Very sorry if this has been asked before but,

 

I dont as of yet have a dash cam but over the past months ive been spurred into getting one for one reason or another but my question is privacy and confidentiality.

 

To be honest i dont want to be the host of my own big brother, who has rights over this camera? If worst was to happen and there is a crash, car recovered ect ect would the police/insurance have access to this camera without my permission? Now i know that actually sounds like an admission of guilt but its purely to the fact of i do hate with a passion anyone having eyes on me..you couldn't pay me enough to have a black box fitted!

 

Also if the worst was to happen, have a crash and the insurance pour through the footage (even if I'm in the right) could certain things go against you. Im a young driver (24) and i know insurance don't like kiddies like me to be out at stupid hours (to which i am) drive enthusiastically (dont take that as i drive like a T@$$3r because i don't but i dont divver about at 40mph on a 60 either, like many people on here, i simply enjoy my car) could this all go against me?

 

Also (last one!) the small matter of work, i know for most this will not apply but its actually in my contract that no one other than co-workers and immediate family are suppose to know who i see (im a home care worker) and confidentiality is a big thing to this industry but is anyone can get their hands on this camera then they can find all my clients ect 

Id ideally like one too do what my iPhone (sometimes) does and streams it to a separate device i.e laptop in case of vehicle theft ect 

 

 

I seriously dont like the idea of being watched but do want a dash camera to back me up if ever needs be. Sorry for long post!

 

Regards

I have recently bought one and thought about the potential negative side too. I can't offer anything regarding the care issue but as they switch off with the ignition this will help protect the person your visiting if you park on the street? if you are involved in an accident when you have no witnesses which I guess is your main reason for getting one you can edit the recording so you only send them the relevant section. If you're involved in accident where the accident investigation lot turn up they will be able to reconstruct it anyway. Overall I think you'll feel better with one than without and if you really don't like it after fitting one you'll be able to sell it again quite easily. If it helps what convinced me were the experiences Bossfox has posted and the grief it's saved him. he recommended the blackview 380 from smartview, one of the dite sponsors and they delivered mine the next day.

Work is a relatively small matter but we are in a sense sworn to secrecy as to where we go and who we see. I do park outside the house be it a drive/street so yes my work is not recorded but location is ect like i said a small matter but something i keep in mind.

 

I would have one in a heart beat but as long as i know if the car was taken away before i get access to it (in any given situation id always try avoid this) i want permission to be granted before they can access it or even have me edit the part they need first.

 

I dont know i just envision them scrutinising my driving more then the actual footage they need..'oh for the past 5 nights in a row you have been out past 11pm what is your reason for this' or 'your car is parked elsewhere other than your home for 2 nights a week' silly stuff i know but its my car and ill do what the bloody hell i please haha!

I don't think they store that much footage, just the last few hours then it is overwritten.

I must say I've been thinking more and more about one of these.

There are other options too. I've seen an app for smartphones that just records the last few seconds if you gave a bump. Don't know which phones it works with but that could be another way of protecting yourself if you have a bump and there's nothing stored before the event so your privacy beforehand is protected. IIRC they showed one some time ago on 5th gear. You mount your phone on the dash and go from there after downloading the app which was quite cheap especially when compared to a dashcam.

Depends on what you buy, a Blackvue is very customisable, been worth its weight in gold lately for me. 

They're easy enough to take in and out of the car, so long as you remember to do it, so it should never fall into the wrong hands as far as theft is concerned  

Got one with hd front view, 720x600 odd rear view gps for £57of ebay put a 32gb micro sd card in it and it holds maybe 24 hours of video. It, s small and unobtusive. If I have a bang, I'll view the video then decide if its more useful to my case then the other persons. If they don't know you have video they won't make their story fit what was recorded - and they can't change it later.

By the way, chances are your driving style might change once you know you're being recorded even if its you doing it.

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

I think they are a good idea but i wouldn't want one. In Russia they are compulsory due to the very high rate of accidents they have over there.

Depending on the size of the SD card you fit they will only store between 4 and 12(ish) hours of footage on a loop, deleting the older files as newer recordings are made when the SD card is full.

 

You don't give the whole card to the insurance company and leave them to sift through it, you just make a clip of the actual accident and send them that.

I put the clip on youtube and send them the link, so they can forward the link onto the other insurance company.

 

Having recently been at the scene of an accident where the police were involved, I was just asked to send them the footage.

So I edited the 30 or so seconds they wanted and sent them that.

 

People do sometimes worry about the card being demanded by the police or whatever, but if that concerns you just run a 4gb card and it'll only have the last four hours.

 

Alternatively, just don't fit one.

That way you don't have to worry about your privacy or anyone demanding the card because you were driving like a loon, which has the flip side that you are unprotected when somebody does something stupid and you end up with a 50:50 through the insurance company because they have no proof who was at fault.

No different to how it's been for years.

 

Having run one now for quite a while and having had two people crash into me for no reason I can honestly say that I think they are great.

When the lorry sideswiped me on the M25 he could have claimed I drifted out of my lane into him and with no witnesses it would have been a 50:50 and I'd be looking at a large increase in my insurance premiums.

 

No brainer for me, but I don't then to drive like a nutter on the public highway so don't really have anything to worry about.

It would be interesting to see what powers the police or insurance company have to seize the whole card if they have a clip of the actual accident, as anything else to some degree would be irrelevent

I don't see why your own insurer would want to demand your footage to prove you caused an accident, since that would mean they would have to pay out in a situation they could otherwise pass off as a 50/50 or similar. We have dashcams in both our cars and as far as privacy is concerned, they are far, far better options than insurance owned trackers. I certainly imagine the police could request the footage, but I think you'd have to have done something pretty bad.

Thanks guys I just presumed they recorded for a few days for weeks. I used to have CCTV at my address and that recorded and sorted about 6 weeks.

About 4 years ago I had a bump which ended up being 50/50 as no one could prove either way which boiled my blood.

Ill get searching the forum for the most recommended, I now have two cars so this ain't going to be cheap but most likely worth it!

Thanks guys I just presumed they recorded for a few days for weeks. I used to have CCTV at my address and that recorded and sorted about 6 weeks.

About 4 years ago I had a bump which ended up being 50/50 as no one could prove either way which boiled my blood.

Ill get searching the forum for the most recommended, I now have two cars so this ain't going to be cheap but most likely worth it!

 

 

Just buy a second mount and switch the camera between both cars.........unless you drive both at the same time   Even Blackvue mounts aren't that expensive, and much cheaper than buying two cameras

A second mount and power lead (if you hardwire) for a Blackvue will cost you about £25.

It would be interesting to see what powers the police or insurance company have to seize the whole card if they have a clip of the actual accident, as anything else to some degree would be irrelevent

 

It would be treated exactly the same as any other piece of evidence - the police have powers to seize it in the course of their investigation of an offence.

 

If, like Boss Fox, you are an independent witness to a minor accident they will be happy for you to edit it and send them a link.

If it was something more serious like a fatal crash then they would want the original card and camera, especially if you are a driver who has potentially committed offences.

There is another reason for having a dashcam.  It gives us the opportunity to review our own driving style and pick up on the things we could have done differently.  We all develop bad habits over time, if we can spot them and work on them before we have a bump that has to be a bonus.

If you extract [and save] the relevant time before the incident and the discussions / accusations afterwards - then continue to use the SD Card ... then whatever else was on it is irrelevant.

 

This is the one I got http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271142919878 (thought it cost less then that at the time though)

- the self adhesive mount is stuck to the shaded area behind the mirror on the Octavia,

- a wire runs down the door pillar to the GPS puck resting on the dash under the tax disk.

- a wire runs above the roof lining to the rear cam stuck under the brake light bar on the back windoe (had about 3m of spare wire on that - zig-zagged it accross above the roof lining - had to use a spot of evo-stick to get the cam to stick up)

- the power lead run down the drivers door pillar - loosely through the fuse box - tucked into the dash panel above the pedals and to the ciggy lighter - I do have one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321088781277 in the fuse box by the drivers door (plugged into an ignition controlled feed) that I need to connect one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281081788991 (chop the plug off wire it straight in) to plug the power adapter into (you must use the power adaptor that comes with these cameras - the usb plug from them to the cam is not standard wired).
The cam records 3 files at a time  - front view, rear view (.mov files) , GPS info (location, direction, speed) - download RegistratorViewer to play them (the software with the cam is poor)

I did cover the brightwork on the cam with black tape and made a tube of black stuff (weed control fabric) to fit over the cam to hide the wires and leave the lens peeking out - the cam is almost invisible from the outside - certainly not obvious.

Example files (not mine, but the driver does have an Octavia - or similar) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XcLrci2Ww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4fVjvCizgg (if looking for others do a search ... F70 DVR youtube )

 

I'm pleased with the cam

(BTW - I did get a video of a Black Renault driving off having rammed the back a Saab 93 on Suffolk Street, Birmingham last week - he waved the to pull down a side street and he would follow - but the Renault went past and roared off [i only know from reviewing the recordings on both cams] .... if the Saab driver had a cam like this - the Renault driver would have received a knock on the door from the people in blue)

Edited 29 July, 201312 yr by peterhr

I work in social care too, where on Duty I can be visiting several 'vulnerable' people daily.  Data protection is all important and I have a lone working phone and identicom badge system.

 

I still see more pro's than con's for having a camera.  And I've got two.

 

Gaz 

I work in social care, I record my journey to and from work I park car only a few metres away from project , I see no issues as I record nothing other than my drive