Dash cam with zoom capability

Dont overtake & pray you dont get caught behind a little old lady.
It is rare you find any Dane doing under the limit, only bigger nuisance is farming equipment in the season, but they are actually meant to pull over if they trail a que of motorists.
 
Laws vary. Here in my USA State, the driver must not be able to see any functioning screens while seated in the driver's seat. Exceptions are for devices monitoring car function (such as dashboard gauges) and driving assistance devices which includes GPS and reversing cams when used only for reversing. Although they probably didn't intend a dashcam screen to be exempted, my excuse is that it is a driving assistance device since I do review videos to analyze and improve my driving skills. As such it would qualify ;)

If the OP only turned the screen on when attempting to overtake, it might be allowed in some places and at least a good argument could be made of it greatly enhancing his and everyone else's road safety. Anything is OK till you get caught :whistle: My big old van simply doesn't have the power to overtake on a two-lane road so I just follow along and not be concerned about how slow I'm going because I can't really do anything about it anyway :cool:

Phil
 
Dont overtake & pray you dont get caught behind a little old lady.
It is rare you find any Dane doing under the limit, only bigger nuisance is farming equipment in the season, but they are actually meant to pull over if they trail a que of motorists.
Good advice for BMW and Audi drivers who always follow the car in front with less than a seconds gap, for them there is no good solution.

However many people do manage to do it without significant difficulty or safety issues. On a bendy road you can just look down the other side of the vehicle to check for oncoming vehicles, I often do that while driving on the normal side anyway, on a straight road you have to drop back a bit so that if there is someone coming then you have more time to pull back in. Most people drive too close before an overtake anyway, if you start further back then the time you spend alongside and in a danger zone is considerably reduced since you have gained far more speed before getting alongside, doesn't make much difference to the number of overtaking opportunities.

I can't believe that any current camera system that requires you to be watching a screen while actually pulling out to overtake can possibly improve safety, and it is quite likely illegal.

Millions of people drive right hand drive vehicles all over the world. Seems to me the best thing to do would be to take the time to get used to driving in a "mirror world" environment. Eventually it will become second nature.
35% of the world’s population lives in right hand drive countries, including the OP, that is more than just millions!
 
Yesterday waiting for my turn at the car wash, suddenly there was interesting nice sounds in the air making me thing " thats Italian"
The woman in the car in front of me seemingly liked such things with her head spinning to try and see where the sound came from, and when the very nice red car stormed down the street doing at the very least 100 kmh in a 70 zone her eyes did not leave it for a second. ( it was getting hammered in #1 + 2 gears, so safe in saying at the very least 100 kmh )
I just commented idiot go find a race track and where is the cops when you need one.
Pretty sure people that drive that brand are in the same class as BMW and Audi owners, while i dont see Italian sports cars often, then when i do i also feel " this is a accident waiting to happen" due to the way it is driven
 
35% of the world’s population lives in right hand drive countries, including the OP, that is more than just millions!

Ever the fusspot, eh Nigel? :eek: Well, fact is that it would be many hundreds of millions, but indeed still millions.

As for the OP, regardless of his current location he presents himself as someone unfamiliar and uncomfortable with right hand drive situations.

This set up is meant to help me for when I drive a right hand drive car in Europe and, the main discomfort found it so fast, was the restricted visibly ahead for when I need to overtake another car, especially trucks.
 
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In any driving situation it's up to you alone to drive your vehicle safely no matter what that takes. And you must never go where you don't know that your movement can be executed safely no matter how inconvenient that may be :cool: So if you can't see to overtake, you don't overtake. That won't kill you, but attempting it otherwise might :cautious:

I still think the idea is good and could enhance safety if used well, but that use is always a choice and the results will reflect how well the choice is made. It's not a single solution, but can be part of an overall safer solution ;)

Phil
 
I don't think his issue is driving a right hand drive vehicle, it's driving his right hand drive vehicle in a country where the vehicles are left hand drive so driving on the right hand side of the road, overtaking becomes a challenge in those situations as you are on the wrong side of the vehicle to easily be able to see oncoming traffic when pulling out, not pulling out is going to be a safer option than relying on a camera and screen
 
I can easy imagine the challenges, if i was to drive my car to the UK, i would prefer to be beamed to some rural location where i could get used to the feeling of driving on the other side in a car not build for it, before i venture into the general English traffic.

And i can also easy imagine the horror of lesser drivers ( with little feel for the actual size of their car ) must feel in that situation,
 
I can easy imagine the challenges, if i was to drive my car to the UK, i would prefer to be beamed to some rural location where i could get used to the feeling of driving on the other side in a car not build for it, before i venture into the general English traffic.

And i can also easy imagine the horror of lesser drivers ( with little feel for the actual size of their car ) must feel in that situation,
Most of the accidents seem to happen in the rural locations, because there people have a chance to forget which side of the road to drive on when they have no one else to copy.

Maybe the best advice to the OP is that when he goes to Europe, he should go to countries that drive on the correct side of the road, problem sorted. OK, the choice is a little limited, but Ireland, Cyprus and Malta are nice places to visit.
 
Hehe yes it cant be too rural, not much to learn driving around on those thin rural roads, you have to face your fears to learn to handle them.
But taking the ferry over you end up in pretty big towns with a lot of traffic, which i am sure i would not like before i have learned to cope.
 
I believe you are planning to use this telephoto 'zoom' for live view looking ahead to help you see what you cannot see by yourself when driving a right hand drive car in Europe?
Yes Tony, you right. I live in the UK and I know that this is illegal in here. In France it is illegal to have a GoPro, on your helmet, while riding a motorcycle.
Laws vary.
If this is what I believe that will keep me safe, this is s what I'll do, and I'll we use this set up only where this is allowed if course.
 
I don't think his issue is driving a right hand drive vehicle, it's driving his right hand drive vehicle in a country where the vehicles are left hand drive so driving on the right hand side of the road, overtaking becomes a challenge in those situations as you are on the wrong side of the vehicle to easily be able to see oncoming traffic when pulling out, not pulling out is going to be a safer option than relying on a camera and screen

I couldn't say it better Jokiin!
 
After carefully checking the other post, I'm still not sure if 8-12mm will be able to magnify from 100meters, but I will give it a try. Thank you

More than that seems to be overkill. As I've suggested, see some the discussions in the threads and examples in the links I posted. In particular look at some of the examples in the ": Mobius Telephoto Dashcam." thread (and the others, too). The general consensus among those of us who have done a lot of experimenting with aftermarket telephoto lenses was that 8-12mm is optimal.

Just so you know, 100 meters is a quite bit of a stretch for any dash camera regardless of the lens.
 
I couldn't say it better Jokiin!
I understand where you're coming from, whenever I've driven from Hong Kong (right hand drive) across the border into China (left hand drive) in a Hong Kong car you have the disorientation of driving on the wrong side of the road to deal with, along with the added challenge of not being able to see as well when overtaking, taking sharp corners etc, when I drive a Chinese car in China you still have the awkwardness of everything being the opposite side to what you're accustomed to (which you do get used to after a bit) but without the added challenges due to your position in the vehicle
 
Just so you know, 100 meters is a quite bit of a stretch for any dash camera regardless of the lens.
yeah I wouldn't like to be making a judgment call about an oncoming vehicle 100 meters away based on a zoom lens viewed on a 7" monitor on the fly, possibly more dangerous than the alternatives
 
I understand where you're coming from, whenever I've driven from Hong Kong (right hand drive) across the border into China (left hand drive) in a Hong Kong car you have the disorientation of driving on the wrong side of the road to deal with, along with the added challenge of not being able to see as well when overtaking, taking sharp corners etc, when I drive a Chinese car in China you still have the awkwardness of everything being the opposite side to what you're accustomed to (which you do get used to after a bit) but without the added challenges due to your position in the vehicle

Mirror worlds! :D
 
yeah I wouldn't like to be making a judgment call about an oncoming vehicle 100 meters away based on a zoom lens viewed on a 7" monitor on the fly, possibly more dangerous than the alternatives

Aside from what you are saying I have doubts that any dash type camera can really capture an adequate and usable image at that distance in a moving vehicle. You would need an exceptionally long telephoto lens, you would need it to be tack sharp at that magnification, which is doubtful considering the size of the sensor, you would have such a narrow FOV that there would be a high likelihood of missing your intended target and such a long lens would be so prone to vibrations as to likely not provide a usable image at all.
 
Aside from what you are saying I have doubts that any dash type camera can really capture an adequate and usable image at that distance in a moving vehicle.
agree, for me the alternative would be to rent a car when I got there, much prefer to to drive something intended to be driven on the other side of the road, a much safer option I feel
 
agree, for me the alternative would be to rent a car when I got there, much prefer to to drive something intended to be driven on the other side of the road, a much safer option I feel

A rental makes sense. Then again, people drive that way all the time. Here in the US many rural postal delivery drivers have right hand drive vehicles so as to facilitate putting mail in people's road side mailboxes here in left hand drive world.

My main regular mail lady has a really cool tricked out RHD Toyota SUV. She has several unique and strategically located mirrors on the car including some convex ones. Mostly, I think they are for situational awareness when she pulls over to the side of the road to deliver parcels and letters, but also for seeing the other side of her lane in traffic.

Come to think of it, a forward facing side mirror on @Tony2004's vehicle might be a possible interesting solution to the overtaking problem? Not the desired magnification but it would allow one to see ahead when a RH driver's view of the oncoming lane is otherwise blocked.
 
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