To make dashcams known or hidden?

Would you make it known that you fit dashcams?


  • Total voters
    15
  • Poll closed .
P

Proculeius

Guest
So I've learned that the general consensus of people who own/fit a dashcam is that it's a private thing, to protect themselves on the road. Where if other road users were aware that they were being filmed, some may not take it very well.

Well I've taken the opposite approach to this recently, and have this on my car; http://bit.ly/1WjwPmY
Now it's kind of a social experiment for me, some people have a laugh and others quickly back away from my tail.

What are your thoughts? Would you do this?
 
We have stickers on our trucks but being commercial we have to.
 
I think a warning at the back could be useful, in a "if you're close enough to read this you're being filmed driving dangerously" kind of way.

Some people drive like complete dicks, knowing full well they can get away with it. But if they realise their vehicle, registration number, face, and the way they are driving are all being recorded, their own self-interest might encourage them to behave a bit better.

If I had a rear-facing camera I would definitely highlight the fact. I will probably get round to doing this.
 
Some people drive like complete dicks, knowing full well they can get away with it. But if they realise their vehicle, registration number, face, and the way they are driving are all being recorded, their own self-interest might encourage them to behave a bit better.

I agree, that's why I decided to add the sticker. For the long time I didn't have it, and with my tinted windows, you cant see the camera anyway, however as more of an experiment it's interesting. It makes drivers think about their actions when they know they're being recorded.
 
Yes, I think people will react better to a sticker warning them in advance and letting them decide for themselves how to behave, than they do to being told after an event that they were filmed (which just fuels the argument.)
 
I prefer my cameras not to be seen ( looking at my windscreen now you would not belive me ) and if i got in a accident i would not tell the other part.

My windscreen is pretty spammed at the moment, and i suspect it will keep beeing that way, but i help some ppl with ther gear to make the best of it so more ppl can enjoy the same.
So it is a little of a trade off, then again i assume future dashcams will get smaller and smaller.
And its not like the 3 cameras in the front of my car jump out at ppl and scream look at me, i dont mind parking my car anywhere, but truth be told where i most park it its allso covered by CCTV either my own cctv or my friends gear when i am at his house.

I suspect i will soon start to use parking guard too, but if i do i rhink it will just be on 1 camera, the reaon for this is i dont really care how my car look, but offcourse vandalisem like i suffered 2 times since i moved to this time is 1 reason for me getting a dashcam in the forst place, and not forgetting IP cameras.

BTW i dont have to have 3 cameras in the front now cuz 2 of them is the same camera, but running 2 cameras give me a chance to compare them to eachother with slightly different settings.
 
By way of a heads up. In the UK, insurance companies are directly asking about modifications. More and more this list is expanding.
Basically, anything not in/on your car from the manufacturer is a mod & should be declared.
most insurers don't really care (mine allows 3 'minor' mods & were happy with the dashcam). something that cropped up last year was stickers. It seems that stickers falling are out of favour with insurers as many are perceived to be a distraction or an enticement.
Other drivers might be distracted whilst trying to read your funny bumper sticker, the opportunist thief might be interested in your bog standard car because the stickers suggest top of the range.
It seems that insurers will try anything to wriggle out of paying. Best chack your insurance docs carefully - just in case.
 
Planning for the 'worst case scenario', involving an aggressive nutcase, I don't think it's smart to warn people of the presence of the cams.
It's like locks on doors, they keep honest or lazy people out, but not everyone.

In the remote chance somebody actually wants to steal dash cams, the sticker also identifies where to go shopping.
:)
 
To the casual observer, my car looks much the same as the next, however, it doesn't look like any boy racer's dream car so isn't really likely to get stolen. Having the mobius mounted out of the way possibly means the car won't get broken into by a passing junkie as there's no identifying marks on the windscreen (telltale circles where something was stuck on).
I would've thought that having a sticker on the back would, as dash riposki says, identify the car as a potential target.
 
if i got in a accident i would not tell the other part.
I agree. There's nothing to gain by doing so, and you would lose a big advantage.
Best to 'give them enough rope to hang themselves.'
Let them tell their story as they remember it (or if they want to lie, let them lie.)
Then let the insurers compare their account with the camera footage, and form an opinion.

If you tell the other party about the camera it just gives them a chance to make up a story to work around it.

But this is a different situation to preventing an incident in the first place.
 
Best to 'give them enough rope to hang themselves

Yeah thats what i thing too.

That beeing said wneh i was rearended a while back i did tell the person behind me, but she wasent the one to blame it was the guy who rearended her, and that A-hole i told noothing.
I allso only told the woman as she appeared panicking and a bit shocked, so i just mentioned to tell her "dont worry he will not get avay with it"

And it was no problem the guy admitted blame on the site and thruout the following stuff, and i learned to not rely on a suspect power supply to my rear camera cuz i missed it all :oops:
 
I am one of those who voted yes to keep the camera NOT known to the public. My front camera is in front of my rear view mirror, hardly visible as it blends. Its a semi-glossy finish infront of a mirror. My rear is placed on the rear window two inches from the top. Small camera, but visible. I get this sense when tailgators see the camera, they back off. I have seen a few of them back off when the see the small camera.

Nowadays, I am noticing two to five cameras on my drive to work and back. I didn't notice any until last year on the trip. I kind of take comfort knowing other drivers have camera and if there is an accident, there will be video of the accident as opposed to the agitator of the accident lying. Hopefully for every camera I see, there are two or three more that I can't see.

Strange some of the camera I see during my drive, could be discreet, small form factor, tube shaped but below the rear view mirror with the cable from console of the car.
 
I agree, that's why I decided to add the sticker. For the long time I didn't have it, and with my tinted windows, you cant see the camera anyway, however as more of an experiment it's interesting. It makes drivers think about their actions when they know they're being recorded.

Thinking about it, the last half dozen prangs I've had in my bus were all down to idiots cutting me up by trying to speed past in the wrong lane on roundabouts.
Here, we are talking about a huge, white, bus, some 8metres long, 2.2metres wide & 2.6metres high painted in (what the manufacturer describes as ) ice white. Having a dashcam sticker of any size on the back would seem pretty pointless since all these morons came down the wrong lane, overtaking many other vehicles, at speed - they would never even spot a sticker. Heck, I doubt any of them would spot a BBC outside broadcast camera mounted on my roof!
I guess the ONLY ones who might take note are the tailgaters - but then, anyone sitting that close to your bumper will most likely not care anyway.
And someone who makes a habit of tailgating will most likely know that plod don't give a crap about video footage.
 
I never want people to know I have a camera. The behavior of people changes when they know they are being video taped or recorded. I say use your camera as a safety measure to prove what happens and defend yourself...no need to try to be proactive with it to prevent anything.
 
mercer2.jpg


This truck passed me a few weeks ago. I assume he has one of the home security camera systems on his truck and trailer, or one of the multi-cam systems.
think I remember seeing some of the cams.
It's possible for him to do this since he owns the truck and trailer, and would use the same trailer all the time.
 
For commercial vehicles I think it's a good thing to have signs because they are such an easy target for chancers. People know that a commercial vehicle, especially and HGV will most likely be fully insured, the company and contact info will be displayed on the vehicle usually so they will try an off-the-books settlement first and depending on the vehicle they could damage another car without suffering any damage themselves - so easy to put a fraudulent claim in. We get them all the time including the common "something fell out of the back of the truck and hit my car". If they think it's got cameras then I'd assume they'd think twice about putting a claim in.

The truck of ours which has a four camera setup has already paid for itself after an owner of a brand new XC90 tried to claim we had reversed into his car. The cameras proved nothing happened and suddenly there was no further contact from them. Unfortuantely, the front facing only cameras trucks probably wouldn't have helped in this instance.

As for private cars, I don't want anyone knowing there's cameras installed for three reasons:

1. I don't want to create a situation where they try and take the camera after an incident and I'd end up with an assault charge by stopping them.
2. I don't want the police to take the cameras and then "lose" it and there goes my proof of what really happened.
3. From past experience the majority of people are quiet honest at the scene and then suddenly become lying b*sta*rds when it comes to the insurance claim. I want these people to be prosecuted for fraud so if they don't know about the cameras then there's a better chance they will lie and can be caught out. Our insurance brokers and underwriters are very aggressive with going after people who submit fraudulent claims.
 
Living in a big city, I have people tailgate so close on a daily basis it's insane. It's normal to have someone ride about one car length behind me on the freeway, then when they go around me like they're some kind of race car driver, they get much closer. I've seriously considered an LED light for the rear glass that I can hit for a few seconds that states they are being recorded.
 
For commercial vehicles I think it's a good thing to have signs because they are such an easy target for chancers. People know that a commercial vehicle, especially and HGV will most likely be fully insured, the company and contact info will be displayed on the vehicle usually so they will try an off-the-books settlement first and depending on the vehicle they could damage another car without suffering any damage themselves - so easy to put a fraudulent claim in. We get them all the time including the common "something fell out of the back of the truck and hit my car". If they think it's got cameras then I'd assume they'd think twice about putting a claim in.

The truck of ours which has a four camera setup has already paid for itself after an owner of a brand new XC90 tried to claim we had reversed into his car. The cameras proved nothing happened and suddenly there was no further contact from them. Unfortuantely, the front facing only cameras trucks probably wouldn't have helped in this instance.

As for private cars, I don't want anyone knowing there's cameras installed for three reasons:

1. I don't want to create a situation where they try and take the camera after an incident and I'd end up with an assault charge by stopping them.
2. I don't want the police to take the cameras and then "lose" it and there goes my proof of what really happened.
3. From past experience the majority of people are quiet honest at the scene and then suddenly become lying b*sta*rds when it comes to the insurance claim. I want these people to be prosecuted for fraud so if they don't know about the cameras then there's a better chance they will lie and can be caught out. Our insurance brokers and underwriters are very aggressive with going after people who submit fraudulent claims.

I'm working on just this scenario for a new product. Thanks for the info.

JG
 
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