Would you buy a dashboard camera for your car?

Hi there,
on the subject of ‘point of view’ (POV) cameras, I use a Drift HD Ghost camera mounted on my motorcycle helmet and also use it (via suction mount) on the car windscreen for EVERY car journey. It provides superb ‘TV quality’ imagery with remote wireless control. It’s waterproof and tough. I used it extensively during my training for my Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists test, and continue to use it. It comes with a range of mounting options and accessories – I’ve just ordered a chest harness for shoulder mounting. It’s not cheap, (£300), but you get what you pay for. I power it via a 12v source both on bike & car but if this was interrupted for any reason, the camera’s battery ‘kicks in’ seamlessly without compromising the recording (5+ hours on the SD card). The camera has recorded endless hours of superb motorcycle and car footage, not to mention some atrocious, aggressive and downright antisocial (and dangerously illegal) driving by other road users. Oh, and I get 10% off my insurance for having the camera in use, (in addition for the 20% reduction for being an IAM member). I now wonder how I ever rode (and drove) without this device. In the event of a road traffic incident, it’s often your word against theirs – but the camera never lies.
I hope this is of help!

Dear Sean, thank you so much for all your info and advice, it definitely is helpful. And well done and congratulations on achieving the IAM! My son has only just passed his full motorcycling tests, and I am sure he’ll want to go for the IAM once he’s had a few more road miles’ experience (and had a chance to save up !). So I will pass on your advice 🙂

Thank you for your kind comments!
The (£139) cost of joining the IAM includes all tuition, both theory lectures, practical tuition and the cost of the test itself. Believe me – it’s worth EVERY PENNY! (Bear in mind, you could spend that on a pair of motorcycle gloves!). The IAM experience has literally saved my life, as I think back to countless driving & riding experiences where I think ‘before I did the Advanced training, I’d never have seen that coming…’ etc. We train people to Police Class 1 Advanced standard – the same as Police get. I also use much less fuel than before, as an added bonus!
The training, combined with the video recording of every ride is keeping me alive. As we say: ‘Great roads. Great bike. Great rider?’… There’s always something to spend 140 quid on, but if your life (or the life of someone close to you), matters a lot, is that not worth the money? As a Nurse (for over 20 years), I’ve seen (and continue to see) the results of bad decisions made on the UK’s roads. The majority of it is preventable and nearly always due to driver or rider error. You need EVERY edge in your favour to stay alive on Britain’s congested roads. Good training, a well maintained machine and video evidence of your journey will go a long way.
Take care and stay safe!
Regards, Sean.

Both the expensive and cheap models only point in one direction. I would have thought, for it to be effective, it would have had to be a cylindrical device with at least four lenses to give a 360 degree view, as you don’t know where the other car is going to hit you from.

Maybe one of the perks of working for Google Street View. 🙂

You’re not going to realistically get a ‘dash camera’ that covers 360 degrees! The easiest solution would be to have a front AND rear camera – more money and a bit fiddly, but possible. The Police have 3 ‘Go Pro’ cameras in the cars: one front, one rear and an internal one filming the rear seats (for obvious reasons). My Drift HD Ghost has a 170 degree angle lens so it covers a wide front angle and covers most of the side and front views.. On the bike helmet, it also covers the bike’s instrument panels and the rear mirrors – conveniently giving a record of the vehicles behind. It’s a matter of simply selective positioning of the camera.!

My question is, why can’t the car makers manufacture cars with built-in front and rear digital video camera even as ‘extra?’ This way the camera eye can be optimality mounted on the car. The technology is out there, but why are they not doing this?

You do a lot of globe trotting. Did you visit Ed Snowdon when in Russia?

It might only happen as a ‘one time event’ – but the one time it happened to a colleague of mine, it resulted in her (£8000 car) being written off! she later said that a £100 camera would have been a small price to pay. (Her insurers actually said that video evidence would have cleared up her case easily – the moron that hit her was texting on her phone whilst driving, but it was my colleague’s word against the other driver. My camera might easily have picked that up). And there is no ‘hassle’. There’s no complex wiring involved. you just fit it to the screen, turn on and drive. If you can suction a sat nav to the glass, you can do the same with a camera. If you were worried about when the camera ‘knows when to stop’, get one with video tagging and don’t be a skinflint buying cheap crap. People will spend £200 pound or more on car accessories in other categories, but begrudge spending more than fifty quid on a device that could decide the outcome in court! Don’t forget also – I get 10% off my insurance for having a (approved) camera. So really, it’s not a ‘waste of technology’, nor is it ‘a lot of hassle’…

Whilst I agree in principle, I wonder why there would be ‘strong opposition’. Opposition from whom? Only, I suspect, from the plethora of dangerous and anti-social drivers who are afraid of being caught whilst driving aggressively, speeding and tailgating to intimidate the car in front to either speed up themselves or move out of the offender’s way? If people have nothing to hide, and drive with due care & attention, observing the Rules of the Road, they should have no reason to oppose any means of monitoring their own driving as well as the actions of others. Plus, if it brings down insurance premiums – which mine does – can that be a bad thing? For example, many people whine about speed cameras being there ‘just to generate money’ Well, don’t exceed the speed limit and it won’t cost you a penny. Simple really. Speed limits are just that – limits, NOT ‘targets’. I will drive progressively, within the set limit, in control, but without holding up other road users. The camera also monitors MY driving too! So, if I were to do something stupid, it would be captured on the camera and the camera could be seized as evidence – before a driver can format (delete) the SD card. the cameras are already affordable. they are a fraction of the cost of smartphones and tablets and people will shell out money for these items without a second thought, not to mention buying a car for £6000+ but will shy away from spending more than fifty quid on a dash cam!…

I was thinking about the general opposition that happens whenever a change in legislation is proposed, but use of surveillance cameras has already attracted considerable opposition. If it is up to the car driver to choose if and when to use their cameras, that makes them more acceptable. The possibility of savings on car insurance premiums could be very attractive, particularly to younger drivers, who pay high premiums.

I agree with your comments about speed cameras, blackscorpion, and any way of making our roads safer certainly deserves consideration.

Very good and sound advice. It is worth noting that you ideally need a CLASS 10 SD card, in addition to it being capable of holding 32Gb. But, true, you only get what you pay for…

Same thing happened to me! I forgot to add ‘name’ and ’email’ or to log in. I lost 15 minutes worth of careful typing and editing. Best to ‘highlight’ and ‘copy’ before posting these thing now, methinks!
Still, VERY annoying though, I agree!

A little tip, Jay. Tick the “I accept the terms & conditions” box before you finalise your editing, then if you do press “Submit” prematurely your message will transmit – possibly containing the odd typo or missing a word – but the regular contributors don’t mind about that, it’s part of the enjoyment and they do it themselves all the time.

I use the Firefox browser and an add-on called Lazarus to recover lost information in webforms and Forums. It works extremely well and I’m sure there is something similar for use with other browsers. I have used it from time to time after I lost my post in Which? Conversation.

Please can we have a Conversation about Which Conversation? That might help avoid topics going off-topic each time someone gets frustrated or has a good idea.

Hello Jay, sorry about the problems you’ve been having. Please don’t worry about typos or mistakes in your comments. You can always issue a correction – and everyone’s friendly here (if they’re not, just report them to us).

Google Chrome has a nice Dictionary add-on which underlines your spelling mistakes as you type your comment.

Your comment can often be retained if you press the back button. Just scroll down to find the comment box and hopefully your intact text.

If you want to let us know of any website problems, please use our contact us form: https://conversation.which.co.uk/contact-us/

They would love this idea in France, Esther. They tend to drive as if their front bumper is super-glued to your back bumper, and can’t understand what one is trying to indicate by clicking the warning flashers on.

And I speak as one with a French wife (for 46 years & counting) and an attendant, widely spread family, who we visit regularly, as well as having survived 10 years living in the beautiful département of the Tarn.

But as French law does not allow use of radar & laser speed detectors in vehicles, I don’t think dash cams would be that welcomed by the authorities.

The pile up yesterday was simply because the majority of drivers are stupid, selfish idiots who are obsessed with driving as quickly as possible and are impatient bullies. Many aren’t even aware of their actions. They drive far too fast, dangerously close to the car in front, often in an attempt to ‘bully’ the car in front into either speeding up or moving aside to allow the moron to then accelerate hard towards the rear of their next victim and the pattern repeats itself. Drivers are ignorant of the fact that, at 70mph, you need 96 METRES to safely stop. On a dry road, in a straight line. How often do you see imbeciles driving at 70mph a mere 4 metres from the car in front? (Usually in an Audi). And in dense for, they continue this stupidity, and with no headlights on! I have little sympathy for the drivers involved in yesterday’s incident. It was ALL due to driver error. And how many will be now making (false) “whiplash” claims??? It’s high time for mandatory dash cams… And black box recorders. And prosecute ALL the drivers involved, for driving without due care and attention.