Minor Hit & Run - Recorded on 7 cameras

[SawMaster]

Glad you are OK and the damage slight I too am astonished that leaving the scene wasn't prosecuted- you get thrown in jail for that over here no matter anything else. Not for me to judge though. Hope it all goes well and quick for you/

Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

I too am astonished that leaving the scene wasn't prosecuted- you get thrown in jail for that over here no matter anything else.

Yes, think about it. If not for the cameras there would have been no way for @TonyM to know who caused the accident so as to inform the police. And if there had been an injury and the driver had left the scene it would have made matters that much worse. Under this scenario (without the cameras) a driver could even cause a fatality and be completely unaccountable if they drove away. This is exactly why it is a criminal violation to flee the scene of any automobile accident in the USA!

 

[TonyM]

In the interest of comparing the 6 front-facing cameras I was testing at the time of the incident, let's try to identify the red car that was driving in front of the yellow car. The vehicle speeds and lighting conditions are very similar.

{MEDIA DELETED}

The A119 pulled off the best result with a barely readable number plate. In this situation, neither of the 4K cameras performed better than the A119, which has a smaller aperture lens than the F1 and Mijia. It is noticeable that, in general, the best frame from the higher resolution cameras was taken when the red car was further away, whereas the 1080p cameras performed better close-up. This is not surprising, and demonstrates what @Nigel was talking about earlier.

A few frames later, the A119 did not render a usable number plate for the yellow car, whereas the F1 and Mijia did yield something useful that I could send to my insurers. On this evidence I'm happy to be running with more than one camera, just in case ....

 

[viofo]

The upgrade A119 will be better in daylight recording.
For dash camera usage, the new lens narrow FOV version will be much better.

 

[TonyM]

The upgrade A119 will be better in daylight recording.
For dash camera usage, the new lens narrow FOV version will be much better.

I assume you are referring to the new lens with narrow FOV on the F1?

 

[Nigel]

The A119 pulled off the best result with a barely readable number plate. In this situation, neither of the 4K cameras performed better than the A119, which has a smaller aperture lens than the F1 and Mijia. It is noticeable that, in general, the best frame from the higher resolution cameras was taken when the red car was further away, whereas the 1080p cameras performed better close-up. This is not surprising, and demonstrates what @Nigel was talking about earlier.

A few frames later, the A119 did not render a usable number plate for the yellow car, whereas the F1 and Mijia did yield something useful that I could send to my insurers. On this evidence I'm happy to be running with more than one camera, just in case ....

The 4K cameras are not good close up because their sensors are less sensitive so there is more motion blur, further away there is less motion blur so they work better but the 1080 cameras can't see that far. With more light or less speed the 4K cameras would work close up as well, but in this situation sensitivity v resolution seem to about cancel each other out.

I was surprised the B1W didn't do better until I saw that it is mounted a lot further to the left than the A119 so it sees more motion blur than the A119 when the red car is close, but it also has a much better view of the yellow car while the red car is still in the image. I have my B1W way over to the right, behind the sun visor, it is so small it fits easily, maybe that contributes to my B1W doing so well with number plates?

I do find the wide angle version of the F1 is a bit too wide angle to really take advantage of the 4K, things on the edges of the image have a lot of motion blur due to the lower sensitivity sensor so the wide angle is a bit wasted, a narrow angle 4K camera on the left plus a wide angle Starvis camera on the right (nearest centre of the road) seems a sensible combination. (When not being used as a car dashcam the wide angle F1 works well, a big advantage when hand held.)

 

[TonyM]

You're right that the B1W is on the left. It's not far left of centre, but enough to make a difference.

From right to left (from a driver's perspective):
Mijia, A119, F1, Mobius1, G3, B1W

 

[Nigel]

Glad you are OK and the damage slight I too am astonished that leaving the scene wasn't prosecuted- you get thrown in jail for that over here no matter anything else. Not for me to judge though. Hope it all goes well and quick for you/

Phil

There is a rule here that if you don't exchange details at the scene then you have 24 hours to give the details to the police, she was probably let off because she admitted the incident as soon as the police arrived at her door. You are still supposed to stop, but she might of used the excuse that as a lone female she was worried about her safety, which probably works as long as there were no injuries.

 

[TonyM]

From right to left (from a driver's perspective):
Mijia, A119, F1, Mobius1, G3, B1W
View attachment 34876

If you're wondering where the 7th camera is, it's a rear-facing Mobius 1 with a 6mm F1.2 lens

 

[TonyM]

I was surprised at my insurance company's approach to dashcam evidence. They asked me to send them a video clip by email. So they don't mind me being selective and editing the evidence...?

I tried to cut the best 4k footage down to just 10 seconds, but at 70MB it's not going in an email. So I've downsized it to 720p and sent a separate email with a full size frame of the car showing the number plate. Then sent a third email with the rear camera video clip. I've offered to upload the original files to a file sharing site, or copy them onto dvd.

My insurers have now realised that a 12MB video clip is too short. I tried a longer clip but the email bounced back. So they have requested that I send them a memory stick containing the evidence that I recorded - a much better solution.

 

[Nigel]

My insurers have now realised that a 12MB video clip is too short. I tried a longer clip but the email bounced back. So they have requested that I send them a memory stick containing the evidence that I recorded - a much better solution.

I suggest you send them 1080 from the F1, both wide angle resized and the centre 1080 cropped, plus the original 4K in case they are able to play that, and of course the rear view. Probably ask them to view the cropped version first, and suggest to do so using the file name, eg "Front View.mp4" which is obviously the one they want to see first and "Front View Wide Angle.mp4", use the original filename for the original.

How come your 6mm Mobius at the rear didn't get the plates? The red car was even illuminated by sunshine! Or have I lost detail on Youtube?

 

[SawMaster]

A memory stick or DVD seems to make good sense as those are easy to deal with for anyone no matter their computer system or their computer skills Plus this is cheap on your end so make an extra copy for your own 'backup' Were it me I'd include the vids from at least a minute or two prior to show my safe driving habits along with noting that since I provably bore no fault whatsoever I expect that they will not be increasing my rates or lowering my insurability rating

I'd comment about keeping your windows cleaner but I"m not a hypocrite I'm also going to tag @Captain who is a newer member here that wanted an easy way to show friends the value of dashcams

Phil

 

[Nigel]

“The aim of North Yorkshire Police through Op Spartan is to make the roads of North Yorkshire safer and lower the instances of serious collisions and road deaths by identifying and educating those who are seen as being at risk of causing themselves or others harm.”

“If anyone witnesses any kind of driving behaviour which raises their concern, I would ask them to report it to us via the online driving concern form. I would of course ask them to do so when it is safe, appropriate and convenient and not from behind the wheel.”

If they haven't already seen the video, send in a short edited version and let the experts decide if anything should be done, you might regret not doing so if you meet her again:
https://northyorkshire.police.uk/what-we-do/road-policing/operation-spartan/

 

[TonyM]

A memory stick or DVD seems to make good sense as those are easy to deal with for anyone no matter their computer system or their computer skills Plus this is cheap on your end so make an extra copy for your own 'backup' Were it me I'd include the vids from at least a minute or two prior to show my safe driving habits along with noting that since I provably bore no fault whatsoever I expect that they will not be increasing my rates or lowering my insurability rating

I'd comment about keeping your windows cleaner but I"m not a hypocrite I'm also going to tag @Captain who is a newer member here that wanted an easy way to show friends the value of dashcams

Phil

I normally try to keep my windows clean, just as much for the cameras as for myself. Driving around on these wet roads in December there's constant dirt/spray to contend with, and the rear window on my estate is particularly bad for spray.

Full video from A119 included about 1min before - it's the only one with GPS to show my approx speed.

 

[TonyM]

I suggest you send them 1080 from the F1, both wide angle resized and the centre 1080 cropped, plus the original 4K in case they are able to play that, and of course the rear view. Probably ask them to view the cropped version first, and suggest to do so using the file name, eg "Front View.mp4" which is obviously the one they want to see first and "Front View Wide Angle.mp4", use the original filename for the original.

How come your 6mm Mobius at the rear didn't get the plates? The red car was even illuminated by sunshine! Or have I lost detail on Youtube?

I'm using the original 4K from Mijia, plus a resized 1080p with a crop to the number plate as an overlaid PIP. Also sending the A119 with GPS date/time/speed info.

The rear camera did pick out the red car plate from a distance:

 

[TonyM]

5 months later, the solicitors acting on behalf of my insurance company have finally viewed my video evidence. They agree that the other party was driving in the middle of the road, and recommend that I reject the other party's offer of 50:50 settlement (which is how such incidents are normally settled in the absence of any evidence). We're making progress....

 

[Deleted member 37895]

Rear facing cameras seem to be the best way to capture plates on cars traveling the opposite direction

But the car's plates probably wouldn't have been readable in America because our text is smaller and often obscured by plate graphics

 

[TonyM]

Rear facing cameras seem to be the best way to capture plates on cars traveling the opposite direction

Why would a receding object be any easier to capture than an approaching object? If the speed difference and camera&lens are the same, surely the relative motion during each frame exposure would be the same in both directions?

I would agree that having both front and rear cameras gives you two opportunities to capture the information you want, since the lighting or reflections may be worse in one direction than the other.

 

[Deleted member 37895]

Why would a receding object be any easier to capture than an approaching object? If the speed difference and camera&lens are the same, surely the relative motion during each frame exposure would be the same in both directions?

I would agree that having both front and rear cameras gives you two opportunities to capture the information you want, since the lighting or reflections may be worse in one direction than the other.

I don't know why there's a difference but it seems that way to me. But also, here in the US many states only require a rear plate so a front camera will never work for oncoming cars anyway

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't know why there's a difference but it seems that way to me. But also, here in the US many states only require a rear plate so a front camera will never work for oncoming cars anyway

Just because something "seems" a certain way doesn't make it so.