

[ModernAndy]

esxste said:

ModernAndy said:

Can you get a dashcam that doesn't record speed or at least has a setting where you can turn this feature completely off? I ask not because I plan on setting fire to the road but because up here in Scotland there's a lot of talk about prosecuting anything above the speed limit so showing 72mph on the motorway could technically be a risk.

Speed can be worked out from the footage. Simple calculation of distance over time to get speed. While this wouldn't be accurate enough for +2 mph over 70 - it would be enough to prosecute 100+.

well, I'm no Stephen Hawking but I am aware of that

I've yet to fit a dash cam but am seriously considering it. As above, my issue is some over-zealous copper taking issue if I hit, for the sake of argument, 75mph on a 70mph road. I'd go with one that doesn't record speed (even in the background) if I do fit one.

[tapereel]

ModernAndy said:

esxste said:

ModernAndy said:

Can you get a dashcam that doesn't record speed or at least has a setting where you can turn this feature completely off? I ask not because I plan on setting fire to the road but because up here in Scotland there's a lot of talk about prosecuting anything above the speed limit so showing 72mph on the motorway could technically be a risk.

Speed can be worked out from the footage. Simple calculation of distance over time to get speed. While this wouldn't be accurate enough for +2 mph over 70 - it would be enough to prosecute 100+.

well, I'm no Stephen Hawking but I am aware of that

I've yet to fit a dash cam but am seriously considering it. As above, my issue is some over-zealous copper taking issue if I hit, for the sake of argument, 75mph on a 70mph road. I'd go with one that doesn't record speed (even in the background) if I do fit one.

Whatever video camera you fit will produce a series of images that will yield the speed at which the camera is being carried.

[TooMany2cvs]

untakenname said:

Some Amberella chipset dashcams can be changed so that the gps speed can be set to mph but have kph shown on the osd so if you're doing 100mph it shows you as doing 60 instead.

Doing 18mph through urban 30 limits? 45mph on motorways...?

Yeh, I think they'd see through that in seconds flat.

[Short Grain]

1878 said:

untakenname said:

Some Amberella chipset dashcams can be changed so that the gps speed can be set to mph but have kph shown on the osd so if you're doing 100mph it shows you as doing 60 instead.

Edited by untakenname on Friday 28th October 13:28

But 100mph is 160 kph or am I just inviting a parrot?

That's how I read it as well! Waiting for a parrot now as long as it only Whooshes up to the speed limit!

[SDarks]

Anyone used the Drift Ghost?

It has a mode called "video tagging", the camera is constantly recording 90 second clips and the older footage gets overwritten. The footage is only saved when you press the record button. This saves the last 90 or 120 seconds of footage.

This could be a great solution as if a non fault accident does occur just hit record, if you get pulled for doing something naughty just leave it alone and it will delete the footage.

https://driftinnovation.com/collections/cameras-ne...