Humming and Harring..

MattMattMattUK

flaneurs_lobster said:

All the examples given above as to why a dashcam is a good idea cite the appalling driving of others and how the video evidence is useful for proving blamelessness in the case of an accident or just to submit to one of the "Grass Up A Dodgy Driver" services.

I don't want a dashcam because I am certain that I am a dreadful driver (by definition half of drivers are worse than average although 80% claim to be better). Don't think I'm unsafe but I bet I !!!!!! a lot of other motorists.

It does depend on how one classes better, but I am certainly safer than the majority of other road users. I drive defensively, I maintain my vehicle in a good and roadworthy condition, I do not drink and drive, I have actually passed my driving test (rather than driving either without a license or having had someone else take the test for me) and I never use my phone whilst driving, those things alone put me in the top half of drivers. When I also factor in things like actually knowing the rules of the road, stopping at red lights, understanding that one gives way to the right/vehicles already on a roundabout, not speeding etc. then that pushes me even higher.

Now would I be the fastest driver on a track, absolutely not, so I may not be in the top few percent in technical skill, but that is a very small part of road craft.

flaneurs_lobster said:

When the inevitable wang happens I don't want the extra evidence against me coming from my own kit.

You are either at fault (either partially or fully) or you are not, no point messing around.

flaneurs_lobster

SiliconChip said:

Maybe you should consider giving up driving if you're that certain there will be an incident that is your fault.

If I thought it was certain, or even likely that I'm going to cause an accident , I would of course stop driving immediately. I am convinced, along with 90% of all drivers, that it's all the fault of the other idiots, boy racers, drug-drivers and Audi pilots out there - I'm certainly not going to be incriminating myself when clearly it's always the other person's fault.

born_again

Never actually heard of a dash cam being stolen other than people saying on internet they do....

Compare that to how they are good evidence in a accident, compared to word of mouth. 

As to running when parked up. Pointless, as anyone damaging while walking will have their face covered or out of sight down side of car, so won't trigger with them in sight.

flaneurs_lobster

MattMattMattUK said:

It does depend on how one classes better, but I am certainly safer than the majority of other road users.

Yep exactly, one of the 80%.....

Mildly_Miffed

flaneurs_lobster said:

MattMattMattUK said:

It does depend on how one classes better, but I am certainly safer than the majority of other road users.

Yep exactly, one of the 80%.....

It's not impossible for that to be true - are we talking mean, median, or mode?

I am very sceptical about dashcams, in large part because of those who appear to regard possession of one as carte blanche to manufacture situations. Or would they be simply oblivious without one, too?

MattMattMattUK

Mildly_Miffed said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

MattMattMattUK said:

It does depend on how one classes better, but I am certainly safer than the majority of other road users.

Yep exactly, one of the 80%.....

It's not impossible for that to be true - are we talking mean, median, or mode?

I am very sceptical about dashcams, in large part because of those who appear to regard possession of one as carte blanche to manufacture situations. Or would they be simply oblivious without one, too?

The town where I live had an epidemic of "crash for cash" incidents 2017-2020 which is why I installed a dashcam originally and it was a big part of why most people I know have one, to protect themselves. Now my car has them built in with full 360 coverage (although not as high video quality). There have been a few times this year I have had slightly close calls, three of them were the other driver driving through a red light, one was someone weaving in and out of the lanes on a motorway (I was on the inside lane doing 60, they cut between me and the car behind to get onto the hard shoulder, to drive along that and nearly clipped me) and the other was someone pulling out from a side road in front of me, which I was able to avoid by going onto the other side of the road, but if there had been a car coming in the opposite direction I would have had to have crashed into the car pulling out, there have also been several occasions where people have pulled out in front of me on a roundabout, there is one near me that is particularly notorious for that happening. Whilst the latter of those should have been fairly open and shut relating to liability because of positioning on the road had an incident occurred the other four video evidence would have been very important to prove they went through the red or were driving recklessly, where as without evidence they could end up being settled 50/50.

Vitor

I too am an exceptional driver but it's amazing how many accidents have been captured on my rear-facing camera.