Say Hypothetically, You Get Into an Accident... (You Decide)

[Florida Dashcam]

Hello all!

New to the forum and I got into an interesting conversation with my father yesterday, wanted to see what you would do in this situation?
Really just trying to stir up conversation and get to know some of my lovely fellow forum users!

And no, this didn't actually happen . **Also, I wasn't sure to post this in the legal forum or here, as it's not really a
legitimately "legal" question. I might even make more of these threads.

So let's get into it..

THE SITUATION
Say hypothetically, you get into an accident of some type - and the accident wasn't your fault. Perhaps the person who hit you ran a
stop sign or a red light, or maybe they were distracted and rear ended you. We can even go as far as to say that the person was
driving erratically/speeding and carelessly hit your car. Whatever the case, you get out of the car, they get out of their car. We can
play devil's advocate and say that the driver who hit you is trying to pin the accident on you, but you know without a shadow of a
doubt, you are not at fault.

While surveying the damage/pointing fingers/figuring out who to call, DO YOU:
A.) Tell them you have a dash cam and that you have the entire thing on camera, and that not only are they not at fault, but you
intend to show the police (who are already on the way)
B.) Don't tell them you have a dash cam, wait for the police officer to arrive, and present the footage

(EDIT, adding this one because people are doing this as well)
C.) Don't tell them you have a dash cam, nor the police officer, and take it up with the insurance company's claims department

My father believes that if you tell them, they may retaliate or even try to destroy the dash cam, OR potentially flee the scene before
the officers can arrive. When a coworker heard this, he agreed, but then another said that he would tell the person and wouldn't
give a rat's ass who heard, if the person was being unreasonable.

What would you do and why would you do it that way?

 

[DT MI]

A number of threads on this subject already - but - IMO if you tell the other party you have a dash cam only bad can result. It would be a very rare individual who would do a '180' and accept responsibility. At best they would try to concoct a story to fit the video. Best practice is let them tell their story to the LEO then show your video.

 

[lacibaci]

I wouldn't show or mention dash cam unless absolutely necessary.
First, right after the accident, you don't even know if anything got recorded. Today's dash cams are not 100% reliable.
Second, even if it was working, it's not clear what and how it was recorded. Was it blurry, too dark....? Sometimes it even looks great on your cell phone but when reviewing on desktop and big monitor it looks like crap...

 

[abarth]

b. knowledge is power. let's not give that power to an unreasonable person.

 

[kamkar]

B. let them dig their own grave, and then you play your hand and bury them.
Actually i wouldent even tell police officer ( that are only on sits here if its a severe accident with injured or fatalities or the road are blocked )

I would just forward my written and video footage to my insurance company, from there it is their job to duke it out with the other part.

We Danes dont really have the same "sue" mentallity as in America, hell they guy that was killed in copenhagen a few years ago by a rouge poolry maintained electric street sweeping machine, his loved ones got a "Im sorry bad timing" from Denmark, where as it happened in the US there would have been millions rolling in.
And the American teens killed by people illegal operating jet skies in the harbour of copenhagen this summer, well dont expect anything.


Whish lead me to realize its always in Copenhagen bad things happen, so if you visit here give me a call and i will guide you to elsewhere in my little country.

PS. a 30 YO guy was shot dead on the street here in my little town a week ago, but the 3 perps have been arrested in Germany and will stand tall before the man and get a joke ruling.

At leas the one guy , pretty sure its a mid level drug related happening over unpaid dues.

 

[DashcamDPR]

Hypothetically... Am I better looking in this accident? Just out of curiosity

Seriously though..
NEVER tell them. Let them fight their argument, thus allowing them to expose themselves as liars, punching holes in their credibility for the entire scenario

HOWEVER... Not all dashcams are as inconspicuous as is ideal and could be spotted by the offender... in which case NEVER allow them access to it, it's your evidence, not theirs (actually there could be legal requirements that mean you have to share the footage with offenders?? Not here though)

Having said that, idiots and careless drivers can be oblivious to cams, or just don't care. My rear cam isn't at all discreet, even the wiring isn't tucked away, but still people will use their phones when directly behind me, or tailgate me, or pick their noses!

 

[DavidUK]

Actually i wouldent even tell police officer ( that are only on sits here if its a severe accident with injured or fatalities or the road are blocked )

I would just forward my written and video footage to my insurance company, from there it is their job to duke it out with the other part.

^^^ This, exactly.

 

[MoneyT8]

I would definitely go with B but not tell the police or at least not yet. I would need time to edit the footage for about a few seconds before the accident, the accident itself and maybe a few seconds after as this is all they need. If the accident was my fault than I would pretend that I don't own a dashcam.

 

[DavidUK]

If the accident was my fault than I would pretend that I don't own a dashcam.

A reason NOT to have GPS. Let's say the accident was due to someone cutting across at traffic lights on red but you were going 5mph over the limit.
You have excellent evidence your light is green BUT you worry about your speed being shown on your dash cam footage. What do you do then?

 

[Florida Dashcam]

A reason NOT to have GPS. Let's say the accident was due to someone cutting across at traffic lights on red but you were going 5mph over the limit.
You have excellent evidence your light is green BUT you worry about your speed being shown on your dash cam footage. What do you do then?

This is why I don't display my speed either.

 

[DT MI]

A reason NOT to have GPS. Let's say the accident was due to someone cutting across at traffic lights on red but you were going 5mph over the limit.
You have excellent evidence your light is green BUT you worry about your speed being shown on your dash cam footage. What do you do then?

This is why I don't display my speed either.

If speed becomes an issue it can easily be determined from the content of the video - with or without GPS.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/dome-dab202.17083/#post-222840

 

[kamkar]

yep speed seem to be a lot of problems, either cuz people know they do it a lot, or they are in a justice system where a opposing lawyer can argue well if you dident go 2 MPH over the limit my client running a red light would never have hit you.
Here i can run a green light doing 130 in a 50 zone and have some one run a red light into me and kill himself, but that's not my fault he dies though my speed might be a large part of that, but still he should not have run a red light, so all i will get are a speeding ticket, and loose my license for a while due to the insane excess of speed i used in this imaginary scenario.

I try my best to be within the limit, and it work pretty good for me, but yeah sure some times i might drift over the speed limit and suddenly find myself going 90 km/h in a 80 zone, but then i just lift my foot and smile cuz there was no speed trap around here.
But the days of pretty much always be going 80 in a 50 zone and +100 in a 80 zone and full speed on motorways with a 110 km/h speed limit are long gone, now i barely do 110 on a motorway though 130 are now the limit most places there.

Funny when you think about, cuz back then i was on a lot that people say chill them, now i am high on nothing but life or the sad remnants of it, and that's cool with me.

 

[Module 79L]

A reason NOT to have GPS. Let's say the accident was due to someone cutting across at traffic lights on red but you were going 5mph over the limit.
You have excellent evidence your light is green BUT you worry about your speed being shown on your dash cam footage. What do you do then?

What could be the penalty for going 5mph over the limit? A fine? Those extra 5mph would never turn things against you in the case of an accident caused by a red light runner.

 

[randy]

Hello all!

New to the forum and I got into an interesting conversation with my father yesterday, wanted to see what you would do in this situation?
Really just trying to stir up conversation and get to know some of my lovely fellow forum users!

And no, this didn't actually happen . **Also, I wasn't sure to post this in the legal forum or here, as it's not really a
legitimately "legal" question. I might even make more of these threads.

So let's get into it..

THE SITUATION
Say hypothetically, you get into an accident of some type - and the accident wasn't your fault. Perhaps the person who hit you ran a
stop sign or a red light, or maybe they were distracted and rear ended you. We can even go as far as to say that the person was
driving erratically/speeding and carelessly hit your car. Whatever the case, you get out of the car, they get out of their car. We can
play devil's advocate and say that the driver who hit you is trying to pin the accident on you, but you know without a shadow of a
doubt, you are not at fault.

While surveying the damage/pointing fingers/figuring out who to call, DO YOU:
A.) Tell them you have a dash cam and that you have the entire thing on camera, and that not only are you not at fault, but you do
intend to show the police (who are already on the way)
B.) Don't tell them you have a dash cam, wait for the police officer to arrive, and present the footage

My father believes that if you tell them, they may retaliate or even try to destroy the dash cam, OR potentially flee the scene before
the officers can arrive. When a coworker heard this, he agreed, but then another said that he would tell the person and wouldn't
give a rat's ass who heard, if the person was being unreasonable.

What would you do and why would you do it that way?

Option B all day every day. Option A can only bring something bad, you already hold the truth so no need to change anything or over think it. You really don’t need to pay any attention to them, just wait for police.

 

[DashcamDPR]

What could be the penalty for going 5mph over the limit? A fine? Those extra 5mph would never turn things against you in the case of an accident caused by a red light runner.

It depends on how strict the law wants to be. They recently said in our country they were introducing variable fines based on the percentage of your earnings, for speed infringements as low as 1mph over the speed limit.

However, even if our police were to say "maybe 2 or 3 mph is nothing to worry about", the insurers might still consider it enough to refuse liability

 

[Bungus]

I won't tell them. I'll download to my computer first just in case my dashcam fails. Then forward to my insurance. The full clip, no editing.
Traffic cops have been doing forensic analysis of accident scenes before cameras which can sometimes be wrong, not knowing what leads up to it. With dashcam, it's truthful recording captures the before scenes too.

 

[kamkar]

Off course i also forwarded 3 full clips to the police of the guy i turned in, got nothing to hide though i did choose to send in the footage from my x camera with the 8 mm lens and no text or speed in the footage.


I just heard several good news tonight.
1: There are a proposal to cut upwards of 30 seats off the Danish parliament ( 179 seats ) ( good idea if the rest of the country can do more with less people and money, so can they )
2: Another proposal are to educate "mini" cops to just do traffic work and upholding the traffic code ( again good idea i think , it take to long to educate full blown cops and they are a bit overkill just for traffic if you ask me )
So we are not talking pursuit here, but rather people doing alcohol and drug tests, nail phone junkies driving, vehicle inspection with the inspection guys - manned speed traps and so on.
The mobile ATK ( Automated Traffic Kontrol ) cars we have are also manned by regular people now, off course educate in using the equipment.

They want to lower the number of people killed in traffic even more, and numbers have been stagnating lately, so they want to try a new approach.
The graph below are the killed in traffic here in the past years.
1971 was the year with the most traffic deaths ever here, 1213 people lost their life in traffic that year.

I think the plan are to get below 100 deaths every year.

 

[Deleted member 44607]

Hello all!

New to the forum and I got into an interesting conversation with my father yesterday, wanted to see what you would do in this situation?
Really just trying to stir up conversation and get to know some of my lovely fellow forum users!

And no, this didn't actually happen . **Also, I wasn't sure to post this in the legal forum or here, as it's not really a
legitimately "legal" question. I might even make more of these threads.

So let's get into it..

THE SITUATION
Say hypothetically, you get into an accident of some type - and the accident wasn't your fault. Perhaps the person who hit you ran a
stop sign or a red light, or maybe they were distracted and rear ended you. We can even go as far as to say that the person was
driving erratically/speeding and carelessly hit your car. Whatever the case, you get out of the car, they get out of their car. We can
play devil's advocate and say that the driver who hit you is trying to pin the accident on you, but you know without a shadow of a
doubt, you are not at fault.

While surveying the damage/pointing fingers/figuring out who to call, DO YOU:
A.) Tell them you have a dash cam and that you have the entire thing on camera, and that not only are you not at fault, but you do
intend to show the police (who are already on the way)
B.) Don't tell them you have a dash cam, wait for the police officer to arrive, and present the footage

My father believes that if you tell them, they may retaliate or even try to destroy the dash cam, OR potentially flee the scene before
the officers can arrive. When a coworker heard this, he agreed, but then another said that he would tell the person and wouldn't
give a rat's ass who heard, if the person was being unreasonable.

What would you do and why would you do it that way?

I have an excellent example for this, I'm new here too btw

Alright so I've had a dashcam for about a month. I'm forever seeing people do dumb things on the roads, so just wanted to start making some YouTube videos or something out of it, that and insurance reasons too. Anyway, about a week ago an old college friend of mine wanted to go for a drive so I bring the dashcam along as I'd already collected a fair few clips so was excited to get more and not have to be the one dealing with what the road can sometimes throw at you. We're one street from getting home and all of a sudden this Mini randomly stops to let not one, but two cars out of a petrol station and as we're slowing to a stop - BANG!!

We sit there for a second, a little shaken, my mate is screaming profanities as we realize we've just been rear ended. I tell you what, I'd hate to know what a nasty crash feels like because even just a nudge from behind at 20-30mph gives you a jolt! Anyway I get out of the car, being the calmer one I wanted to make sure the person who crashed into us wasn't going to come all guns blazing at us screaming that it's our fault. Turns out it's this 17 year old kid, only been passed 3 weeks, and he's already apologizing (which you can hear on the footage - which would instantly win my mate the claim if it comes to court, I'd imagine). So me, stood there shaking still, pumped up and full of adrenaline suddenly realise that we have a dashcam #omggreatfootagefortheeditamirite. So I tell the guy, I laugh and say that he's going to be on YouTube and his face drops. He then asks whilst stuttering, "Uhhh... do you have one facing out the back?".

You know what that says to me? He was doing something he shouldn't have been, like texting and driving... hmmmmmm...
And by me saying I have a dashcam, it pried a secondary confession out of him. So I'm going with the unpopular opinion here and going for A.

However, let's say it was big hard Terry from down the pub, 48, bald, with a nice big scar across his cheek who'd got out of the car and didn't seem as friendly as this 17 year old kid who was almost in tears was. I would NOT mention the dashcam.

So I guess my answer is actually C) None of the above. Get a vibe for the situation and person. If they seem sheepish and look guilty or worried, maybe mention it, but keep the dash cam rolling in case they accidentally slip up like the guy who hit us did.

A reason NOT to have GPS. Let's say the accident was due to someone cutting across at traffic lights on red but you were going 5mph over the limit.
You have excellent evidence your light is green BUT you worry about your speed being shown on your dash cam footage. What do you do then?

My dashcam doesn't even have an option for speed so I'd be alright, but if someone had a keen enough eye or you were seriously speeding then someone could potentially still be able to tell anyway. In the UK there's an unwritten grace of 10% +2mph or something that you're allowed due to inaccuracy of cameras and speed-os but they're slowly stopping that with average speed cameras.

 

[DashcamDPR]

So I guess my answer is actually C) None of the above. Get a vibe for the situation and person. If they seem sheepish and look guilty or worried, maybe mention it, but keep the dash cam rolling in case they accidentally slip up like the guy who hit us did.

I'd still say never tell them..... and get a rear camera!!
I just posted in your vid thread but I'll say this, if you're intending to become a regular youtube uploader, GET the rear cam! You'll be surprised what it picks up without you even seeing it yourself!

Twice the amount of idiots for half the driving

 

[SawMaster]

I'd vary based on the situation, though mostly it would be more like "B" providing they didn't see the sign in the back of the workvan or otherwise notice one of my cams. Unless the Police take the cards, my vids go straight to my Lawyers- they are the only ones involved with only my own interests at heart. Everyone else is against me or doesn't care about anything I've been involved in more than a few crashes and incidents on the road before I had cams and I have experienced nearly every kind of reaction short of actual physical violence. No two situations are alike so no single answer will always be the best one except to always CYOA first

Violence is often a social norm among certain kinds of people. You don't know what someone else is going to be like until it's happening. The real decisions aren't made on the road but in the courtroom so that's where your vids belong, but if you feel they will help sway the Police in your favor at the scene you might show the Police what you've got. It is indeed more effective to let someone destroy their own veracity by lying instead of you trying to get them to be honest, but if they are reasonable folk and you feel inclined to help them remain honest, then you might mention your cams but I wouldn't show them the vids as they might then see a way of escaping at least some of the blame. Even you don't know what the cams capture until you see the vids so keep them to yourself

The one instance where I'd intentionally make it known that I had video is if I saw that my cam had failed- the ruse might get them to admit more fault on the scene which would be your best approach in situations like that

Phil