Go troppo for dash-cams: road safety expert

[Road_Warrior]

ITT we talk about flying cars



http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...257BC50004B79E

EACH week brings the world a fresh batch of grainy Russian dash-cam videos showing drivers breaking the law – or their cars – in painful detail.

Now an Australian safety expert is encouraging Australian drivers to do the same.

Shane Richardson, the forensic engineering-based managing director of road safety consultancy Delta-V Experts, wants Australian drivers to think about adding dash-cams to their cars to help insurance companies and police correctly point the finger of blame.

He said this would help supplement information automatically gathered by a car in a crash.

“Foremost to every vehicle at the moment, if you’ve got an airbag in the vehicle, there’s a control module,” Dr Richardson told a Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia road safety conference in Melbourne last week .

“Now that control module, because of some legislation in the US, is now able to be interrogated in some cars. So you can now look at the last five seconds of what was happening before that airbag has deployed,” he said.

Dr Richardson said all insurance companies had to do to extract information from the car was to buy a translator box that plugged into the car’s onboard diagnostics port – or cut into the car and extract the module.

“You can extract some really good information about what the vehicle was doing,” Dr Richardson said.

This included longitudinal acceleration, and longitudinal and lateral speeds.

“You can tell a lot of information about how a vehicle has crashed,” he said.

“What could you personally do? You may have seen lots of Russian video recorders in cars – there are lots of them out there, and there are lots of people who have access to them and could fit them.”

He showed an example of video of an incident caught on another vehicle’s dash-cam in which the driver who crashed claimed he was travelling at a much lower speed than the video showed – 90km/h versus an indicated 118km/h in a 100km/h zone shortly before the crash occurred.

“For your own peace of mind, please consider getting, or at least fitting, something to your vehicle (that records video).

“For nothing else it is worthwhile in terms of reconstructing and analysing (a collision) from the additional information (from the video) that’s kept there.

“Police and other people that work in this area are using sources from CCT (closed-circuit television) cameras.

“I would encourage you to consider one, that in your vehicle if you have a good airbag control module, it is likely that someone can extract that information and work out what caused that airbag’s deployment – so big brother can monitor you for that.

“But I don’t think we should shy away from that ... but be aware that you can be interrogated for what speed you were doing – and I would encourage you to put an event-recording camera in your vehicle,” Dr Richardson said.

“They are really useful in saying here’s what happened in the crash – don’t write the story, have a look, here’s the video of the crash that occurred.”

So whose got one? I've never really considered them myself but after some idocy this morning I'm tempted.

[ebv8]

i got one but it runs a power wire from the cig lighter to the unit and i hate messy wiring so i only connect it if i'm driving in heavy traffic.
i want to hard wire it but don't want to pull the dash apart on my new car
plus in 4 months of having one I have only ever taped junkies walking in the middle of crown st wollongong with blank faces wondering why a car is beeping at them.

[mik]

I have been thinking about getting one, I have been hit twice while stationary, not to mention countless other times I have had close calls over the years in cars and trucks, the numbers are against you if you spend enough time on the road.

[2011G6E]

They're getting a lot cheaper. Not a bad idea to have one.

In Russia a huge problem is people staging accidents in front of you to get at your insurance...a memorable one is some guy waiting to cross the road and quite visibly jumping onto the bonnet while the car was moving pretty slowly. He then rolled off and lay in front of the car putting on the biggest acting job since the last Oscar winner.

If it helped you get out of a false claim against you, or you could point at it and show what speed you were really doing or what actually happened in a minor accident that wasn't your fault, it would be worth it.

A workmate used to have one he would put down in the corner of the windscreen on the locomotives we drive...this was at a time when near misses with idiots at level crossings seemed to come in a big bunch. It showed time, date, GPS position, speed, and all the other details.
One night I worked with him, and when we got back to the station, they claimed we had taken "at least half an hour or more" since our sign on time to call for a light out of the yard. My workmate said "Wait a minute", and pulled out the camera, which showed we got a green light at a time precisely 16 minutes after our sign on time, which is actually pretty fast given we have ten minutes allowed at the start of the shift for sign on and briefing. We never heard any more about the matter...but they did put out a directive a while later banning employees putting such cameras in the loco when on duty...

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

but they did put out a directive a while later banning employees putting such cameras in the loco when on duty...

What a bunch of douches they are then.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

They're getting a lot cheaper. Not a bad idea to have one.

In Russia a huge problem is people staging accidents in front of you to get at your insurance...a memorable one is some guy waiting to cross the road and quite visibly jumping onto the bonnet while the car was moving pretty slowly. He then rolled off and lay in front of the car putting on the biggest acting job since the last Oscar winner.

If it helped you get out of a false claim against you, or you could point at it and show what speed you were really doing or what actually happened in a minor accident that wasn't your fault, it would be worth it.

A workmate used to have one he would put down in the corner of the windscreen on the locomotives we drive...this was at a time when near misses with idiots at level crossings seemed to come in a big bunch. It showed time, date, GPS position, speed, and all the other details.
One night I worked with him, and when we got back to the station, they claimed we had taken "at least half an hour or more" since our sign on time to call for a light out of the yard. My workmate said "Wait a minute", and pulled out the camera, which showed we got a green light at a time precisely 16 minutes after our sign on time, which is actually pretty fast given we have ten minutes allowed at the start of the shift for sign on and briefing. We never heard any more about the matter...but they did put out a directive a while later banning employees putting such cameras in the loco when on duty...

Most of our locos (all new ones) have a video camera built in to the dashboard that is always recording. Plus all locos are GPS logged, so all live run crews in the office can see where we are 24/7.
Banning crews from putting their own cameras on tha dashboard is pathetic, but most railway 'safety' has gone overboard these days.

[nstg8a]

I think the Russian dash cams are as much about avoiding police corruption as insurance fraud, apparently its pretty common for coppers to supplement their income with 'frivolous' tickets, paid in cash of course.

[peterljohnson55]

I have been thinking of getting one, but at this stage have other financial priorities. However, when I do I would like to get the system that has dual cameras, front and rear, which are in synch. I get fed up of tail-gaters, especially those truckies who like to intimidate drivers to get out of 'their' way. I think they are $300 plus.

[|Nate]

I've got two cameras in my car, had 1 for over a year now and added a second one 2 months ago.

The front one is a VicoVation TF2+ Premium .
The rear one is a Blackvue DR400-G Revision 1 (Old front camera)

It's a great security to have on your vehicle, also funny to look back and reminisce on the idiots you have faced :P

If you're seriously considering buying a Dash cam for your car, I suggest buying from these guys. They've been good to deal with and you get the security of an Australian seller.

I've been watching Russian crashes on YouTube for years now, it never gets old. Half my subscriptions are to channels who release new compilations every week.
It's staggering how many accidents there are, their road toll is something like 30,000+ a year.

[No.6]

I have a dash cam installed. Its not the greatest or the most expensive. From memory it cost $60, shows date and time, has motion detection and infrared for night time driving. Does the job, but i will eventually upgrade to a hd camera later on.

[Matty4]

I've had one in my car for almost 3 years now. Took it out of my old Terri and hard wired it into the Jeep. Records as soon as the ignition is switched on.
haven't needed to extract any footage yet to save myself or someone else, but it is there "just in case."

I like the idea above of a rear facing one, so I might retire my old one to the rear and get a new latest and greatest for the front, and then get a couple more for my wifes car and my work van too.

[ebv8]

there is a new cheapy out called the i1000, it can stick flat on the screen with a rotating camera plus also has a rear camera and they are about $50US
My current one is very nasty and the motion detection doesn't really work and to avoid turning it on I took the battery out and now it turns on/off with the ignition so no need to turn it on but i need to hard wire it and when i do i'll hard wire my phone charger and relocate my cradle so my cig lighter is free to run anything else i choose

[peteypete]

I have a cheap $60 ebay one. Works fine, never had a problem. I look at it as extra insurance.
I've heard that in the near future some companies are going to offer cheaper premiums if you have a dash cam installed...

[Mr G8]

I have a few, using the better one now in the G8, have recorded quiet a few "mishaps" with it.

[zilo]

Call me stupid or on a death wish but...

I video'ed an undercover traffic cop breaking multiple rules, intimidating drivers, egging drivers to speed by tailgating etc on the Geelong rd one late afternoon.

I flashed my lights at him, we both pulled over and I told him I was going to report his bad behaviour.

I did and got a call back from his sergeant thanking me for the video and that disciplinary action had taken place.

He was based at Corio.

[Towie 1962]

That's a good one zilo, its good to show that the undercover cops are not a law on their own and must obey the road laws like the rest of us.