Dashcam when travelling overseas?

[JoeP]

This is kind of a money question, as it touches on the subject of liability.

We're planning a trip overseas (UK) and expect to drive a lot. I've driven on the left side before and never had a problem. In the interest of protecting ourselves from tickets, I am contemplating getting a dashcam so that if necessary I can have video proof of what occurred.

Does this seem like a good idea? I'm sure it can come in handy for other purposes, and can even be a neat travel log.

[msomnipotent]

You would have to make sure that the car you rent has a USB outlet, and that it is small enough for you to put in your bag when you park. Unless you plan on traveling back to the country to fight your ticket in court, a dashcam probably won't help you out of tickets if the police really want to give you one. It will help your case if some yahoo crashes into your car.

Now that I have one, I plan to bring it whenever I travel. I keep forgetting about it when I driver around here, though.

[JoeP]

You would have to make sure that the car you rent has a USB outlet, and that it is small enough for you to put in your bag when you park. Unless you plan on traveling back to the country to fight your ticket in court, a dashcam probably won't help you out of tickets if the police really want to give you one. It will help your case if some yahoo crashes into your car.

Now that I have one, I plan to bring it whenever I travel. I keep forgetting about it when I driver around here, though.

Thanks. I thought they just ran off batteries or the 12v socket.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I have been using one in my vehicle for the past 3 years. It is a cheap Chinese model I got on eBay for $25 but it works great. The suction cup had stopped working after a few months so I used windshield rear view mirror epoxy and it is permanently secured to my windshield now. I'm using a 32 gb SD card (max) which captures and saves about 7 days of driving. It uses loop recording at 2 minute intervals (but can be set to 5 min or 10 min intervals). The oldest videos get deleted and rewritten over with newer video as the memory fills up. It just stayed plug into my cigarette lighter and automatically turns on/off with the ignition switch. Very easy to use. I'm thinking of hard wiring it straight to my battery so it would stay constantly on 24/7. It gives me an added layer of protection against liability should someone try to bogusly claim that I was at fault if in fact I had the right of way.

It would be a great idea to take one with you along with your travels and to use at home as well.

[Drake3287]

Assuming it's legal to use, I think it's a great idea. I just recently purchased a Rexing V1 Dash Cam and hard wired it to my vehicle. Although it'll save me at some point in the event of an accident or ticket, but right now it's almost a toy.

Sort of fun to play back some of the idiot things we see on the road. Last week I made a 1,000 mile round trip from the Bay Area to San Diego and you'd be surprised at what it collected!

As for driving in a foreign country, I do it quite a bit but I typically drive extra slow and I'm probably overly cautious not to break any local laws not to mention not being familiar with the roads. Driving into a ZTL area is always one of my worries. $$$

[disneysteve]

This is the first I've heard of private dashcam usage. I wonder if anyone has ever successfully contested a ticket using dashcam evidence.

[QuarterMillionMan]

My mentality when buying the dash cam was not the intention to contest a citation (I drive very safe) but to protect myself from fraudulent insurance claims from other drivers. But if I do get a ticket for whatever reason I probably deserve it.

[Drake3287]

Certainly inexpensive insurance and if your not at fault during an accident it'll confirm your statement to the cops not to mention make the accident report that much easier to write! Takes the guessing out of who did what.

At some point all cars will have these as an option. Sort of surprised they already don't. I hear some high-end cars have them though. For $99. my camera will pay for itself at some point.

[Mjenn]

This is the first I have heard of this. I would check the legality of it in the country, but I would say it doesn't matter to use it, more whether it would be admissible later on.

Don't know if it is a worthwhile investment just for that reason, if you aren't already using one at home, but if you are going to continue using it at home, why not?

I think they are much more accepting of cameras in the UK (they are everywhere) then they are in Scandinavia where I live. There are a lot of laws that protect people from being videotaped without their consent or knowledge. You may have trouble using the footage against someone later on. But CCTV in the UK is a whole other story, and I would imagine it being less of an issue there.

I think this is actually a positive development, and wish it were allowed more in other countries.

[disneysteve]

There are a lot of laws that protect people from being videotaped without their consent or knowledge.

How does that work in reality? People get filmed without their knowledge or consent every day. Surely they aren't arresting people every time they pull out their phones to take video of their kid's baseball game or school show.

[Mjenn]

It isn't illegal to film but it is not often admissible in court. I imagine it will be phased out as a law in the future, but it does mean you cannot install security cameras without special permits if there is a chance they view public property or set someone up to commit a crime and video or record it on audio unless all parties are aware. If security cameras are facing public property there must be signs.


It means all speed cameras on the highway need to come with warnings but not if a cop is just doing speed detection.

It isn't about personal use it is about the state or companies imposing on private citizens.

Currently I think the praxis has been that if a criminal records their crime and the victim consents to it being used as evidence it is ok, but now that everyone has a camera It is making the law really outdated. I just wondered how a dash cam installed for this purpose would be viewed in a legal setting. I have no idea as I am not a lawyer and as a foreigner have not always understood this one.

[JoeP]

This is the first I've heard of private dashcam usage. I wonder if anyone has ever successfully contested a ticket using dashcam evidence.

Private dashcams are very popular in Russia. Search for "driving in russia" on youtube and you can spend hours watching idiots driving, fights, people faking getting hit, etc.

My mentality when buying the dash cam was not the intention to contest a citation (I drive very safe) but to protect myself from fraudulent insurance claims from other drivers. But if I do get a ticket for whatever reason I probably deserve it.

This is what I was thinking. Last things I want to do is become a victim of fraud, where someone sees a foreigner as an easy target. Or someone backing into me and then claiming they got rear-ended.

[Drake3287]

At least in most, if not all US states, you can video tape all you like in public. On a public roadway no one has an expectation of privacy. Recording someones voice secretly without permission is a different story.

Same goes for the security camera's on my house. If they catch something illegal on my sidewalk or street I'll simply forward it to our police or local social media sites, assuming the suspects aren't under the age of 18.

How many time's on the nightly news do we see home security video of people stealing packages off front porches?

As for the DashCam video, a copy sent to your insurance company will save you a lot of trouble assuming your not at fault.

[QuarterMillionMan]

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Just today a Black heavy set woman almost backed into me. Me fully out of my parking space driving forward and turning right (prior to parking I had backed into my space). The lady backing out of her space maybe half way out of her space turning into me (prior to parking she went head-in to her parking space). I had to stop and honked my horn. She stopped and looked around but couldn't see me so began to back out so more so I blasted my horn again and she hit on her brake hard and then saw me. Remember I was fully out of my space going forward, she was at most 3/4 out of her space backing into me. Luckily our bumpers never touched be she was just inches from my front bumper. If she had backed into me and I didn't have my dash cam it would be a battle of her insurance against mine. Sorry about the crude diagram but that's the best I could illustrate it with dots and dashes but it's not coming out how I'd like it to.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I would have posted a picture of it here but remember in another thread that I started about 2 weeks ago about Photobucket disabling 3rd party sites and wants something to the tune of $400 a year to enable posting pictures again but I said forget it. I really should sign up for Flickr or some other photo sharing site.