How to capture evidence of hit & run side swipes etc

[realh]

I have to park my car in the road outside my house and it keeps getting damaged by hit & run drivers. This year I've already had a window smashed by a van (witnessed and number plate taken, but the police weren't interested) and now my mirror's been damaged even though it was folded in - they came so close they even scuffed the front wing.

Is there any sort of dashcam that's well suited to capturing this sort of event? I've had a very quick look at a few on Amazon, and those with parking modes seem to be mainly for covering and detecting motion at the front & rear. I need something that can detect and record people hitting the sides, but also get a shot of their number plate just before and after. Preferably on both sides so I don't always have to park the same way round, but if it can easily be swapped from one side to the other, that would do. I don't drive regularly, so it needs to be able to be left running for several days without draining the battery, maybe by using a pair of hot-swappable batteries so I can bring one inside to charge when I'm not driving. I think I would need continuous recording to make sure I capture any incidents actually happening, and only use motion detection to protect recordings from being overwritten, so it might need quite a hefty battery or two to avoid risk of draining the car battery.

I'm a Linux geek, so I could probably cobble something together based on a Raspberry Pi. If that's likely to be a better or cheaper option, please let me know and I'll visit the DIY forum.

 

[kamkar]

You can do a dashcam with parking guard on, using low bitrate format ( always recording ) I would opt for a 2 channel system to maximize your chances.
That should give a decent chance in the daytime, but in low light it will still be a coin toss.
Also if it is raining or have rained, droplets on windscreen / rear window night be in a very unfortunate place.

 

[dash riposki]

No options for wifi security cams at your house, pointed at the parking area?
Is there a house across the street you can talk into mounting a can to cover that side?

 

[realh]

My immediate and opposite neighbours don't park in the road and don't owe me any favours, so they wouldn't have any incentive to run a camera for me. Putting one on a pole above our gatepost might give it a chance of simultaneously being able to see the far side of my car and the number plate of anything that passes too close.

My dad had a good idea. I could get a front-rear dashcam and aim the second camera at the mirror instead of out the rear window. Does anyone know of one that fits my battery requirements above and doesn't cost an arm and a leg? BTW, low light performance doesn't need to be especially outstanding, because there's a bright lamppost opposite.

 

[Dashmellow]

My dad had a good idea. I could get a front-rear dashcam and aim the second camera at the mirror instead of out the rear window. Does anyone know of one that fits my battery requirements above and doesn't cost an arm and a leg? BTW, low light performance doesn't need to be especially outstanding, because there's a bright lamppost opposite.

Maybe this thread will give you some good ideas? - Is there such thing as a side view dashcam? (For your car doors)

A three or four camera set-up may well capture enough evidence to identify the culprit, especially if you have a bright streetlight nearby. See THIS post for an example.

 

[Skylar132]

My immediate and opposite neighbours don't park in the road and don't owe me any favours, so they wouldn't have any incentive to run a camera for me. Putting one on a pole above our gatepost might give it a chance of simultaneously being able to see the far side of my car and the number plate of anything that passes too close.

My dad had a good idea. I could get a front-rear dashcam and aim the second camera at the mirror instead of out the rear window. Does anyone know of one that fits my battery requirements above and doesn't cost an arm and a leg? BTW, low light performance doesn't need to be especially outstanding, because there's a bright lamppost opposite.

Maybe look into the viofo a139 and get an extended cable for the cabin camera but angle it to face your side mirror?

 

[realh]

I think something like this, facing forwards from the back of the cabin, would probably work well for me. It looks like it would be better positioned further to the right, for a better view of the RHS mirror and also able to see the other side mirror past the headrest.

 

[Skylar132]

I think something like this, facing forwards from the back of the cabin, would probably work well for me. It looks like it would be better positioned further to the right, for a better view of the RHS mirror and also able to see the other side mirror past the headrest.

maybe a viofo a129 duo? you could mount the rear cam on your roof with a bit of DIY and it has low bitrate parking mode, although with low bitrate i would recommend the highest capacity Micro SD Card you can get, the a129 supports up to 256GB iirc

 

[Dashmellow]

If you use a side facing camera, placed towards the front of your car but angled it back towards the rear I believe it will give you better video captures than the above car interior example. Trying to capture events outside the vehicle at night from a single camera mounted in the rear interior of a car would yield disappointing results if you want to capture enough detail to identify a specific vehicle.

 

[realh]

The Viofo a139 seems a bit OTT and pricey. The a129 duo looks good though. Amazon (UK) also suggested the Road Angel Halo Pro. That's made me aware of a big flaw in this plan. It has a Winter Mode to keep the windscreen defrosted. In the UK climate, there's a strong chance that my windows would be misted up at the time of any incident, and I wouldn't have the battery capacity to prevent it. So I think I might have to forget about dashcams and concentrate on the external camera idea instead.

 

[Nath]

The Viofo a139 seems a bit OTT and pricey.

But the remote channels are quite easily mountable on the sides and you have two (in case of 3Ch) so both sides would be covered.

 

[SawMaster]

A front and rear cam (two singles or a 2-channel) will give you a chance at capturing plate numbers, but no dashcams do that really well in all conditions, especially low-light. And rain on a car window can render a dashcam nearly useless. But if it's all you can do then it's better than nothing, and the better dashcams offer a good chance.

A 3-channel cam can add side coverage but IMHO side coverage is best handled with a cam or cams specifically chosen and adjusted for that purpose; you're dealing with a different kind of motion and range. Home security cams can give much better protection and may even be a cheaper solution but they aren't always possible. The biggest problem I see here is powering the multiple cams for longer times- that is going to require a large amount of outboard power. It's doable in several ways but is going to add cost and complexity.

Cams don't actually protect you against losses; they only assist with insurers being able to recover their costs and help Police catch and prosecute bad guys. In driving they also eliminate and "he said/she said" arguments since the cam's video is unbiased and accurate. To me they're worth it.

Phil

 

[Skylar132]

The Viofo a139 seems a bit OTT and pricey. The a129 duo looks good though. Amazon (UK) also suggested the Road Angel Halo Pro. That's made me aware of a big flaw in this plan. It has a Winter Mode to keep the windscreen defrosted. In the UK climate, there's a strong chance that my windows would be misted up at the time of any incident, and I wouldn't have the battery capacity to prevent it. So I think I might have to forget about dashcams and concentrate on the external camera idea instead.

ive seen cheaper cameras with external rear cameras, like the apeman c420d, the quality isnt great but maybe you could place that outside your car, also you could use the a129 rear cam where ive circled in this picture.

 

[WinWiz]

Forget about dashcams.
Can't you park your car somewhere where damage is less likely to happen?