Dash Cam legal question?

Z

zedwheels

Active member
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Hi all.
My last dash cam was a basic nextbase that never gave me any problems but when I sold my Alpina I left it with the car as it was fitted in by Halfords.

I have been looking at nextbase again and thought about getting one with GPS this time. But I have this issue in my mind that just may be stupid! The cams with GPS also record your speed, now lets suppose I am traveling along on a 60mph road and I am being a bit naughty and doing say 66mph for instance. I go round a slow bend and then a vehicle comes out of a side road not looking and we collide, the law gets involved and wants to see what is on my cam!
Would I be obliged to say yes?
Would I then be the offending driver because they could say the collision may have been my fault being over the limit?

Just my thoughts before I opt for one with GPS or go with a basic cam instead.
 
I have no knowledge of the law here, but this has to be a risk, especially when the dash dam is hard wired in. At least with the one plugged into the cigarette lighter you could pull it all off/out.
 
Can't you just remove the SD card whether the cam is hardwired or not? and accidently lose it. I would imagine you would need to hand over any footage if requested to do so otherwise it would be obstruction?

Tim.
 
I would guess if it is a serious enough accident the police would want to / be able to calculate the speed by measuring distance captured on the camera over time even if it hasn't got gps.
 
I have GPS logging turned off on the one in my other car for exactly the same reason. I could have just turned off the "overlay time, date and speed" option instead. But the data would still be stored on the micro sd card.

For the same reason, I also specifically went for non GPS cameras for the zed and van, at the end of the day the footage should identify where you actually are, and the timestamp of the video file will give a time +/- 3 mins anyway.

Mike
 
bladeowner said:
I would guess if it is a serious enough accident the police would want to / be able to calculate the speed by measuring distance captured on the camera over time even if it hasn't got gps.
Click to expand...

This

Having gps will make no difference. They will measure the distance and calculate if the need to.
 
Hi guys .
I bought and hard wired my dashcam so I don't have to mess with it every time I go in the car . often wondered if I should unplug the thing at playtime .
The dashcam in my truck has telematics built in and records harsh braking, harsh acceleration , over revving ,coasting etc even analysis of my driving :o .
The technology in these things are scary these days .
 
There is a clip of a motorbike doing around 90mph in a 50mph zone. The rider has a helmet cam which captures his speed and his narration. As he comes over a hill an old man pulls out to turn right, and the motorbike slams into the car and the rider dies - just prior to the impact you can hear him saying "no, no, no..". Anyway despite the riders speed the car driver was prosecuted for not driving with due care and attention. I will try and find the clip.

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZCadhDW_i0
 
I think you need to take a pragmatic view that a dash cam supports in situations where you are in the right and the opposite when in the wrong. Police will instinctively look for and see cameras and if a serious accident demand or seize it,as evidence.
Realistically you won’t remove the chip or the camera if you have an accident as there’s too much going on and if you do then it’s perverting the course of justice.

My camera has proved me not at fault once, proved a case of speeding with a valet parking company and one day may trip me up :(, but for now I’m well ahead...
 
jampudding said:
There is a clip of a motorbike doing around 90mph in a 50mph zone. The rider has a helmet cam which captures his speed and his narration. As he comes over a hill an old man pulls out to turn right, and the motorbike slams into the car and the rider dies - just prior to the impact you can hear him saying "no, no, no..". Anyway despite the riders speed the car driver was prosecuted for not driving with due care and attention. I will try and find the clip.

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZCadhDW_i0
Click to expand...


s**t, that made me jump on impact, one reason I have given up bike riding.
 
Out of interest what are the advantages of having a cam hardwired into the car? Isn't it less flexible?

With mine I bought 2 power cables for both cars and swap the cam between the two, just hide the power cable behind the roof lining and trim etc to the 12 volt socket, luckily I have 2 sockets in the 1 series and Hyundai so easy to do.

Tim.
 
Check the Nextbase model that you are buying, I know mine is some 3 years old and probably obsolete, however it does have an option not to show the speed, I cannot imagine that this option would have been taken off on the newer models.

Of course that doesn't stop anyone calculating speed by distance covered over time
 
ronk said:
I seem to remember reading that dash cam evidence is not admissible in a court?
Click to expand...

It is, and not just in court either. My daughter got a NIP based on dashcam footage for crossing a solid line overtaking a very slow moving vehicle (as the last in a string of cars overtaking it).

Absolute offense, so even though you can take it to court etc and ensure that the owner of the dashcam has to attend as well, you have little defense as you can only overtake an agricultural vehicle that is slow, not a car.

The worry is that if you are on a Z trip for example, anyone's recording can be used to send a NIP to you. It is the busybodies paradise at the moment.
 
Russ59 said:
jampudding said:
There is a clip of a motorbike doing around 90mph in a 50mph zone. The rider has a helmet cam which captures his speed and his narration. As he comes over a hill an old man pulls out to turn right, and the motorbike slams into the car and the rider dies - just prior to the impact you can hear him saying "no, no, no..". Anyway despite the riders speed the car driver was prosecuted for not driving with due care and attention. I will try and find the clip.

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZCadhDW_i0
Click to expand...


s**t, that made me jump on impact, one reason I have given up bike riding.
Click to expand...
I saw that video a while ago and it is horrible. He was doing so many things that could have been seen as wrong but hindsight is a wonderful thing. He was speeding while approaching a junction, had one hand on the bars moments before, and when the car cut across he steered into it instead of aiming behind the car which may have saved him.

I think it is only a matter of time before cars come out of the factory with cameras fitted to them and it will be the first thing that insurance companies ask for in the event of an accident.
 
pvr said:
The worry is that if you are on a Z trip for example, anyone's recording can be used to send a NIP to you. It is the busybodies paradise at the moment.
Click to expand...

This is why I don't use cameras!!
Too much risk of them being used against me.
 
WoW, I am more confused now! The video of the bike crash and then prosecute the car driver is something the law would do anyway but if the biker had survived my guess would be he would have had a ban and no insurance cover? and its that what started me thinking about a cam with GPS/Speed. I know that if a bump is serious enough thy can calculate all the info they need, but most knocks are not that serious enough to cause injury so would you be able to use the vid as evidence for your insurance company anyway if it shows them that you were over the limit because they will want a claim form and that will show the road where it happens ect. Think I will go without the GPS after all and enjoy a :driving: now and again.

Thanks all for your opinions its been a valuable post. :thumbsup:
 
My daughter is a solicitor dealing with motor insurance companies and is always relieved when the car is fitted with a dash cam because the recordings are admissible in court and because they usually clear up any conflicting accounts of the accident.
She also says its amazing the number of drivers who submit their own recordings believing that the footage proves their case when in fact its quite obvious that they were fully or partially to blame.
 
Marlon said:
My daughter is a solicitor dealing with motor insurance companies and is always relieved when the car is fitted with a dash cam because the recordings are admissible in court and because they usually clear up any conflicting accounts of the accident.
She also says its amazing the number of drivers who submit their own recordings believing that the footage proves their case when in fact its quite obvious that they were fully or partially to blame.
Click to expand...

From someone who is involved and knowledgeable in these cases then would she think it better not to have a dash cam in the first place?
Do you have one Marlon?
 
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