Value of automotive cameras

[dbias]

My son was side swiped by a city vehicle on the interstate this morning. He was in the left lane and as he passed the city vehicle she pulled over into his lane hitting him and scraping from mid passenger door back. At 70 mph he had nowhere to go and was luckily able to keep it on the road. Cops from the same city responded and was kinda giving him bad vibes and she was saying he pulled over into her.
Long story short they all straightened up when he told them he had the entire thing on his phone downloaded from the camera mounted on his visor.
I’m sure he would have been rail roaded as a 22 year old if he didn’t have the camera.

 

[JustinH]

Yep we were rear ended in a hit and run in dallas over memorial day weekend. Car is still in the shop being repaired. We were not hurt, but it would have been helpful to the Dallas PD if we had gotten the plate number.

 

[dbias]

Hit and runs suck. Last thing on your mind is the plate number.
All he has right now is her plate number from the video. She refused to give him her insurance info and the cop said it would be in the report. So now I’m calling my insurance with no information on the other driver.

 

[Pew]

+1 for dashcams. Sucked your son had to go to the point of telling them about the camera for the lady to tell the truth but I'm glad the camera worked out and did its job. I'm surprised more cars don't have this as a add-on feature or standard.

 

[jeepman3071]

Right after graduating college in 2014 I worked in auto insurance for a bit. Dash cams were just starting to become a thing, and made a night and day difference in proving liability. I went out and bought one and have had one in every vehicle since.

What is amazing to me is how cheap dash cams are for the video quality they provide (1080p, 4K) yet many municipalities and businesses still have cameras where all you can see are fuzzy figures.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

My son was side swiped by a city vehicle on the interstate this morning. He was in the left lane and as he passed the city vehicle she pulled over into his lane hitting him and scraping from mid passenger door back. At 70 mph he had nowhere to go and was luckily able to keep it on the road. Cops from the same city responded and was kinda giving him bad vibes and she was saying he pulled over into her.
Long story short they all straightened up when he told them he had the entire thing on his phone downloaded from the camera mounted on his visor.
I’m sure he would have been rail roaded as a 22 year old if he didn’t have the camera.

I would push this hard. The city worker needs to be FIRED and possibly charged with lying to a police officer.

The cop needs to be reprimanded somehow, some way, for what we all know is automatically siding with a co-worker.

 

[wwillson]

Video is the great equalizer. Be thankful your son has proof. Make sure he has a good backup of the video.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Hit and runs suck. Last thing on your mind is the plate number.
All he has right now is her plate number from the video. She refused to give him her insurance info and the cop said it would be in the report. So now I’m calling my insurance with no information on the other driver.

Wouldn't the city's insurer will pay for the damages rather than the driver?

 

[JavierH19]

Big mistake on your sons part. Next time tell your son to not say any a word so the degusting liars end up lying on the police report. The cops will get them for it but only if it's written and signed by them.

 

[Kira]

Camera question:
Obviously front & rear view is better than front view only.
Are there side view cameras too?

 

[dbias]

Right after graduating college in 2014 I worked in auto insurance for a bit. Dash cams were just starting to become a thing, and made a night and day difference in proving liability. I went out and bought one and have had one in every vehicle since.

What is amazing to me is how cheap dash cams are for the video quality they provide (1080p, 4K) yet many municipalities and businesses still have cameras where all you can see are fuzzy figures.

Yeah the video shows him passing her then wide open highway and then the car jerks towards the median and then him pulling over. So the collision isn’t exactly shown on the video but it’s definitely helpful. He has video from his cell phone of her arguing with him and denying attempting to change lanes and she shuts up and goes back to her vehicle when he says the whole thing is on video.
I’ll be speaking to the officer here shortly. I know many people in this department and city government. When I retired from my city fire department they asked me several times to go to work for their city as manager of the city building inspector department because of my experience as Fire marshal for my old city.

 

[bbhero]

My son was side swiped by a city vehicle on the interstate this morning. He was in the left lane and as he passed the city vehicle she pulled over into his lane hitting him and scraping from mid passenger door back. At 70 mph he had nowhere to go and was luckily able to keep it on the road. Cops from the same city responded and was kinda giving him bad vibes and she was saying he pulled over into her.
Long story short they all straightened up when he told them he had the entire thing on his phone downloaded from the camera mounted on his visor.
I’m sure he would have been rail roaded as a 22 year old if he didn’t have the camera.

While I agree with this to a good degree…

Remember… These cameras work both ways…. It can also prove you own wrong decisions, actions, reactions etc …

I wonder how many people are extremely honest enough to say … After they screws up driving… “ Hey, everyone, I I have a dash cam proving I’m guilty and jacked the whole circumstance up”.

I’d just about guarantee that people are NO where near as bold to “share”their video evidence then…

Or they destroy it or erase it. as soon as possible.

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Hit and runs suck. Last thing on your mind is the plate number.
All he has right now is her plate number from the video. She refused to give him her insurance info and the cop said it would be in the report. So now I’m calling my insurance with no information on the other driver.

I'm sorry, but you are NOT approaching this correctly. I would be in the mayor's office talking to him/her about this.

A city employee, driving a city-owned vehicle hit your / your son's property and THEN LIED about it to a law enforcement officer.

There's much bigger issues here other than the driver's insurance company.... I wouldn't even give one second of thought about calling my insurance company....

 

[DuckRyder]

And how is the city investigating an accident the city was involved in…

Has no one heard of a conflict of interest.

Scysters

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

And how is the city investigating an accident the city was involved in…

Has no one heard of a conflict of interest.

Scysters

Exactly.

 

[Spring Break '92]

I read that in Russia you cannot get car insurance without installing a dash cam. I love my Garmin Drive Mini! My only complaint is that it takes too long to load the video files and takes a really long time to export them to my phone.

 

[CT Rob]

I would push this hard. The city worker needs to be FIRED and possibly charged with lying to a police officer.

The cop needs to be reprimanded somehow, some way, for what we all know is automatically siding with a co-worker.

Totally agree, but its 2023 and most likely neither will have anything done to them.

 

[Drifter]

I have a front dashcam. Makes me feel better. But yes side(s) and rear would be great. City of Austin and Capitol Metro fights tooth and nail to avoid payouts and guilt. Good luck to you.

 

[ragtoplvr]

I had a coworker who rode a sport bike with a loud exhaust to attract even more police attention.

He got a helmet camera to record his exploits. He was pulled over at gunpoint by a very pissed cop.

They took his camera and used to charge him. He quit with the camera

Rod

 

[michaelluscher]

Dashcams are invaluable, mine paid for itself many times over
You can get a passable 1080p dual channel for ~$100 with a hard wiring kit
Less than most deductibles
Here's one of the 3 times I got hit
State Farm suddenly decided to take care of me promptly and without a penny out of pocket once they saw the video
Wonder why