Dashcam

I don't have a dash cam yet but I started using a helmet camera for commuting after three very close calls in as many days earlier this year, too many drivers seem to think it's reasonable to manoeuvre then signal when their mirror shows they have f***ed up.

Camera footage won't make hospital food taste any better but it might help prove where blame lies :/
 
Mr Bastable said:
I don't have a dash cam yet but I started using a helmet camera for commuting after three very close calls in as many days earlier this year, too many drivers seem to think it's reasonable to manoeuvre then signal when their mirror shows they have f***ed up.

Camera footage won't make hospital food taste any better but it might help prove where blame lies :/
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Oh definitely one of pet hates. Not as bad as signalling before they looked into their mirrors that really gives me a fright at times as I expect them to make to manoeuvre as surely by signalling they indicate they assessed the risk and it is good to go. Grrr
 
dejongj said:
I expect them to make to manoeuvre as surely by signalling they indicate they assessed the risk and it is good to go. Grrr
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It makes them invincible, and the rest of the traffic evaporate, didn't you know ? ;)
 
andyscott said:
Anyone got any recommendations for good ones?

I like dash cams, but it may end up looking like cyclists who have helmet cams (which are usually attached to knob heads )
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Search google for 'techmoan', he does some good reviews of cameras.

I have GW1 direct from China, £28 delivered !!

Reasonable video both day and night. One thing to remember is to format the card once a week in camera or they can throw 'wobblies' !!
 
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dejongj said:
Or drive 40 in a national speed limit zone and continue to do 40 in 30 zone and continue to do 40 when they leave it.
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That grinds my gears. Especially when they flash you because you overtook them on a NSL single carriageway when they were doing 40mph.
 
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dejongj said:
I was thinking about that thread indeed. Didn't witness much learning as many were stuck into their old people set ways that everything is too scary and don't get too close, others are driving too fast etc. Totally unwilling to see the danger they put themselves in.
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They maybe totally unwilling to see the danger, but it may well be logged in the old memory bank and they may well end up acting differently when presented with a similar situation.
 
Mr Bastable said:
I don't have a dash cam yet but I started using a helmet camera for commuting after three very close calls in as many days earlier this year, too many drivers seem to think it's reasonable to manoeuvre then signal when their mirror shows they have f***ed up.

Camera footage won't make hospital food taste any better but it might help prove where blame lies :/
Click to expand...

I used to, years ago Made some interesting money as the 'Police oy idiot, stop' used to take the footage, but the demands got silly. 'Why didn't you follow the idiot driving stupidly so you could get more footage'. Really? I'd be no better.
Lots of morons on mobiles, lots of middle road hogs. Had a woman breastfeeding as she drove along the M4, another bloke on the phone, reading papers, steering with his legs. Filmed a bloke on a mobile not pay attention and run off the road and up a barrier, beaching the car. All sorts.
However it also filmed me filtering, speeding at times, things I didnt want recorded, so I stopped. What I realised was most video's dont show the whole story, what started the incident perhaps, especially these days.
 
Byker28i said:
I used to, years ago Made some interesting money as the 'Police oy idiot, stop' used to take the footage, but the demands got silly. 'Why didn't you follow the idiot driving stupidly so you could get more footage'. Really? I'd be no better.
Lots of morons on mobiles, lots of middle road hogs. Had a woman breastfeeding as she drove along the M4, another bloke on the phone, reading papers, steering with his legs. Filmed a bloke on a mobile not pay attention and run off the road and up a barrier, beaching the car. All sorts.
However it also filmed me filtering, speeding at times, things I didnt want recorded, so I stopped. What I realised was most video's dont show the whole story, what started the incident perhaps, especially these days.
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It's the night crawler event, great movie. I especially notice that with cyclists and bikers and cars now as well in London. They seem to be seeking it out, the line blurs so easily between cause and effect. Hence my view on greats for personal use, reduction in insurance premiums with gps enabled logging etc. But why post them up to show how bad everyone else is. Most peculiar.
 
iv'e had one fitted to my car for a while now and apart from the usual bad / inconsiderate driving we come across daily iv'e recording nothing spectacular at all
no near misses or anything
bit disappointed really :(
 
dejongj said:
It's the night crawler event, great movie. I especially notice that with cyclists and bikers and cars now as well in London. They seem to be seeking it out, the line blurs so easily between cause and effect. Hence my view on greats for personal use, reduction in insurance premiums with gps enabled logging etc. But why post them up to show how bad everyone else is. Most peculiar.
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I actually saw an incident in London once. Trying to get out of London from Canary Wharf, following the Thames along to Earls court to pick up the M4, in rush hour, I was amazed at the cyclists who didn't stay in the cycle lane, jumped on and off pavements, overtook slower bikes by weaving out into the traffic and the hand gestures when the cars hit the horn.
I gave up as everytime you went past them, they caught you at the next lights. at times pushing past vehicles were there was a minimum gap.

One cyclist had been riding particularly aggressively, no doubt trying to beat his best time. He caused a car to swerve, horns and lots of hand gestures from both. Next lights it kicked off as the cyclist confronted the driver, cyclist kicks the car and rides of through the red light. Driver catches up, pulls in front and stops, cyclist goes past, whacking his wing mirror. Driver sees red, pulls ahead and stops, giving cyclist not much chance to slow so he rides into the back of the car at a reasonably slow speed after he locked his wheels trying to stop. Both get out square up to each other, driver wants details for insurance, was calling the police so was the cyclist as his expensive bike was damaged.

Later cyclist posts youtube footage of car stopping suddenly, him hitting it, story completely missed his actions, and he deleted my comments on the incident...
I'd given details to both, police contacted me, both got charged I believe.
 
Yup exactly that, unfortunately a normal occurrence around here and the reason I got my dashcams.
 
Byker28i said:
However it also filmed me filtering, speeding at times, things I didnt want recorded, so I stopped. What I realised was most video's dont show the whole story, what started the incident perhaps, especially these days.
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Yeah these are things to consider, it took me a while to position the camera so image space wasn't wasted on my speedo, then there was the GPS to disable and filtering isn't illegal in the UK (yet) so that doesn't bother me. My camera lives on the helmet I use for commuting, I don't use it on weekends or longer runs. Urban riding is far more dangerous than the other types of riding I do and rarely ride like a **** these days so I’m happy for it to record just in case :/
 
I had a bullet camera inside the helmet, it happened to fit nicely into a gap in the padding. Saw what I saw then and ran down to an Archos recording device in my backpack - before the days of little sd versions
 
I have a cheap one that fits over (and replaces) the rear view mirror, it was nothing of a job to run the wires inside the car trim, and it's virtually invisible. I've never had reason to play back the recordings (other than to check the quality) and hope that I never will, but it's a nice-to-have 'black box' in case the need ever arises.

The only 'fun' thing that happened was that I accidentally pressed some button or other and the language setting reverted to Chinese, which would have been impossible to sort out if I didn't happen to have a Chinese friend :)
 
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