Dash Cam legal question?

[Marlon]

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.

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?

I don't have one, good question - I'll txt her

EDIT: she says, in her opinion, on balance they are worth having (that was the short version)

 

[pvr]

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.

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?

I don't have one, good question - I'll txt her

EDIT: she says, in her opinion, on balance they are worth having (that was the short version)

.. followed by the Christmas wishlist of course :lol:

 

[Marlon]

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?

I don't have one, good question - I'll txt her

EDIT: she says, in her opinion, on balance they are worth having (that was the short version)

.. followed by the Christmas wishlist of course :lol:

Yeah from what she was saying it's a rare gift when there's actual footage of the accident - usually gets scraps of paper with crap drawings of the accident and even worse descriptions

 

[ronk]

If you have a dash cam and are involved in an accident and assuming it’s your fault, is there any compulsion to hand over this self incriminating evidence?

 

[Marlon]

If you have a dash cam and are involved in an accident and assuming it’s your fault, is there any compulsion to hand over this self incriminating evidence?

I don't think there is ronk - will double check tomorrow

 

[Steve84N]

In my experience so far at least half the people running dash cams drive like crap themselves. They are often the slow ones sitting in the outside lane forever or crawling out of junctions in front of you, not indicating etc. Then when you dispatch them they get all high and mighty with flashing and swearing.

 

[Nictrix]

In my experience so far at least half the people running dash cams drive like crap themselves. They are often the slow ones sitting in the outside lane forever or crawling out of junctions in front of you, not indicating etc. Then when you dispatch them they get all high and mighty with flashing and swearing.

Seen a lot of this myself. It seems the people who think they are good drivers are actually the worst ones out there.
I had a camera fixed to my bike for a few months and eventually removed it and sold it. I felt that in the event of an accident, whether the actual accident was my fault or not, anything else that was recorded that day could possibly get myself into trouble.

 

[kis]

For what its worth I'm sure you can have a short video loop so that any footage which isn't desired is quickly over-written. From my research you get event modes which will record and store footage in a accident, and I'm sure you get a manual event capture mode as well which stores so much footage on the press of a button.

I think they are more useful than not, so I plan on getting one. Had a few close calls and rather have evidence to support me when the time comes, no doubt it will. It's just a matter of time! Even if it's just in a car park, E70 took an impact to the O/S front bumper in a tight car park a few weeks ago and it's not just transfer. So will require touch up and a repaint. That s**t ain't cheap when it's not even your fault.

If you have a dash cam and are involved in an accident and assuming it’s your fault, is there any compulsion to hand over this self incriminating evidence?

I don't think there is ronk - will double check tomorrow

I'd like to know this too!

 

[Anonymous]

I seem to remember reading that dash cam evidence is not admissible in a court?

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.

More Police Forces are actively encouraging dash cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted to them and are making it easier to do so. Last week the Essex Safer Roads Partnership launched their “Extra Eyes” appeal and have created a website where footage can be uploaded. https://saferessexroads.org/extraeyes/extra-eyes-what-next/ Self policing of the roads enabled by dash cam footage is obviously gathering momentum!

 

[BMWZ4MC]

My father took some dash cam footage of dangerous driving to his local police station. They were very interested and would have prosecuted the driver except that it was more than two weeks after the event. Instead they visited the owner of the other vehicle and had a stern word.

 

[Marlon]

If you have a dash cam and are involved in an accident and assuming it’s your fault, is there any compulsion to hand over this self incriminating evidence?

Basically, you are not legally obliged or compelled to volunteer anything. If you are at fault and showed dash cam footage to your solicitor that proves it, they would not disclose it – nor is your solicitor legally obliged to do so.
If the driver of the other vehicle involved has knowledge that you have dash cam footage that proves you were are fault, then they can instruct their solicitor to order the footage to be disclosed – however, by that time the footage has usually been overwritten :wink:

 

[kis]

More Police Forces are actively encouraging dash cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted to them and are making it easier to do so. Last week the Essex Safer Roads Partnership launched their “Extra Eyes” appeal and have created a website where footage can be uploaded. https://saferessexroads.org/extraeyes/extra-eyes-what-next/ Self policing of the roads enabled by dash cam footage is obviously gathering momentum!

Good to know that footage can lead to fixed penalties. I wonder if other areas will take up this sort of approach?

 

[ronk]

More Police Forces are actively encouraging dash cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted to them and are making it easier to do so. Last week the Essex Safer Roads Partnership launched their “Extra Eyes” appeal and have created a website where footage can be uploaded. https://saferessexroads.org/extraeyes/extra-eyes-what-next/ Self policing of the roads enabled by dash cam footage is obviously gathering momentum!

Are we then creeping towards a vigilante society?

 

[pvr]

More Police Forces are actively encouraging dash cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted to them and are making it easier to do so. Last week the Essex Safer Roads Partnership launched their “Extra Eyes” appeal and have created a website where footage can be uploaded. https://saferessexroads.org/extraeyes/extra-eyes-what-next/ Self policing of the roads enabled by dash cam footage is obviously gathering momentum!

Are we then creeping towards a vigilante society?

Very much so. The fact that your car "looks" fast will be enough for the blue rinse brigade to sit outside with their cameras and film anything and be accepted as evidence. I find that very worrying and very strange that for traffic offenses it seems that anything goes, whilst if you film a burglar entering a house it is always classed as "insufficient evidence".

 

[Paulr]

I have one, and had one ever since I had a 44 ton lorry sideswipe me in a Smart Roadster. It isn't the big things I have it for though as they are pretty rare (unless you are in Russia, it seems), it is people backing into to you for insurance fraud, or pulling out in front of you, or accusing you of hitting them etc.

I had someone pull out of a queue on a sliproad of the M20 straight into me on the inside lane of the motorway going past the queue. We pulled over and he started accusing me of speeding, reckless driving etc. and getting all on his high horse ready to bully me, at which point I said we can check the camera in my car if he would like, and he shut up instantly and we swapped insurance details and everything was sorted. I was doing 47mph BTY, he just got bored of the queue and pulled out without looking.

 

[Steve84N]

Seen a lot of this myself. It seems the people who think they are good drivers are actually the worst ones out there.
I had a camera fixed to my bike for a few months and eventually removed it and sold it. I felt that in the event of an accident, whether the actual accident was my fault or not, anything else that was recorded that day could possibly get myself into trouble.

I'd rather pay for a very occasional car park dink than be hauled up on a driving charge for completing an overtake at 70 instead of 60 on an NSL road for example. Hardly anyone drives completely to the rules of the road and the minor infractions we make are not usually dangerous but still incriminating nonetheless.

 

[1000rr]

Someone backed into my wing in a car park a few moths ago, she ranted and raved for a while, and phoned her brother to come down. I waited for him to say his “piece” for a good few minutes and trying to blame me :x ... and after telling them both to shut up while I showed them that I had a cam and filmed everything, they admitted liability straight away ( and in cam) and my car was sorted within 5 days.


I wouldn’t be without one now.

 

[Gaffa22]

The accident that killed the biker was not far from where I live.
I do feel sorry for his family, but to be honest he was riding like an idiot, that junction is a notorious spot for accidents. I'm a biker and ride quick, but there's no way I would be overtaking or speeding through that junction.
Had he been doing 60mph he would have stood a fair chance of avoiding the car. There's a good stretch of dual carriageway a couple of miles from there so why risk it.
There was another incident recently with some bikers, one of them tried to delete the footage from his chest mounted camera, he was convicted of trying to pervert the course of justice.

 

[zedwheels]

I seem to remember reading that dash cam evidence is not admissible in a court?

More Police Forces are actively encouraging dash cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted to them and are making it easier to do so. Last week the Essex Safer Roads Partnership launched their “Extra Eyes” appeal and have created a website where footage can be uploaded. https://saferessexroads.org/extraeyes/extra-eyes-what-next/ Self policing of the roads enabled by dash cam footage is obviously gathering momentum!

Yes this is true, I hear that the North Wales force also encourages the steady eddie's to send them any footage that can be used against other drivers and they too are prosecuting off these vids! This is a lot more cost effective for the police than paying for static speed cameras on the roads! they got joe public acting as freebie bobbies. I think we are all doomed its time to sell and go buy a Nissan Micra! Fitted with a nice Dash Cam ofcourse!!

 

[Marlon]

More Police Forces are actively encouraging dash cam footage of dangerous driving to be submitted to them and are making it easier to do so. Last week the Essex Safer Roads Partnership launched their “Extra Eyes” appeal and have created a website where footage can be uploaded. https://saferessexroads.org/extraeyes/extra-eyes-what-next/ Self policing of the roads enabled by dash cam footage is obviously gathering momentum!

Yes this is true, I hear that the North Wales force also encourages the steady eddie's to send them any footage that can be used against other drivers and they too are prosecuting off these vids! This is a lot more cost effective for the police than paying for static speed cameras on the roads! they got joe public acting as freebie bobbies. I think we are all doomed its time to sell and go buy a Nissan Micra! Fitted with a nice Dash Cam ofcourse!!

go for it . . .