Dashcams - would you use one and...

[405dogvan]

I've noticed ever-more people are posting stuff taken from dashcams that they're clearly using on a daily basis??

I know that in places like Eastern Europe these are popular as driving standards are appalling and people tend to try to duck responsbility and/or just drive-off (not sure what video evidence gets you if the Police aren't interested but hey!)

I can see that having one is useful for a variety of reasons when it comes to allocating blame and proving what happend but I can also see a fairly sizeable downside to this.

Let's say there's an incident and the Police notice you have a dashcam. Can they demand the footage - all of it - and is it something they can use against you?

e.g.
You're part of a shunt - not your fault, perhaps you even missed the car in-front and behind BUT they get your dashcam footage and note that 2 mins earlier you were speeding (they can easily prove this even if the speed reading on the cam isn't evidence quality).

Can they charge you on that basis - it seems to me that Plod are obsessed with finding every possible to fill-up their stats, the concept of 'victim' or 'witness' doesn't really apply anymore, everyone is just a potential result(*) - isn't there a case for dashcams being as much harm as good?

(*) I once volunteered to give evidence in relation to a crime - the officer came to my home - whilst I was making a cuppa I noticed he'd decided to have a rifle through my drawers which I thought was a nice way of thanking for me being an upstanding citizen...

I also once stayed at the scene of an accident as a witness and ended-up getting a lecture for parking badly - I'm not impressed, you can tell?

[simon1987]

We have enough cameras in this country, only a mong would drive around recording every detail of the drive.

[deltashad]

If someone gave me one for free then yes. There are other things I find more important to spend money on though.

I may buy a reversing camera for our next car though, but thats more of a need than an anorak.

[Ozzie Osmond]

simon1987 said:

We have enough cameras in this country, only a mong would drive around recording every detail of the drive.

^^^ This. My assumption is that the most likely thing these cameras will record is the idiotic driving of their owners.

As for evidence, I'm sure that if PC plod can download your mobile phone he can sure as hell download your dash camera.

[wizzbilly]

i run one on daily basis drive for a living and there a god send i use one thatr is portable

[nick heppinstall]

I have one. £20 from ebay and quality isnt bad. Bit of a no brainer really. £20 well spent if it manages to catch someone running into me.

I dont speed or make mistakes so not bothered about the prospect of Police getting hold of footage

In my opinion anyone who's not prepared to spend £20 to save hastle in an isurance situation must be a bit of a mong ....

[McSam]

Very interested to hear a lawyer or police officer's information on whether dash cam videos can be used to persue a driver for offences not relevant to the particular incident the dash cam evidence is being offered for.

In other words, I want to know whether I can have one for my personal use and my backup evidence if I'm involved in an accident without witnesses, without it being used against me in situations where there is no other party demanding to see the tape.

[hairyben]

With a little thought it should be easy enough to hide the unit? some of them come with small wired cameras don't they?

Put off by the mentality of it myself, the kind of person traditionally driven to do such a thing -just look at all the bicycling clowns on youtube- but with them being quite economical now it's a tempting little bit of insurance.

[Eighteeteewhy]

I've got one, £35 off eBay. Decent quality footage and if it saves me money if done twonk drives into the back of me or pulls out in front of me then what's the argument against it?

Not sure how the police could tell you were speeding either?

[mrmr96]

405dogvan said:

Let's say there's an incident and the Police notice you have a dashcam. Can they demand the footage - all of it

I think they'd need a warrant as I presume it would be under the same photography rules which means an officer stopping you with a camera in the street cannot demand to inspect your photos.

[McSam]

I guess it's going to be blindingly obvious if, for example, there is no perceptible change of pace between a NSL section and a 40mph limit, or if you are overtaking a great many cars. Or if you're seen to be performing manouvres that those in cardigans would regard as dangerous.

I'm not sure how well any of it would stand in court, though, or if it's even allowed to be used against you without your consent - hence my interest to hear from those experienced!

[petrolsniffer]

simon1987 said:

We have enough cameras in this country, only a mong would drive around recording every detail of the drive.

Yeh having a silent witness in the car is being a total mong

I've already been a victim of a non fault accident where the guilty party denied fault lucky for me I did have a witness but what if no one stopped to give details or no one was around?

My next car which i purchase this weekend is going to have one hard wired in.

[simon1987]

Eighteeteewhy said:

Not sure how the police could tell you were speeding either?

Plenty of people have been done by filming themselves speeding on youtube and the police have used road signs and markings to get an accurate speed reading. So if they get access to the footage its completely possible for them to prosecute you.

[Fort Jefferson]

I wouldn't use one.

It would likely get me into more trouble than it got me out of.

[Benjy911]

I've got one, up until recently I had a 16gb memory card in it which I figured would probably be fairly incriminating if the police were to get hold of it with over 4 hours of footage!

Now I've got a 256mb card in it which holds about 2 minutes of footage, which should be more than enough if I ever need it.

[williredale]

Benjy911 said:

I've got one, up until recently I had a 16gb memory card in it which I figured would probably be fairly incriminating if the police were to get hold of it with over 4 hours of footage!

Now I've got a 256mb card in it which holds about 2 minutes of footage, which should be more than enough if I ever need it.

This. The cameras record in a loop so it keeps the most recent stuff. The amount it stores depends on the size of the card. I have a camera running all the time but I've only taken it out and viewed the footage a couple of times. Basically when someone (including me) has done something stupid and I wanted to see it again. Last time was when someone pulled out of a side road causing me to brake heavily and then pulled out on me again when I overtook.

[Contigo]

I use one because there are too many crash for cash victims and I don't want to be one of them. It's really that simple.

[lestershaw]

There is an iPhone app called witness which turns your iPhone into a dashcam. It records in segments and keeps deleting the segments as they become obsolete. If something happens then you just save the most recent relevant one. And you can play google maps and get guidance at the same time.

[George7]

simon1987 said:

We have enough cameras in this country, only a mong would drive around recording every detail of the drive.

You're a mong not to, to be honest. Especially with the amount of crash for cash scams/dishonest people about. In the event of an accident, it's far more reliable for evidence than a witness and could potentially save you thousands.

[LuS1fer]

George7 said:

simon1987 said:

We have enough cameras in this country, only a mong would drive around recording every detail of the drive.

You're a mong not to, to be honest. Especially with the amount of crash for cash scams/dishonest people about. In the event of an accident, it's far more reliable for evidence than a witness and could potentially save you thousands.

But equally if you're in the wrong and the Police seize it, you've just signed your own death warrant.