Six reasons to own a dash cam
Today, small digital video cameras are readily available; nearly all of us carry one around in our phone. In some countries, dashboard cameras are almost a standard accessory in both commercial vehicles and private cars, yet for some reason, we are being slow to take them up in the UK.
Accidents
Even if everyone on the road were honest, witnesses are notoriously unreliable and inclined to place constructions on events they only glimpsed that seem plucked from the air.
People who drive for a living tend to be good drivers, but a few unfair accusations can ramp up insurance premiums enough to put a company out of business. An impartial recording of events from an in car camera is a welcome alternative to bitter and stressful arguments with other road users, insurers and lawyers, whatever the footage reveals.
Safety
Even if your car doesn’t normally have blind spots, the situation is different when you have passengers in the back seats or oversized luggage. On commercial vehicles, blind spots are often dangerously large and other road users often don’t appreciate this until it’s too late. Drivers cut in from side turnings or cyclists move up on the inside at crossroads, naively assuming other drivers will see them and make allowances. Live camera feeds are a valuable addition to your mirrors, and suppliers like http://www.vehicle-accessories.net/Driver-Recording-Systems help you choose wisely to eliminate blind spots and ensure every movement catches your eye.
Parking
Often the most dangerous time for your car is when it’s parked. Accidents and malicious damage to parked vehicles are particularly irksome because in the absence of an identified perpetrator, insurance companies allow it to impact your own premiums. Many cameras are powered by long-lasting batteries independent of your main battery, so there is no reason not to leave them running.
Frauds
There are professional gangs that specialise in having “accidents”. Some pose as pedestrians, others involve multiple vehicles that lay in wait with an elaborate preconceived plan. Having cameras covering at least your front and rear views is by far the best defence and has the added bonus of putting some of them behind bars (see http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/moment-crash-cash-fraudsters-caught-6214414).
Two more reasons
Feeling filmed encourages people to drive sensibly, and lastly, not everything dashcams capture is depressing! Everything from ducklings crossing the road to meteors over Siberia are on YouTube.