I have to admit one of my guilty pleasures is watching dash-cam videos on YouTube. Seeing the vehicular misdeeds and accidents of others can amuse, educate, and horrify at the same time. Watching these dash-cam videos has certainly made me more aware of what’s happening when I’m out on the road, has helped me anticipate what other drivers might do, and on one occasion prevented me from being involved in an accident because I had seen a similar situation on the more than a few dash-cam videos.
I have had a dash-cam installed in the trusty RAM 1500 for almost a year and in that time I have saved more than a few incidents that I filed away in my “Close Calls” and “Scofflaws” folders. Watching them makes me wonder what some of the drivers were thinking or doing that caused these incidents. It wasn’t until the other night that my dash-cam actually caught an accident.
I was on my way to town hall for a meeting, stopped at a traffic light waiting for it to change. At this point, I have to explain that a few months ago the traffic light programming was changed so that the traffic signal for the left turn lane will change from red to a blinking yellow light when the lights on the center and right turn lanes turn green. The only time the left turn signal turns green is if a vehicle has been sitting in the left turn lane for a certain amount of time. The reasoning behind this change is that it eliminates the need to wait for the left turn green arrow if there’s no traffic coming from the other direction. It’s supposed to save gas because vehicles won’t have to wait for a full traffic light cycle in order to make the turn. However, this feature still confuses some people.
In this particular case there was a pickup in front of me waiting to take a left turn onto the road that leads towards our town hall. The lights changed, with the left turn arrow changing to a blinking yellow. The pickup started making the left turn and when partway through the intersection was hit in the right rear quarter by a car coming through the intersection from the other direction. While I was an eyewitness to the accident, I couldn’t say for sure who was at fault. I did call the police, made sure the two drivers were uninjured, waited for the police to arrive, made my statement to one of the officers and let him know I had dash-cam video.
The police got a copy of the video for their investigation.
The next morning I took a look at the video of the accident and realized there were a lot of things I didn’t notice, things that could change who is found at fault for the accident. (I won’t go into the specifics because the accident is still under investigation by the police department.)
If nothing else it proves to me the value of having a dash-cam as it is an unbiased witness to what happened and will see things eyewitnesses and drivers/passengers either didn’t see or didn’t notice. They can have an almost 360ยบ view, depending on the dash-cam model. It does away with the he-said/she-said problems and can prove guilt or innocence. (I saw more than few cases on YouTube where drivers involved in an accident outright lied about what happened and the dash-cam video showed what actually took place.)
Dash-cams are cheap insurance.
I have seen them for as little as $25 and as much as $350. They run from the basic front-view only models to front/rear/interior view with night vision, USB and/or WiFi/Bluetooth download, and everything in between. Most are HD though more of them are now 4K UHD. I suggest getting the one with the highest resolution you can afford as it can make it easier to see more detail, including license plate numbers. Regardless of what model is installed in a vehicle, it can make the difference between being found at fault in an accident or being found faultless. (Of course it can also mean you are found at fault, so it can swing either way.)
