Dashboard Cameras

[znfdl]

Long story made short. The drivers in the Washington DC area are getting worse, it is hard to imagine but they are.

Over the last three weeks, I have had three distracted drivers veer into my lane and almost took out my front end.

Needless to say, I am looking for a camera to record other people's lack of driving skills.

Most likely front and rear facing cameras.

Any recommendations?

[holliscx]

This has nothing to do with drivers' skills. DC/ NoVA have some of the worst roads in the country. Drivers are frustrated and you're an annoying blip on their road rage radar.

You're occupying precious real estate on roads that weren't designed for bicycles. Recording won't affect change although I refer you to the experts ATH who seem to catch 360 degree footage of every near incident on their rides.

The drivers aren't getting worse but rather congestion is and distractions e.g. phones probably aren't helping. Ideally, they would drive from your perspective and you would ride from theirs but this doesn't change the fact that you're riding in a problem area.

Find better roads if you can. Check with Josh.

Have you pedaled around Loudoun County?

Ride gravel out there and you wouldn't think twice about a camera but don't be a dbag and record your rides just because you can pretending like that will fix anything.

[znfdl]

this is for my car, not my bicycle.

I sometimes commute by car and it has gotten bad.....

[Too Tall]

Buy a large SUV.

Get some game son.

[znfdl]

Buy a large SUV.

Get some game son.

I still would like to document a bad driver if they do something stupid.

[Matthew Strongin]

Buy a large SUV.

Get some game son.

That might work where people are relatively civil. Down here is crazytown drivers don't care that my FJ towers above them. I'm curious to hear if there are nicely integrated dashboard cam solutions or if buying a couple go pros is the way to go.

[znfdl]

I'm curious to hear if there are nicely integrated dashboard cam solutions or if buying a couple go pros is the way to go.

me too.

[sk_tle]

That might work where people are relatively civil. Down here is crazytown drivers don't care that my FJ towers above them. I'm curious to hear if there are nicely integrated dashboard cam solutions or if buying a couple go pros is the way to go.

Never checked, can a go-pro rotate video files automatically so the video record continuously without getting a storage full at some point ?

[NYCfixie]

Garmin to the rescue:

Garmin Dash Cam™ 65W


Not sure if this can be wired to always be on:
BC™ 30 Wireless Backup Camera



I am also waiting for someone to program an app that will allow you to use the rear backup camera in most cars to constantly run a loop of 30 second video so you can have it in case of a crash. And, since most cars auto-brake and/or auto-cruise use lasers and forward facing cameras it would be great to be able to record a 30 second loop of that video as well. Would solve znfdl request.

[holliscx]

this is for my car, not my bicycle.

I sometimes commute by car and it has gotten bad.....

Next level wow!

What is your goal though to show police or have in case of an accident or what?

Bad drivers aren't going away so I just don't see what a dash cam solves unless peace of mind (how?)

[znfdl]

Next level wow!

What is your goal though to show police or have in case of an accident or what?

Bad drivers aren't going away so I just don't see what a dash cam solves unless peace of mind (how?)

Yes, I want to be able to document when someone does something stupid. For example, a couple of years ago, my wife was at a four way stop sign and one driver decided not to stop and t-bones her. A camera could have shown that the person did not stop. One of the major commuting routes has people swerving in and out of traffic to get a couple of car lengths ahead. Yesterday, I had to brake fairly hard to avoid being hit and then almost got rear ended.

[Tamu8104]

Most of the set-ups I've seen are a couple of Go-Pros or similar cameras mounted on the dash. You don't need high resolution and with a decent card, you can get a large amount of footage before you need to wipe and replace.

Hollis, dash cams are tremendously useful in working through liability in these situations. There are plenty of times when the at-fault driver claims you merged into him versus the opposite. It becomes a word vs word situation where liability is unproven. This can mean that the liable driver gets away with not covering your damages and deductible.

Personally, I can't wait for autonomous vehicles. There are a lot of industry stats regarding reaction times of distracted drivers being correlated to drunk drivers and the number of distracted drivers is on the rise as the technology integration increases in vehicles making it easier to interface with it versus the road and other drivers. Most of my driving/commute are highway miles but it's still incredible that to see how many dangerous things drivers do, half the time not even aware they are doing them...

[Scott G.]

Buy a large SUV.

Get some game son.

Super Commuter, more road hugging weight as Ford says.
Attachment 102176

[holliscx]

Yes, I want to be able to document when someone does something stupid. For example, a couple of years ago, my wife was at a four way stop sign and one driver decided not to stop and t-bones her. A camera could have shown that the person did not stop. One of the major commuting routes has people swerving in and out of traffic to get a couple of car lengths ahead. Yesterday, I had to brake fairly hard to avoid being hit and then almost got rear ended.

Especially on "major commuting routes" this is what eyewitness are for? If someone wronged you to the point of an accident I'm sure any respectable American would pull over and be happy to leave a statement on your behalf right? Are the cops going to care about "almost" incidents are you planning to take that sort of footage to show the authorities? I'm scratching my head because we're talking about NoVa it's a hamster wheel for driving incivility.

[znfdl]

I am worried about real incidents and not close calls.

Driving is getting worse in the DC area......

64 months to go.

[Matthew Strongin]

Especially on "major commuting routes" this is what eyewitness are for? If someone wronged you to the point of an accident I'm sure any respectable American would pull over and be happy to leave a statement on your behalf right? Are the cops going to care about "almost" incidents are you planning to take that sort of footage to show the authorities? I'm scratching my head because we're talking about NoVa it's a hamster wheel for driving incivility.

I haven't lived in NoVa in about 11 years; it was bad then but at least I didn't live there for the rise of the smart phone. I will say that here in Miami, another large metro area with a heavy car commuting culture, the answers to your questions are: 1) even respectable Americans won't pull over to leave a statement. Pretty much never. We also have a very large number of uninsured and even unlicensed drivers, so proving liability can be very important. And 2) our state and local police have hotlines to report aggressive driving and, when possible, do take action. I just looked online and Virginia has a similar hotline.

[holliscx]

Full disclosure: I haven't owned a car for 12+ years though I'm starting to jones for a Subaru or Defender if I could afford two (second one for parts they say)

The US is so car centric. I was born in Virginia and lived in Atlanta which rivals NoVA for congestion but I've been out of the game for awhile. I literally walk to rent a car now a handful of times a year.

Assume insurance rates have risen proportionally?

[Matthew Strongin]

Full disclosure: I haven't owned a car for 12+ years though I'm starting to jones for a Subaru or Defender if I could afford two (second one for parts they say)

The US is so car centric. I was born in Virginia and lived in Atlanta which rivals NoVA for congestion but I've been out of the game for awhile. I literally walk to rent a car now a handful of times a year.

I'm jealous. My wife and I were in Boston last weekend and a couple trips on the T had me longing for my non-car days in DC. I hate driving, but there's no reasonable way to get around Miami without a car. I've been thinking about dashboard cams after a couple close calls the last few months so this thread was timely.

[NYCfixie]

I'm jealous. My wife and I were in Boston last weekend and a couple trips on the T had me longing for my non-car days in DC. I hate driving, but there's no reasonable way to get around Miami without a car. I've been thinking about dashboard cams after a couple close calls the last few months so this thread was timely.

My wife walks across a park about 7-9 minutes to get to work.
I take the T (= transit, train, etc.) about 15-20 minutes (opposite rush hour) to work. If I had to take the T with rush hour I would cry every single day.

With that said, our car sits in the garage and unless we need it to drive to the North Shore and visit my mother in law. Once a week we drive it out so it does not die. I have been begging my wife for 2 years to get rid of it but she wants the convenience to go see her mom. Basically, it is so much nicer when you do not need to rely on a car every day because there is so much less stress in your life.

I am tempted to get the Garmin or GoPro because Massachusetts drivers are called Mass-holes for a reason.

[Matthew Strongin]

I am tempted to get the Garmin or GoPro because Massachusetts drivers are called Mass-holes for a reason.

Downright polite compared with Miami drivers. That's off topic, but those Mass-holes are saints relatively speaking.