Don't do that, I'm really enjoying it!
You know that feeling when you want to take off and nuke your own thread from orbit
It has probably answered your question though, in a roundabout way, even if the conclusions are unsatisfying.
If you see potential threats everywhere then you are living in fear.
I think you're confusing threat with risk. There are undoubtedly risks in pretty much everything we do, but to acknowledge and mitigate those risks is not an act of fear. There is a risk of head injury when riding a bike so I may choose to wear a helmet to mitigate it if I feel the risk warrants it but equally there are times when the risk of head injury is low so I don't wear a helmet (let's not do that whole thing again). There is no point when I am afraid of a head injury, well not until my head is on course for a rock anyway.
Likewise there is a small risk of being on the receiving end of a knob head driver so depending on your view of that risk a dash cam is a way of mitigating your exposure to it. A dash cam doesn't change the risk, but it may change the outcome. Nobody's getting into their car in fear of being in a crash, but to get into a car without admitting the small risk of something happening is living in denial. It's up to the individual to decide how to deal with it. So I'm not arguing for universal dash cams - the equivalent of an aircraft black box might make more sense to record vehicle data for subsequent examination, but only in the event of a significant incident.
Using a dash cam is treating every other road user as a potential threat. Why would you feel the need to film them if they are not a threat? If you see potential threats everywhere then you are living in fear.
Pretty much everything on the road is a potential threat (or risk) - be it other road users, slippery patches, rubbish, pedestrians, you name it. It's a fact - you don't have to live in fear for this to be the case.
You could say exactly the same thing about insurance. Dashcams are simply extra insurance - fit and forget, until needed. They don't even save the footage for very long as they overwrite everything anyway.
That's for cars... I don't have one but want to get one. On the bike I do have one - as a cyclist in a busy city I find it more important, I personally have experienced many close calls and witnessed lots of driving that I felt was dangerous enough to be worth reporting to the police. Is it a waste of time? Perhaps. Might it make the roads slightly safer? Perhaps. Has seeing it defused a couple of road rage situations? Yes. Does it make me feel slightly safer? Yes.
reckon that being in an accident where the other party lies about it for gain or to avoid consequences is probably a less than once in a lifetime occurrence on average.
What's your data set for that spurious claim ?
What’s your data set for that spurious claim ?
Right there:
I reckon
It was an opinion... everyone's entitled to their own opinion on this matter! Same with helmets etc etc, it's a personal thing at the end of the day.
I wonder if the people who regard dashcams as a waste of time don't like insurance, black boxes, tachographs, CCTV, seatbelts or airbags? No secondary safety system will prevent the bad thing happening but they sure lead to different outcomes within the laws of physics or statute. I wouldn't even hire a car without fitting my dashcam to it. There's no downside, at all.
What’s your data set for that spurious claim ?
The smiley was intended to convey that I made those comments tongue in cheek. 😉
Car threads are so serious.
The consequences can be serious as well .
The consequences can be serious as well .
The consequences of car threads on STW? I doubt it, unless you consider a few middle age, middle class men having their noses out of joint to be serious.
I have no problem with people fitting cameras to their cars, I used to have one, the only time it might have been useful, the other driver spoke to my insurance company and confirmed my description of the situation, and basically hung herself out to dry.
I am, however against them fitted from new, because it’s inevitable that something will go wrong with the camera or it’s installation, and it’s inevitable that it’ll cost a huge amount of money to get it fixed, and impossible to remove from the car. Software updates for infotainment systems have this issue, mine’s been nagging me for an update, for as long as I’ve had it, my dealer tried to update it at the last service, and the download kept failing. I’ve personally seen the entire infotainment system on a nearly new Mercedes fail for no obvious reason, I don’t have enough trust in manufacturers to fit such a system that will last the life of a car.
I wonder if the people who regard dashcams as a waste of time don’t like insurance, black boxes, tachographs, CCTV, seatbelts or airbags?
I think all of those are great ideas. In fact, I'd like to see compulsory "black boxes" for all vehicles, fitted with speed limiters. While I don't necessarily regard a dashcam as a waste of time it's so far down my list of road safety measures that I've never considered buying or fitting one. I guess that, if I was buying a new car and one was fitted, I'd be happy to use it.
