Street Guardian Saved the Day!

[RCPilot]

Hi guys! Thought I'd share details of our ill fated desert trip where our Street Guardian dash cam saved the day. (The date on the video is wrong as I didn't set the date on the dash cam. The accident was about 2 years ago.)

I was driving with my wife in the passenger seat. This happened in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Edwards Air Force Base. Both vehicles were traveling under the speed limit as we approached the blind turn. The Honda was going too fast and could not get back over to his side of the road quickly enough. We were all the way against the right edge of the road at the time of impact. The other driver honestly appeared to think we were on his side of the road. But the video clearly showed that was not the case. The other vehicle, a Honda Ridgeline, was totaled. We were both stranded in the desert for several hours until we could be towed out. During that time the dash cam kept recording and overwrote the videos before and after the accident. Fortunately, the impact was detected by the Street Guardian dash cam and it locked and saved the crash file. Thank you Street Guardian! The insurance company for the driver of the Honda accepted fault for the accident and paid for the damages.

 

[Deacon]

Man, you came like 904nm from a much worse fate!

 

[HonestReview]

Hi guys! Thought I'd share details of our ill fated desert trip where our Street Guardian dash cam saved the day. (The date on the video is wrong as I didn't set the date on the dash cam. The accident was about a year ago.)

I was driving with my wife in the passenger seat. This happened in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Edwards Air Force Base. Both vehicles were traveling under the speed limit as we approached the blind turn. The Honda was going too fast and could not get back over to his side of the road quickly enough. We were all the way against the right edge of the road at the time of impact. The other driver honestly appeared to think we were on his side of the road. But the video clearly showed that was not the case. The other vehicle, a Honda Ridgeline, was totaled. We were both stranded in the desert for several hours until we could be towed out. During that time the dash cam kept recording and overwrote the videos before and after the accident. Fortunately, the impact was detected by the Street Guardian dash cam and it locked and saved the crash file. Thank you Street Guardian! The insurance company for the driver of the Honda accepted fault for the accident and paid for the damages.

Looks like several factors at play:

1. Very Narrow Road, generally wide enough for one car at a time, without moving over to make room for cars traveling in opposite direction.
2. Honda Ridgeline clearly speeding around the corner.
3. Video never lies. Perception of events will vary, but your video demonstrated that you were indeed "in the right".

I've had dash cam video save me headaches twice now on minor accidents. You don't realize how such a small investment can pay dividends until you're in that situation.

General Question: How come the ridgeline was totaled? Appears he merely side swiped your vehicle from the video.

 

[RCPilot]

The left side of the Honda was dented in pretty deep. His left rear wheel locked up with my left front wheel ripping out his rear axle.

 

[kamkar]

the dash cam kept recording and overwrote the videos before and after the accident

That sound like you have a fairly small memory card, you should at least have 128 GB in a single channel system
Okay you can make do with 64 GB but really with the prices today on memory cards i say go big.

 

[RCPilot]

Man, you came like 904nm from a much worse fate!

904nm is my evil twin.

 

[RCPilot]

That sound like you have a fairly small memory card, you should at least have 128 GB in a single channel system
Okay you can make do with 64 GB but really with the prices today on memory cards i say go big.

The dash cam I used was one that I normally don't use except for when I'm traveling to use in rental cars so I don't need to pull out my regular cam from my car. I almost forgot it that day and grabbed it last minute along with the first SD card I could find. I think it was only 32 GB card. I normally run 128 or 256 GB in my regular cams.

Take away is to always turn on the impact sensor save option to save videos. There was so much going on trying to get someone to come out to us in the middle of nowhere that I forgot to turn off the dash cam and we had the truck running for hours to keep the AC on as it was very hot out there.

 

[kamkar]

TBH i most often advocate for not having G-sensor on while driving, but apparently American dirt roads are more even than paved Danish roads
When i have tested G-sensor on while driving, or been forced to use that as there is no OFF option for it, in general i dont get too many false alerts these days, but back in the day it was a concern, also not least since back then a 32GB card was about the norm as larger was expensive.
Today i would just set the sensitivity for it to low, that way only actual events like yours should register, even with my some times rather frisky driving style.
But otherwise i am a believer in large memory cards and not having to worry anything will be lost to recycling in among the regular drive files anytime soon.

That guy was in a hurry for sure, he should leave rally driving to better suited vehicles and European drivers,,,,,, maybe that guy Kenny from the block

 

[kamkar]

I remember my first proper dashcam the Lukas LK-7500, even on low G-sensor it triggered just about all the time and that just from my driving style ( which was far from as bad as it have been like in the 90ties ), but fortunately you could set custom trigger values for all 3 axis on that camera, and so i spent a couple of days doing that, until i just said screw it and turned off the G-sensor.
I still have a few 64GB memory card in my test suite of cards, but i am using 128 and 256GB cards in the permanent cameras, and are also moving the test suite in that direction as older / smaller cards fail.
It is not cheap, but i can manage it on my Danish pension + some brands also contribute with cards when they send me a new camera to beat on, and after all it is sort of a hobby for me, so some cost is to be expected.

 

[HonestReview]

The dash cam I used was one that I normally don't use except for when I'm traveling to use in rental cars so I don't need to pull out my regular cam from my car. I almost forgot it that day and grabbed it last minute along with the first SD card I could find. I think it was only 32 GB card. I normally run 128 or 256 GB in my regular cams.

Take away is to always turn on the impact sensor save option to save videos. There was so much going on trying to get someone to come out to us in the middle of nowhere that I forgot to turn off the dash cam and we had the truck running for hours to keep the AC on as it was very hot out there.

Hopefully no one was hurt, although I'm sure the lawyers were involved. Clearly, there was some level of whiplash that took place, if no broken bones or life threatening injuries.

I do the same with rentals, by taking along a front camera with a small memory card. Although, I probably should get a larger one!

 

[RCPilot]

@HonestReview - Fortunately nobody was hurt beyond minor aches the next day like you feel from over doing it at the gym. No lawyers involved. His insurance paid for all the damages to our rental car. We were lucky in that we were in a huge heavy SUV and slowed quite a bit before impact. The way the vehicles hit resulted in the energy being absorbed over a relatively long duration by crushing along the side of the vehicle and tearing out suspension parts. If we would have hit head-on the rapid deceleration would not have been fun.

The reason using a G sensor is important is that in a severe accident the driver can be incapacitated. Even with a large memory card if the vehicle is left on by tow driver or in the storage lot, there is a chance the video can be overwritten. My heart sank when I went to load the memory card and only saw video well after the crash time. Then I found the video that was saved in another folder by g sensor and was a happy man.

 

[kamkar]

I feel with 128GB for each camera in a system is plenty of space for regular recordings, but of course parking mode files can eat up a lot of space, and i suppose you could crash far down a mountainside and not be found anytime soon.
But in Denmark there is very few cases of someone ( often a kid ) crashing during the night, only to be found by someone on the way to work the next day,,,,,, and not really any mountainsides to go down in this little flat country.
My one friend and family relations have all been told in case i have a severe crash to go and retrieve memory cards in my car.

Danes are,,,, or at least was when i was young, told to kill the power to any crashed vehicle as one of the first things to do at a accident scene. ( i think many new cars will also do this automatic these days )

Otherwise G sensor on while driving, it is by no means bad if it can be set to a adequate low sensitivity where only a "severe" crash would set it off.

 

[HonestReview]

@HonestReview - Fortunately nobody was hurt beyond minor aches the next day like you feel from over doing it at the gym. No lawyers involved. His insurance paid for all the damages to our rental car. We were lucky in that we were in a huge heavy SUV and slowed quite a bit before impact. The way the vehicles hit resulted in the energy being absorbed over a relatively long duration by crushing along the side of the vehicle and tearing out suspension parts. If we would have hit head-on the rapid deceleration would not have been fun.

Whiplash is a bummer. Been in a few accidents. One very very very serious.

The driver was reckless and had little regard for others on the road. Your car will definitely have suffered diminished value. But without a lawyer, I am sure they may be hard to get.

You're pretty nice to "suck it up" and not involve a lawyer. I would think with this drivers disregard for safety you would have had no sympahy.

The reason using a G sensor is important is that in a severe accident the driver can be incapacitated. Even with a large memory card if the vehicle is left on by tow driver or in the storage lot, there is a chance the video can be overwritten. My heart sank when I went to load the memory card and only saw video well after the crash time. Then I found the video that was saved in another folder by g sensor and was a happy man.

G Sensor is important, but you also don't want to rely upon it. In the event the dash cam malfunctions and doesn't flag the video, you don't want the footage overwritten. Having a large card will at least give you a day or so for either you, family member, or friend to get to the car and eject the SD card.

Just recently, I installed a Dash Camera in a lady's car who is in her 60s. She wanted it to 12V socket. Someone hit her car and I had set to high quality on a 128GB card. 3 days later she comes to me and says can you pull off video. Well no I cannot. It got overwritten. I dropped it down from 4k to 1080p to at least give her a 2-3 day window from now on. Emphasizing if you're ever in an accident REMOVE POWER. As the collision wasn't hard enough to trigger G-Sensor.

 

[kamkar]

When i was rear ended though i had 1 car in between me and the idiot i felt it too for a while, but nothing permanent.
I did fall off my quad bike at mere jogging pace, and i think i broke my tail bone, had problems sitting down or lying in bed on my back for some weeks, and since then if i slouch in the office chair i still can feel it, but now over a decade later it is not too bad.
Probably also have some things in my feet thats not grown back together the right way, and i also have a few scars that would make you think " was the doctor drunk when he made those" but it is actually my own handy work, and i am not much of a seamstress.

 

[HonestReview]

When i was rear ended though i had 1 car in between me and the idiot i felt it too for a while, but nothing permanent.
I did fall off my quad bike at mere jogging pace, and i think i broke my tail bone, had problems sitting down or lying in bed on my back for some weeks, and since then if i slouch in the office chair i still can feel it, but now over a decade later it is not too bad.
Probably also have some things in my feet thats not grown back together the right way, and i also have a few scars that would make you think " was the doctor drunk when he made those" but it is actually my own handy work, and i am not much of a seamstress.

Accidents are no laughing matter. I've been in a roll over where the car flipped and rolled about 6-8 times before coming to a stop upside on the roof. Can't say that was the highlight of my day. I was a passenger in the car.

 

[kamkar]

I was once a passenger in a stolen VW golf GTI, the driver lost control due to speed in a fairly open L bend in the road, the car spun out, turned 180 degrees and hit a tree on the inside of the bend, the side of the car where i was sitting was caved in about a foot or so, and i was of course showered in glass.
First and only time i have been a passenger in a stolen car, and it was also a contributing reason to me stopping with the alcohol at a fairly young age ( mid 20ties ) so something good did come of it, just not for the cars owner.

 

[Deacon]

Otherwise G sensor on while driving, it is by no means bad if it can be set to a adequate low sensitivity where only a "severe" crash would set it off.

They seem to be on SG cams. To be honest I wish there were a parking mode option that door dings would be captured.

 

[SawMaster]

I've had some G-sensors work marginally well, one excellently, and most were useless. It should be relied on without your testing how well it works as there's some variation from cam to cam and your unit may be the different one from all the others. I think most will save a severe impact but probably best to pull the plug after you're certain at least one 'loop' cycle has passed to allow for a 'last file corrupted' scenario which could happen if the supercaps or cam battery were damaged in the crash.

Jokiin's penchant for perfection with his cams seems to pay off well here, as I don't recall hearing or seeing even one example where the g-sensor didn't work in a crash with any of the SG cams I can't say that about any other cam manufacturer.

Phil

 

[HonestReview]

I've had some G-sensors work marginally well, one excellently, and most were useless. It should be relied on without your testing how well it works as there's some variation from cam to cam and your unit may be the different one from all the others. I think most will save a severe impact but probably best to pull the plug after you're certain at least one 'loop' cycle has passed to allow for a 'last file corrupted' scenario which could happen if the supercaps or cam battery were damaged in the crash.

Jokiin's penchant for perfection with his cams seems to pay off well here, as I don't recall hearing or seeing even one example where the g-sensor didn't work in a crash with any of the SG cams I can't say that about any other cam manufacturer.

Phil

I still would always pull power after accident. Just never know for certain if impact registered and last thing you want is camera to loop record and erase the video. Exactly what happened to someone I know. Put in some Rexing V1 they bought, set to 4K on 128GB card, and next day she got backed into. Not enough to register G-Sensor on Medium. She contacts me 3 days later and ****s long since loop recorded.

I lowered quality to 1080p to give few extra days, but too little too late. She never pulled power and I explained that to her, too.