Dashcams

[rayaans]

11 hours ago, Martin F said:

But are there more reckless drivers now than previously?

Probably down to the aging population - I find they are actually worse than the young drivers. 

Like most things dash cams are somewhat of an insurance policy, they sell well because they prey on people's fears and in all likelihood you're probably more likely to have an accident in a car with a dash cam simply because you subconciously think "youll be OK" because its all recorded.

[mikeyv]

1 hour ago, rayaans said:

Probably down to the aging population - I find they are actually worse than the young drivers. 

Like most things dash cams are somewhat of an insurance policy, they sell well because they prey on people's fears and in all likelihood you're probably more likely to have an accident in a car with a dash cam simply because you subconciously think "youll be OK" because its all recorded.

Yeah, old people eh, don't you wish we'd all just bugger off, and stop holding more important people up?

Funny though, all the insurance statistics seem to disagree with you?

I really am getting sick of ageism on motoring forums, I can't see how it's any different to racism, sexism, or any other of the ever lengthening list of isms that are verbotten.

[noby76]

yup i can see lots of situations/incidents which could cleanly be avoided but one wouldn't because one might say "well its my right of way or i had priority"  etc..and would rather it occurred because its is all being recorded. having a webcam in ones car does not make one safe on the roads. a mate of mines home got burgled sometime ago and it took the police over 24 hours to turn up and investigate what makes us think they would investigate an incident where say a 911 driver crossed one off? 

I am not saying police does not take traffic/road incidents seriously but it will cost them £££'s if they had to investigate each and every road/traffic incident videos sent by members of the public.  They will certainty be interested in major accidents captured on video though.

if a reckless driver cuts me off i always have two options either ignore them and carry on with my driving or take my place back if its safe to do so. I will invest my money else where rather than dashcam videos to send to the police saying look at what this Audi driver did to me on the M1.

if one feels the need for a dashcam then by all means invest in one. 

 

[DJP]

Motor premiums can and do rise for "elderly" drivers, although the definition of "elderly" is subjective and based on each Insurers claims stats. There is little doubt that responsiveness and awareness diminishes with age. "Sexism" in motor insurance is not allowed, insurance rates have to be gender neutral thanks to Euro law. That's despite the evidence that shows young male drivers are far more likely to crash than young female drivers.   

[mikeyv]

4 minutes ago, DJP said:

Motor premiums can and do rise for "elderly" drivers, although the definition of "elderly" is subjective and based on each Insurers claims stats. There is little doubt that responsiveness and awareness diminishes with age. "Sexism" in motor insurance is not allowed, insurance rates have to be gender neutral thanks to Euro law. That's despite the evidence that shows young male drivers are far more likely to crash than young female drivers.   

I'm 66, and my insurance is probably under 20% of what a teenage driver would pay.

 

[DJP]

50 minutes ago, mikeyv said:

I'm 66, and my insurance is probably under 20% of what a teenage driver would pay.

 

At the tender age of 66 you are definitely not in the "elderly" category  It's post 75 where the capabilities tend to diminish.

[bluenose1940]

2 hours ago, DJP said:

At the tender age of 66 you are definitely not in the "elderly" category  It's post 75 where the capabilities tend to diminish.

I do hope that my capabilities have not diminished, I am preparing myself to take the advanced driving test.

[DJP]

40 minutes ago, bluenose1940 said:

I do hope that my capabilities have not diminished, I am preparing myself to take the advanced driving test.

Geoff, I did use the word "tend". I knew this was going to stir it up. 

[Verbout]

5 hours ago, noby76 said:

yup i can see lots of situations/incidents which could cleanly be avoided but one wouldn't because one might say "well its my right of way or i had priority"  etc..and would rather it occurred because its is all being recorded. having a webcam in ones car does not make one safe on the roads. a mate of mines home got burgled sometime ago and it took the police over 24 hours to turn up and investigate what makes us think they would investigate an incident where say a 911 driver crossed one off? 

I am not saying police does not take traffic/road incidents seriously but it will cost them £££'s if they had to investigate each and every road/traffic incident videos sent by members of the public.  They will certainty be interested in major accidents captured on video though.

if a reckless driver cuts me off i always have two options either ignore them and carry on with my driving or take my place back if its safe to do so. I will invest my money else where rather than dashcam videos to send to the police saying look at what this Audi driver did to me on the M1.

if one feels the need for a dashcam then by all means invest in one. 

 

Meh. Anecdotal stories and an assumption.

[bluenose1940]

9 hours ago, noby76 said:

I am not saying police does not take traffic/road incidents seriously but it will cost them £££'s if they had to investigate each and every road/traffic incident videos sent by members of the public.  They will certainty be interested in major accidents captured on video though.

Some time ago, I contacted the police regarding an incident that occurred that I really felt needed reporting.  They sent an officer round to my home and after looking at it, he said that they would almost certainly prosecute the driver.  About a week later I was informed that no action would be taken.  I really felt very strongly about this and so I wrote to the Chief Constable and also to my local MP.  I had a letter back from my MP who stated that he too was going to pursue the matter with the CC as he felt quite strongly about it himself.  A couple of weeks later I had a reply from the CC who stated that it had been verified that the car in the video was a hire car and that the likelihood of identifying the driver was pretty remote.  He went on to say that under the circumstances they were not prepared to commit valuable police time to something that might not produce a satisfactory outcome.  I had no choice but to accept this.

The circumstances of the incident were as follows:-

I was on my way home from a weekend away and an incident occurred which has been caught on both cameras and is crystal clear.

I had been driving in a line of traffic for about 15 miles or so and there was a chap behind me in a Ford. There are not many opportunities to overtake on this particular road and, because of this the line of traffic remained constant over most of this distance, with just the odd car turning off the main road now and again. We then approached a set of traffic lights at a four-way junction. There were only four cars in front of me as we approached the lights, The first two were making a right turn, which they eventually did and, the second two were going straight on. The car immediately in front of me was about half way over the junction as the lights changed to amber and then red. I had stopped at the white line with the lights on red but, the chap behind simply pulled out from behind me and went across the red light.

This to me was very dangerous and was at the very least 'driving without due care and attention' If there had been a pedestrian waiting to cross the road at the lights and had decided to sprint across before any traffic started to appear from the junction, the driver committing the offence may not have been able to stop in time.  Equally, if a car had turned left from the junction just a little early, there could well have been a head-on collision.  When you turn left at a set of traffic lights you do not expect to see a car coming at you on your side of the road.

I have tried to post the video on here and so i hope that it works and you are able to see it OK.  The first 30 seconds or so shows the car coming up behind me as we approached the traffic lights and then shows the offender pulling out from behind me to get across the lights.  The remainder of the video shows me stopped at the white line and then him coming past me with the lights on red. The driver is also signalling to turn left at the lights but in fact he goes straight on towards Exeter.

My thoughts on this are, that if you want to get away with a serious motoring offence, do it in a hire car!

Sidford edit_2.wlmp

I don't think that this has uploaded as I wanted it to.  I have tried uploading it to Photobucket but it doesn't seem to want to do it. Anyone know how I can change the file type to something that it will accept?

EDIT :I have now sorted out how to change the file type and am uploading to Photobucket.

Edit again :it hasn't worked so will keep trying.

 

[Joe 300h]

Hello great to hear plenty different opinions.but really would like to know witch fuse I can use to hardwire a dashcam  so camera can be used for motion detection  or cctv purposes  many thanks 

[toffee_pie]

There are bad, terrible drivers out there. People have dash cams because they think they are better drivers themselves and in the event of an accident occurring it will be on camera.

Of course there is always a chance of the owner themselves causing an accident but i would rather have one installed in any event.

[toffee_pie]

1 hour ago, Joe 300h said:

Hello great to hear plenty different opinions.but really would like to know witch fuse I can use to hardwire a dashcam  so camera can be used for motion detection  or cctv purposes  many thanks 

It would help if you explained how you are proposing or how you have hooked up your camera? or what camera you have.

[steveledzep]

8 hours ago, noby76 said:

yup i can see lots of situations/incidents which could cleanly be avoided but one wouldn't because one might say "well its my right of way or i had priority"  etc..and would rather it occurred because its is all being recorded. having a webcam in ones car does not make one safe on the roads. a mate of mines home got burgled sometime ago and it took the police over 24 hours to turn up and investigate what makes us think they would investigate an incident where say a 911 driver crossed one off? 

I am not saying police does not take traffic/road incidents seriously but it will cost them £££'s if they had to investigate each and every road/traffic incident videos sent by members of the public.  They will certainty be interested in major accidents captured on video though.

if a reckless driver cuts me off i always have two options either ignore them and carry on with my driving or take my place back if its safe to do so. I will invest my money else where rather than dashcam videos to send to the police saying look at what this Audi driver did to me on the M1.

if one feels the need for a dashcam then by all means invest in one. 

 

My initial post #17 (why aren't they numbered on this new fangled layout ?) was presented in a very matter of fact way.

I take your point that the police can't fund investigation into every misdemeanor on our roads.

However, the 911 pulling in front of me and braking hard was very frightening and extremely dangerous.  I had to brake so hard that my abs was activated !

It wasn't an accident for two reasons, I was sufficiently alert and responsive and the traffic following me were equally competent.

I think you make light of the situation I described !  Don't think you'd have the same outlook if it had happened to you !

Having the dashcam installed hasn't and won't change my driving attitude, in fact I forget it's there, it is there in case I need it.

It does have a bonus, since Mrs ledzep discovered that it records sound too, she is rather quiet in the car   

[rayaans]

9 hours ago, mikeyv said:

Yeah, old people eh, don't you wish we'd all just bugger off, and stop holding more important people up?

Funny though, all the insurance statistics seem to disagree with you?

I really am getting sick of ageism on motoring forums, I can't see how it's any different to racism, sexism, or any other of the ever lengthening list of isms that are verbotten.

I report people to the DVLA if they dont do it themselves. It's part of my job. The number of over 70s I see who aren't fit to drive is unbelievable. 

The insurance statistics are flawed. Anyone can see that older people tend to drive less than young drivers between 20-25. I was clocking up 30k a year going everyday 100 miles round to get training when i was 23.  I only do 10k now therefore have much less chance of having an accident

Scientifically a 70 year old man has nowhere near the same sort of reaction times as a younger driver

[C Mclean]

Ageism creeping into this topic. Same with distance traveled, you could easily argue that high mileage drivers become blasé as they think that the more they drive, the better they are. Everyone is an individual with their own abilities, good or bad. You could easily add drivers with a "get out of my way attitude, can't you see I'm more important and in a hurry with my nice shiny expensive car" or from the other end of the spectrum you get the " Hoodie and backwards ball cap in a **** box and no exhaust, trying to impress anyone who turns round to see what the noise is" . One thing I have noticed throughout the age spectrum, is that the attitude that the speed limit is the minimum I should be doing, instead of the maximum.

[PaulWhitt20]

Lexus make the best cars in the world. Lexus dealers are the best dealers in the world. It's up to us to be the safest drivers in the world.

[Martin F]

3 hours ago, bluenose1940 said:

Some time ago, I contacted the police regarding an incident that occurred that I really felt needed reporting.  They sent an officer round to my home and after looking at it, he said that they would almost certainly prosecute the driver.  About a week later I was informed that no action would be taken.  I really felt very strongly about this and so I wrote to the Chief Constable and also to my local MP.  I had a letter back from my MP who stated that he too was going to pursue the matter with the CC as he felt quite strongly about it himself.  A couple of weeks later I had a reply from the CC who stated that it had been verified that the car in the video was a hire car and that the likelihood of identifying the driver was pretty remote.  He went on to say that under the circumstances they were not prepared to commit valuable police time to something that might not produce a satisfactory outcome.  I had no choice but to accept this.

The circumstances of the incident were as follows:-

I was on my way home from a weekend away and an incident occurred which has been caught on both cameras and is crystal clear.

I had been driving in a line of traffic for about 15 miles or so and there was a chap behind me in a Ford. There are not many opportunities to overtake on this particular road and, because of this the line of traffic remained constant over most of this distance, with just the odd car turning off the main road now and again. We then approached a set of traffic lights at a four-way junction. There were only four cars in front of me as we approached the lights, The first two were making a right turn, which they eventually did and, the second two were going straight on. The car immediately in front of me was about half way over the junction as the lights changed to amber and then red. I had stopped at the white line with the lights on red but, the chap behind simply pulled out from behind me and went across the red light.

This to me was very dangerous and was at the very least 'driving without due care and attention' If there had been a pedestrian waiting to cross the road at the lights and had decided to sprint across before any traffic started to appear from the junction, the driver committing the offence may not have been able to stop in time.  Equally, if a car had turned left from the junction just a little early, there could well have been a head-on collision.  When you turn left at a set of traffic lights you do not expect to see a car coming at you on your side of the road.

I have tried to post the video on here and so i hope that it works and you are able to see it OK.  The first 30 seconds or so shows the car coming up behind me as we approached the traffic lights and then shows the offender pulling out from behind me to get across the lights.  The remainder of the video shows me stopped at the white line and then him coming past me with the lights on red. The driver is also signalling to turn left at the lights but in fact he goes straight on towards Exeter.

My thoughts on this are, that if you want to get away with a serious motoring offence, do it in a hire car!

Sidford edit_2.wlmp

I don't think that this has uploaded as I wanted it to.  I have tried uploading it to Photobucket but it doesn't seem to want to do it. Anyone know how I can change the file type to something that it will accept?

EDIT :I have now sorted out how to change the file type and am uploading to Photobucket.

Edit again :it hasn't worked so will keep trying.

 

We can tell you live in Devon if that's the worst driving you've witnessed. :p

[bluenose1940]

No Martin, I didn't say that it was the worst driving that I had witnessed, simply that it was a piece of driving that warranted reporting. I've witnessed much worse here in Devon but, i've not caught it on camera.

[Joe 300h]

2 hours ago, toffee_pie said:

It would help if you explained how you are proposing or how you have hooked up your camera? or what camera you have.

Don't think I need to explain when I am asking  what fuse will enable cctv .as for the camera obviously  one that is getting  hardwired  

[toffee_pie]

20 minutes ago, Joe 300h said:

Don't think I need to explain when I am asking  what fuse will enable cctv .as for the camera obviously  one that is getting  hardwired  

very well so, you clearly are on top of things. 

this is my hard wired install

[steveledzep]

Looks a bit conspicuous to me.

I chose to conceal my cam behind the rear view mirror, it's hardly visible from inside or outside.

Just like this:    

 

[toffee_pie]

4 minutes ago, steveledzep said:

Looks a bit conspicuous to me.

I chose to conceal my cam behind the rear view mirror, it's hardly visible from inside or outside.

Just like this:    

 

you do know that the mini 0806 can be taken off in a few seconds., even when its not removed it is hardly visible compared to other monstrosity's out there.

[Joe 300h]

Great job, what fuse did u use when hard wiring.  or does yours go on and off from ignition.

[steveledzep]

Don't know who you're addressing Joe ?  Mine is powered from the 12v socket beneath the centre armrest, so switches with the ignition.