Dash Cams Can Keep You Safer on the Road – Here’s How

Whether you use your car to commute to work or just casually on the weekend, a dash cam is an essential investment. Dash cams are dashboard-mounted cameras that are used to record people’s interactions and encounters when they are out on the road.

Dash cams are very affordable and make for a great investment. Having one will keep you safe and ensure that if you are ever involved in a crash, you can easily prove your innocence (and another driver’s fault).

This post will tell you more about how dash cams can keep you safe on the road.

Selecting Dash Cam

Before explaining how dash cams keep you safe, let’s first cover what you need to think about if you’re planning on buying one. There are lots of dash cams on the market, some better than others. If you’re planning on buying one then it’s absolutely essential that you take steps to ensure you are getting a good deal. One of the best ways of doing this is to read reviews, which will be explained more later on. Be sure to research the retailers and manufacturers of the dashcam you are buying, so you can get a good deal.

Saving Money

Try to save as much money as you can. There is a cost of living crisis sweeping the globe, making things like dashcams unaffordable for a lot of people. No matter how much money you earn (or have set aside) you should be able to find an affordable dash cam. You can use coupons, shop during the sale season, and even buy second-hand. According to the experts over at Dash Cam Discount, something that’s worth noting is the fact that insurance companies will give discounts to drivers who use dash cams. You can, therefore, save money on your insurance by investing in one.

Reading Reviews

If you want to buy yourself a dash cam, then you need to read your chosen product’s reviews before buying it. As mentioned earlier, some dash cams are better than others. Taking steps to ensure the product you buy is the best one on the market and in your price range is absolutely essential. A product’s reviews will give you a very good idea about whether or not it’s worth buying. If a product’s reviews are all negative, then do not buy it.

Careful Use

When you have purchased your dash cam and are setting it up, you need to make sure that you do so carefully. It’s very common for a lot of people to set their dash cams up, and then not test them out. Testing your dash cam should be one of the first things that you do after you install it. Ensure it is not being blocked or obscured by your rear-view mirror and make sure it is not in the way, obstructing your vision. If it obstructs your vision then it could do more harm than good.

Maintaining Memory

Your dash cam’s memory is another thing that you need to think about. Most dash cams use SD cards. If you forget to put an SD card inside your dash cam, then it might not work. If your dash cam doesn’t have an SD card inside of it and you are involved in a collision, you will have nothing to prove your innocence. You also need to regularly clear your SD card out so that it’s not full. Even if you have an SD card inside your dash cam and are involved in a crash, if its memory is full, it won’t be of any use to you.

Legal Claims

Something that’s worth knowing about dash cams is that if you are ever involved in a car accident, having one in your car will make proving your innocence very easy. Before dash cams were invented, drivers had to rely on local CCTV and witnesses. Now, however, they can hand their dashcam footage over to the police and show they were not responsible for causing the accident that they were involved in. Additionally, dashcams make it a lot easier for people to make personal injury claims.

Personal Injury

As mentioned in the last part of the previous section, dashcams make it a lot easier for people to make personal injury claims. When all that could be relied upon was other people’s testimonies, personal injury cases were hard to prove. It was also sometimes difficult for lawyers to get hold of CCTV. Dash cams make lawyers’ lives a lot easier. All they have to do is download their client’s dashcam footage and submit it to the insurance company that they are claiming from. Personal injury claims tend to be resolved a lot quicker today than they used to before.

360 View

One thing that you need to know about dash cams is that they do not capture a full 360 view. What this means is, if you have a dash cam fitted to the front of your car and somebody hits you from behind, it can still be difficult for you to prove the accident wasn’t your fault. Also, if you have a front and back dash cam but somebody runs into the side of your car from an awkward angle, again, you could have trouble proving the accident was the other driver’s fault. If you want full protection, then fit dash cams on all sides of your car, or at least on the front and back.

Accident Prevention

When you have a dash cam, it’s usually visible to other drivers. Sometimes knowing other drivers have dash cams is enough to stop dangerous drivers from behaving recklessly, at least when they’re in the presence of such drivers. You may want to put a sticker or sign on the back of your car that makes it clear you have a dash cam. Doing this could, again, stop dangerous drivers from behaving recklessly around you. It is a legal requirement to do this in some places, too.

How Do Dash Cams Keep You Safe?

There’s no denying it, dash cams keep drivers a lot safer. There are many different reasons for this. In order to truly understand why you need a dash cam, you need to know what these reasons are. Now, this post has explained everything else that you need to know about dash cams, it can move on to explaining the reasons why they keep you safe. Bear in mind though, you need to take steps to protect yourself on the road, too. Learn to drive defensively, follow the speed limit, and always wear your seatbelt.

1. Capturing Evidence

One of the main advantages of having a dash cam in your car is that it will make it easier for you to capture evidence, in case you are involved in an accident. By having a dash cam in your car, you will be able to download evidence and then pass it on to the police. While a dash cam will not protect you in the sense that it’ll stop you from being involved in an accident, it will make claiming compensation easier. Compensation will make it easier for you to live your life after an accident.

2. Monitoring Children

If you are a parent, then your child’s safety is probably one of your main concerns. Eventually, your child is going to grow up and get their first car. When they do, fitting its interior with a dash cam will not only stop them from driving dangerously but also give you the chance to monitor them. Some dash cams can be accessed from one’s phone. You can check your phone and watch what your child is doing in real time.

3. Footage Submission

As mentioned earlier, if you are ever involved in a car accident then you will likely need to submit your dash cam footage to the lawyer you’ve hired. This is so that they can then hand the footage over to the guilty driver’s insurance company. When you own a dash cam, downloading footage is very simple. All you need to do is to plug a cable into your dash cam and connect it to your laptop. You can then download the footage straight to your desktop.

4. Law Enforcement

Sometimes, you have to send evidence to the police. This is necessary if the accident you were involved in was caused by a drunk or dangerous driver (or if somebody was seriously hurt). The police will probably seize your car and your entire dash cam unit in these kinds of situations, though. Make sure you do not remove your SD card or disconnect your dash cam before the police have an opportunity to look through it. If you do, then you could get into a lot of trouble. Tampering with evidence is an arrestable and prosecutable offense. You could be sentenced to prison for it.

5. Documenting Road Trips

If you are planning on going on a road trip, then it’s always a good idea to take a dash cam along with you. A lot of people fail to realize that having a dash cam can also protect them from non-vehicle-related crimes, like robberies for example. If you have a dash cam with you, then it’ll deter thieves and robbers from bothering you when you are driving in unfamiliar places. Also, having a dash cam will make it easier for you to record your road trip, so you can store it and keep it along with your treasured photographs and videos.

6. Recording Surroundings

You can leave your dash cam running overnight when you aren’t using your car. It’s a very good idea to do this if you live in a place where there are a lot of thefts. Also, leaving your dash cam running overnight will make it easier for you to catch anybody guilty of dangerous driving. If anybody hits your car at night and then leaves without giving you their details, you will be able to hand the footage over to the police, get their license plate number, and claim compensation against them.

7. Interior Footage

Something that a lot of people don’t know is that dash cams record what’s going on inside of their cars too. That means that if you have your dash cam running, you’ll be able to capture what people are saying inside your car. If you ever loan your car to anybody or you suspect your partner is cheating, you can go back and look at the dash cam footage and listen to what they were saying in the car. Make sure to buy a dash cam with a microphone if you are interested in recording your car’s interior, as some do not have them.

8. Deterring Thefts

When your car is parked at night, leaving a dash cam running in your car can be a highly effective way of deterring thieves, especially if the dash cam has Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity, and is connected to your mobile device. If you can only access the footage on your dash cam when it’s physically with you, then it might not deter thieves, since if they take the dash cam, they take the evidence of their wrongdoing. If you can access your dash cam’s footage online though, then thieves are unlikely to come anywhere near your car.

9. Safer Driving

Finally, when you have a dash cam you are personally likely to drive a lot safer. After all, if you know that you are being recorded, then you aren’t likely to do anything reckless. Drivers who use dash cams are statistically less likely to be involved in accidents than drivers who are. Make sure that you always follow the speed limit, drive safely, and wear your seatbelt. Learn defensive driving, too. Defensive driving will help you to avoid getting involved in any accidents and will keep you safe if you are in the presence of reckless drivers.

Dash cams are great investments. Owning one can keep you safe, deter thieves, and even improve your driving. If you are planning on buying one, then consider the information given earlier on in this post. Make sure you only ever buy dash cams from reliable brands.