Dashcam advice

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  • bwframe

    Loneranger
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    Thanks BW, this looks like just the ticket (other than the price). Still interesting enough considering possible alternate uses.

    I currently run a GoPro looking forward and a cheapy looking back on my motorcycle. They aren't as reliable as I'd like. Nor are they of good enough quality to grab a license plate, other than pretty close.

    I had an old dude get really pissed at me for following close, prior to passing him. He did everything he could to crash me. Brake checked, then spead up to 80 to keep me behind him. Swerved into oncoming lane, to push me off the road, twice. Layed on his windswheild washer button, trying to wet me down.

    I did get the guy's license plate, sitting at the traffic light in Bargersville, but the video footage wasn't legible enough to read plate numbers otherwise. There was decent footage of him attempting to run me off the road though. Better camera resolution would have been better though, had the situation went bad. The dude was even more pissed when I outrode his crashing attempts. I was able to distance myself, but you never know when it might not have worked out that way or the dude would have caught up to me at an intersection where I was stuck in traffic.


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    gregkl

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    Tagging for interest. If I get a new job that has me back out on the road, I may look into one. Never really considered one in the past as I generally don't have altercations driving, but I agree things have changed in recent years.

    Plus, if I can send images and/or video it might be fun at times. A friend of mine and I exchange "Final Destination" pics of vehicles (mostly overloaded semi's,lol) with each other.
     

    Hoosierdood

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    Driving north on US-31 near Tipton yesterday, had a 5 car pile up when one car decided to slam on the brakes in a construction zone. Luckily I was able to stop before hitting the car in front of me, but the driver of that car was taken away in an ambulance. She plowed into the car in front of her at around 60 mph. I collected contact info for all drivers involve and forwarded video to them as well as the Tipton County deputy who responded. This is one reason why I have a dash cam. Forgive my wife's sudden outburst of "Oh sh**!"

    ETA: link if the video doesn't load can be found HERE.


     
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    Creedmoor

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    Driving north on US-31 near Tipton yesterday, had a 5 car pile up when one car decided to slam on the brakes in a construction zone. Luckily I was able to stop before hitting the car in front of me, but the driver of that car was taken away in an ambulance. She plowed into the car in front of her at around 60 mph. I collected contact info for all drivers involve and forwarded video to them as well as the Tipton County deputy who responded. This is one reason why I have a dash cam. Forgive my wife's sudden outburst of "Oh sh**!"

    ETA: link if the video doesn't load can be found HERE.



    Were her oh shits timed with the anti-lock pulsations?

    Fist bump for normal driving distance and you paying attention.
     

    Hoosierdood

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    I use a BlackVue
    Instructions are in English.
    The mount is cemented to the windshield.
    The camera can be removed from the mount.
    My Rexing V1P also has a mount cemented to the windshield and can be removed from the mount. I like that feature since I don't have to worry about a suction cup falling down in the heat, or in the event of an accident. It has a built in WiFi connection so I was able to download the video to my phone while we were waiting on the wrecker.
     

    MRockwell

    Just Me
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    Driving north on US-31 near Tipton yesterday, had a 5 car pile up when one car decided to slam on the brakes in a construction zone. Luckily I was able to stop before hitting the car in front of me, but the driver of that car was taken away in an ambulance. She plowed into the car in front of her at around 60 mph. I collected contact info for all drivers involve and forwarded video to them as well as the Tipton County deputy who responded. This is one reason why I have a dash cam. Forgive my wife's sudden outburst of "Oh sh**!"

    ETA: link if the video doesn't load can be found HERE.



    US-31 is getting to be a nightmare, especially in the construction zones in Hamilton and Tipton Co.'s.

    Had a car Friday in the zone at 236th who wasn't paying attention to the barrels(or the big orange signs at the beginning of the construction zone). Crossed over a solid white line to pass me, got even with my bumper when they realized the barrels were squeezing down and blocking the left lane. They hit the brakes hard to get behind me. Once the barrels were out of the way, over the solid white line they go at well above the construction zone speed limit.

    Thursday at S.R. 38, had a car get in the SB right lane in front of me from the entrance ramp and proceed to get on the bumper of a utility trailer. The trailer had to brake for a truck in front of them, causing the little white SUV to swerve over into the left lane and almost into a flatbed utility truck pulled over in the median(yellow flashing lights, doing road work). I thought for a moment they were going to overshoot and hit the road worker standing behind the truck. I was hauling my cargo trailer and backed off when I saw the SUV tailgating.

    I thought about getting a dashcam a few years ago when a guy pulled out in front of me in a roundabout, causing a collision. After driving on 31 this past week, I am glad this thread came up.

    EDIT: I have been looking at this one: Amazon product ASIN B074JT3698
     

    actaeon277

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    I use a BlackVue
    Instructions are in English.
    The mount is cemented to the windshield.
    The camera can be removed from the mount.

    I am thinking about upgrading, probably to another BlackVue.
    Mine is forward viewing only.
    Been thinking about a forward/rear viewing one.
    Especially after watching videos online.

    Downside to that, more power consumption.

    Used to have it plugged into the car power.
    But if I didn't drive for a week, it would drain the car battery.
    When I finally figured out what was going on, I bought a battery from BlackVue. Two actually, you can daisy chain them.
    Anyway, it is wired through the the power distribution now, off a point that is only hot when the car is on.
    So, when I turn on the car, it charges the camera battery, and the battery runs the camera.
    When I turn the car off, the camera runs off the camera battery.
    And then if it dies, it only kills that battery.

    Later, maybe next year, I want to wire in a solar cell I bought. This would charge the camera battery while the car is off, so that it's only discharging at night.

    Don't REALLY need the camera when I'm parked, but it doesn't hurt either.
    Especially when in a parking lot.
     

    Hoosierdood

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    My 17 year old son just bought a dash cam and we installed it Sunday night. He had it for 2 days then this happened today.

    The lady in the other car took off and never stopped. Cops were called and the responding officer was going to issue my son a citation for failure to yield to traffic already in the intersection and declare him at fault. This was AFTER I had already shown him the video. I (politely) argued that the video clearly shows that the other car was not in the intersection, and didn’t enter the intersection until after their light had turned red.

    The cop ended up changing the report after I showed him the video again, and declared the other driver at fault. Good luck finding them though. Good news is that my son is fine, although a little shaken up. His car is still drivable.

    Point is that my son would have gotten a ticket and been found at fault if the other driver showed up later and claimed that he had hit them without the dash cam evidence.

    ETA - disregard the crappy music. He's only 17 and his musical taste isn't refined yet. I'm working on him.

     

    bwframe

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    My 17 year old son just bought a dash cam and we installed it Sunday night. He had it for 2 days then this happened today.

    The lady in the other car took off and never stopped. Cops were called and the responding officer was going to issue my son a citation for failure to yield to traffic already in the intersection and declare him at fault. This was AFTER I had already shown him the video. I (politely) argued that the video clearly shows that the other car was not in the intersection, and didn’t enter the intersection until after their light had turned red.

    The cop ended up changing the report after I showed him the video again, and declared the other driver at fault. Good luck finding them though. Good news is that my son is fine, although a little shaken up. His car is still drivable.

    Point is that my son would have gotten a ticket and been found at fault if the other driver showed up later and claimed that he had hit them without the dash cam evidence.

    ETA - disregard the crappy music. He's only 17 and his musical taste isn't refined yet. I'm working on him.



    I wouldn't dare try to stir up anything against your son, but shouldn't he have let that person turning in front of him go? Wasn't the crossing driver


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    Hoosierdood

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    I wouldn't dare try to stir up anything against your son, but shouldn't he have let that person turning in front of him go? Wasn't the crossing driver


    .
    Not entirely sure what you’re asking. Think some of it got cut out.

    My son is far from perfect, and when he’s wrong I let him take his licks. The fact is he’s inexperienced. He didn’t expect for the car to blow a red light. He waited for the truck to clear out and then he proceeded. I’m sure it didn’t process as quickly as it would for me that this other car was going through a red light. He hit the brakes, but by that time he was already far enough ahead and she was turning, so they hit.

    The turning driver was not in the intersection when his light turned green. They didn’t enter the intersection until well after their light was red.
     

    bwframe

    Loneranger
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    Feb 11, 2008
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    Not entirely sure what you’re asking. Think some of it got cut out.

    My son is far from perfect, and when he’s wrong I let him take his licks. The fact is he’s inexperienced. He didn’t expect for the car to blow a red light. He waited for the truck to clear out and then he proceeded. I’m sure it didn’t process as quickly as it would for me that this other car was going through a red light. He hit the brakes, but by that time he was already far enough ahead and she was turning, so they hit.

    The turning driver was not in the intersection when his light turned green. They didn’t enter the intersection until well after their light was red.

    I'm sorry, I intended to delete the post and not say anything. Somehow it ended up posted. :ugh:

    Since I did, I'll finish the thought...

    The car was second in line, waiting to turn at the light change. While that driver certainly was slow on proceeding, "leftovers" turning at lighted intersections is routine. We have all seen it hundreds of times. It's a stretch to say they blew the red light, because they were stopped at it, waiting to turn.

    I'm glad your son is fine and I'm sorry about his car. Moreover, I'm really glad you talked him out of a ticket that will really screw up a young man's insurance rates. He needs to learn from this though. There will be plenty more challenging times like this that he needs to be ready for. :twocents:

    The great news is that, with this video, you will be able to help the boy learn to be a better defensive driver. :yesway:
     
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    nonobaddog

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    I am thinking about upgrading, probably to another BlackVue.
    Mine is forward viewing only.
    Been thinking about a forward/rear viewing one.
    Especially after watching videos online.

    Downside to that, more power consumption.

    Used to have it plugged into the car power.
    But if I didn't drive for a week, it would drain the car battery.
    When I finally figured out what was going on, I bought a battery from BlackVue. Two actually, you can daisy chain them.
    Anyway, it is wired through the the power distribution now, off a point that is only hot when the car is on.
    So, when I turn on the car, it charges the camera battery, and the battery runs the camera.
    When I turn the car off, the camera runs off the camera battery.
    And then if it dies, it only kills that battery.

    Later, maybe next year, I want to wire in a solar cell I bought. This would charge the camera battery while the car is off, so that it's only discharging at night.

    Don't REALLY need the camera when I'm parked, but it doesn't hurt either.
    Especially when in a parking lot.
    That sounds like a good setup. Does the camera have an on/off switch so I could turn it off when it is sitting in my own garage?
     

    femurphy77

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    Rexing V1LG here. Works quite well although it's several years old now. I have to patch cord into it which I've never had a reason to download anything from it. It's full of saved videos that are youtube worthy. Driving around Indy every day ensures a continuous offering of stupid people doing stupid shift in cars.
     

    actaeon277

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    That sounds like a good setup. Does the camera have an on/off switch so I could turn it off when it is sitting in my own garage?
    It has a setting for driving or parking.
    If you sit for a set length of time, it will go to parking mode.
    You put the memory card in your computer, run the software, and you can change the settings.

    Then, if it detects motion, or G-shock, or (I think) sound, it will then switch to drive mode.



    There are some videos online.




    Or, install a power switch, or plug/unplug.
    But then you have to remember
     

    JTScribe

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    Tagging for interest. I just bought a Tacoma and it has a built in mount for a GoPro. Don’t know if I want to invest that much, but surely I can stick something up there.
     

    indyblue

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    It has a setting for driving or parking.
    If you sit for a set length of time, it will go to parking mode.
    You put the memory card in your computer, run the software, and you can change the settings.

    Then, if it detects motion, or G-shock, or (I think) sound, it will then switch to drive mode.



    There are some videos online.




    Or, install a power switch, or plug/unplug.
    But then you have to remember
    Sounds like a pretty good set up but I’m not sure I like the idea need special software to change settings.

    I assume you could also change settings via controls on the unit?
     
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