GPS or not?

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Graeme

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For a fairly inexperienced driver in the USA, what extra value does GPS provide? Is the speed on the video enough to avoid a speeding ticket when shown to police? Or is it useful in proving fault in an accident?

Basically, is it worth paying the extra $30 to $50 more to add GPS to a dash cam?
 
It depends on the camera. For Garmin dashcams the GPS takes care of date/time management (including DST change) which is valuable to me. Other cameras just use it to display approximate speed and location.
 
It also means if anything happens you can pinpoint where you were. And if your watching the footage in some programs/apps you can simultaneously watch your progress on a map.

I would never buy a cam without GPS
 
Most courts will not accept any GPS as accurate evidence of speed versus radar or an 'official' clocking of speed in any other manner. Certainly not going to happen with the cheap and nasty GPS dashcams use. But it might help show any gross error in their speed measurements and it can at least show your steadiness in maintaining your own speed. Then again video alone can do this too, so I don't see any great value in GPS for this purpose, but there is some value here- you decide if it's worth it.

Similar for location purposes, video alone is going to show that well enough in almost every situation where it might matter and given that dashcam GPS only updates about once per second, there's going to be ambiguity when moving as well as the slight inaccuracy (within feet, not inches) the system inherently has. IMHO the biggest value to GPS in dashcams is maintaining time accuracy. You'd be surprised how badly some cams do with time measurements. This alone may be enough to make optional GPS worth paying for. Damn nice to not have to reset the dashcam clock every week or two!

We must always remember that dashcams are like a double-edged sword, cutting both ways. They are going to show our own errors just as much as the errors of others. If you spend time viewing your own videos you can spot the things you need to improve on, and GPS speed stamping does help here if you have a tendency to overlook your speedometer too much. And even if not acceptable for direct evidence, if you show your video in Court and there's a GPS speed stamp on it, that's going to influence how that video and your driving is seen and decided on. So if you drive well and within the speed limits it will help you anyway, but if you are seen regularly speeding, or you were going too fast in a road incident, then your GPS stamp will be your enemy.

Far an inexperienced driver I'd say go with the GPS and speed stamping, but do not place a lot of emphasis on that. It takes time and experience to learn the proper balance between monitoring your speed and monitoring your driving situation. Overemphasizing speed will lead them to not watching the road well enough. The worst that can happen if you slightly err in speed is a traffic ticket, but not paying enough attention to your driving because you are paranoid about your speed can get you killed.

Use your tools (which includes your dashcam) well and they will benefit you, use them badly and they will hurt you.

Phil
 
Graeme said:
For a fairly inexperienced driver in the USA, what extra value does GPS provide? Is the speed on the video enough to avoid a speeding ticket when shown to police? Or is it useful in proving fault in an accident?

Basically, is it worth paying the extra $30 to $50 more to add GPS to a dash cam?
Click to expand...

I doubt any video would prevent a police officer from giving you a ticket. It's possible that video could be evidence in court could be used to help find you not guilty.

It's more likely to be useful with insurance companies determining fault for an accident. This can go both ways - for or against you.
 
Speed can always be ascertained from the video itself, as distance between 2 things you can go measure ( lamp post exhibit A - Sign exhibit B, and the time it take to cover that distance.

So that could be XX.XX yards in YY.YY seconds, than it is just a matter of math that can not be disputed either to deduct your exact speed in MPH, only a camera that record in ever changing frame rates would negate that risk, and then it would be horrible to watch for fun.
But ! most people at least in the western world are still clueless to dashcams, so with just a fairly stealthy install no one will notice it.

When i filmed this accident, i talked to the cops and said i have it on cameras, he said "what cameras" i said the ones in my windscreen, he bend over looked in my car and said "what cameras ? ", i said look further up where the mirror would be ( at the time i had the mirror removed ) he did and went Ooooooo i see when he saw the 4 cameras there.
He also did a hour later when i handed over the footage on the police station, not since the driver did a runner as he was high on dope, but not before posing right in front of my side camera.
And the cops went "Oooooo we know that guy he is one of the usual suspects"

 
That will be a good camera to get your feet wet with, maybe we will see you soaked from head to toe in the addict lounge in a few years. :LOL:
 
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