One of the most common causes of personal injury court cases is car accidents. This is mostly due to the negligence of any of the drivers involved. However, many of the people affected in accidents are unable to claim the compensation they lawfully deserve since many car accident lawsuits come down to one person’s word against the other. Not anymore!
Dash cams or car cameras help to protect drivers from liability by providing raw evidence in court cases. When a driver constantly records footage while driving, he or she has a lot of protection in case of an accident they did not cause.
How do dash cams work?
Now that you are considering using a dash cam, it is important to know that there are different types of models available. Normally, a dash cam is mounted to the dash board of a car to record footage. Besides that, there are many apps you could download and make your smartphone into a dash cam thanks to advances in technology. All you will need therefore is a phone mount best for your car.
Most of the simple dash cams are forward-facing cameras. However, the expensive ones include forward and rear-facing cameras complete with a high definition recording for extra liability protection.
RELATED:HOW TO RETRIEVE YOUR VIDEOS FROM A DASH CAM
Dash cams use a standard SD card to store recorded footage. Small SD cards can also hold many hours of video and when it is full, the camera continues recording over the oldest footage.
Other dash cams include G-force sensors. Whereby, when the camera senses a shift in momentum, it automatically saves the recorded footage in a safe file where it will not record over it.
This is important in instances where you have to manually turn the recording on and off so as to not record over important video footage. In the case of ‘hot wired’ dash cams, they continue to record even after you switch off your car’s engine hence protecting you from hit- and- run collisions when parked.
Point of caution
Although dash cams offer peace of mind and legal protection in some instances, it is vital to know the risk involved in using one. In case you ‘hotwire’ your dash cam, you run the risk of draining your car’s battery if the camera keeps recording without a device to limit power. If after a collision your dash cam doesn’t automatically save footage, you could lose your footage if you fail to turn off your dash cam before it records over the crash. Also, if you forget or aren’t able to stop the camera, you could lose very crucial footage.
Lastly, one of the major drawbacks of dash cams is at times they may work against you. The high-end dash cams have a GPS to record your car’s location data and speed. If it shows you were speeding at the time of the crash, that footage could end up working against you in a lawsuit.
In the end it is up to you to decide if you want a dash cam or not. Obviously, the benefits outweigh the negatives since having one provides you with a sense of peace of mind. You just remember that your driving habits are what determine your safety on the road.
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