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Using your mobile phone as a dash camera


Frederick

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I have recently found an app that permits the mobile phone to be used as a dash camera . It appears lots on insurers will give reduced premiums for there use . The app saves segments of in my case 3 minutes which are saved and listed to view and even email should Police or your insurance need to see it . The app I use is free . Given the love of driving in the middle of the road a lot of drivers in France have and seem to wait to the last second before they move over . I will definatly use it in France . They are on Android Playstore to download and Apple must do the same
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I used a paid one my Android phone for a while. The only down side is that you have to keep your phone charging whilst using it. Having the screen on eats the battery. It also crashed occasionally which either meant stopping to re-set it or prodding it whilst driving. Complicates things too if you use the phone for GPS and listening to talking books whilst driving.

I gave up in the end and bought a dedicated one from Amazon which just loops on an SD card. Picture is quite good too.
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A stand-alone dashcam can be bought for as little as £30 or so for a full HD camera.

IMO it is a mistake to tell your insurers you have one in advance. They will expect it to be in use at all times and in the event of a crash will immediately demand the footage. What if the footage could be interpreted differently to your statement? what if it shows you making a minor transgression? it could be enough to throw a debateable claim fully against you.

The problem is that many dashcams use a wide-angle lense which distorts things somewhat and skews perception of speeds and distances when reviewing the video.

In this clip, you could see the guy coming a long way off, but in real life it was not so clear cut and was a very, very near miss. Given the mood I was in that day, if I hadnt had others in the car I would have happily delayed my braking a fraction and plowed into the guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSqGGN2jWNE

Same scenario here....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy85bR2VZPI

Doesnt look as close in the vid as it was in real life.

(Apologies for the pottymouth.)

Best to keep it quiet and if the need arises and the footage helps you, THEN you pass it on to your insurers.

I have one in each car - its a small price to pay for definative proof if needed. The few accidents I have been involved in have all been other peoples fault - some people happily admit blame and things go smoothly, but having been left in a he said / she said situation and lost NCB and accrued considerable expense due to other peoples arrogance and inability to admit they made a mistake, I will be certain to use dashcams to prevent that happening again.

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