Gotcha

[Gazzak]

Due to a few close calls on my travels recently I decided to try out a dash cam type app on my phone. I liked it so purchased the full version for a couple of pounds, and now use it on every journey.

This morning I was going past a school and had to stop at lights. Whilst I was stopped a green laser was shone across my face for a few seconds. I saw the group of kids who were doing it so stopped and told them how bl**dy dangerous it was. They laughed and treated me with utter contempt. I drove off and forgot about it after a few minutes, including the fact that the dash cam would have seen the group as I passed by.

So lunchtime today I went for a walk with a colleague and he told me about a little road rage incident he saw this morning, and BAM, I remembered the dash cam. I checked the footage and got this one of the group responsible.



Apologies for the size.

So I contacted the school, told them what happened and provided the evidence. Hopefully about now there's a group of 5 boys being given a lecture on the dangers of laser pointers on busy roads outside of schools. No doubt tomorrow morning I'll get a few rocks thrown at me!

[3fingersalute]

Nice!! So how does that work? Your phone is in a cradle and recording all the time? Do you have to start the app each time you're in the car and stop when you get out or what? Very interesting stuff.....

btw, it must have really blinded you......you're driving on the wrong side of the road!

[Webhead]

Sorry to hear about the incident but using your phone as a dash cam is a cool idea.

[Gazzak]

btw, it must have really blinded you......you're driving on the wrong side of the road!

First time I've genuinely laughed today, thank you!

Yeah it just sits in the cradle as it would when you're running sat nav, start the app, press record and off you go. It records 10 minute chunks of video and after a certain % of GB is used it wipes the oldest. If it detects a crash it will record an extra 30 seconds then stop.

There are so many douchebags on the road over here now that it's almost a necessity, didn't expect to find them on the pavements too!

[NooNoo]

I have decided I have a use for the dashcam... the first time ever in my entire driving life, I got a speeding ticket from an "attended" speed trap. This is they are supposed to warnings up and clearly visible. I remember the trip because it was between Christmas and New Year... I don't remember seeing anything at all. The law says I can only ask for evidence of being properly set up if I go to court.

I don't deny I was 7mph over the limit - I was late for a job, but I wouldn't have missed a speed trap sign. So that would have been useful if I could save my previous journeys elsewhere.

As for the juvenile delinquents... yeah we even have them in the village here. The chavs sit outside the part time fire station and abuse people walking by. We no longer have a policeman so we all just pray for a fire and hope they are too stoned to get out of the way of the fire engine....

[Larommi]

I want a dash cam and ones that turn on facing left and right whenever I flip on a blinker.

There is a guy in the next town over that loves to sue people and he creates accidents to do it. No one can prove it so he continues. Twice he almost got me. Once he was on the side of the road with his hazzards. He waited until I entered the intersection to make a right turn and he floored it to try and hit me.

The second time was a two lane off ramp turning onto a 2 lane divided road. I was in the far right, making a legal right turn into the far right lane and he changed lanes in the middle of the intersection to try and hit me.

He got one of my friends and totaled her car, sued her and won his case because she could not prove he changed lanes in the intersection.

Plus, I have had some really neat close calls that rival those Russian dash cam videos. :P

[Webhead]

I think I need a dash cam now.

I wonder what would be better,... like a Google Glass type of thing? Or just a plain dash cam?

[Webhead]

Whoa, I just found this: http://carcamapp.com/

Plus I have a mount already. Gonna give this a try.

[3fingersalute]

First time I've genuinely laughed today, thank you!

Yeah it just sits in the cradle as it would when you're running sat nav, start the app, press record and off you go. It records 10 minute chunks of video and after a certain % of GB is used it wipes the oldest. If it detects a crash it will record an extra 30 seconds then stop.

There are so many douchebags on the road over here now that it's almost a necessity, didn't expect to find them on the pavements too!

That's awesome, but i would need it to be automated because there's no way I'd remember to turn it on every time I got in and out of the car.

[CeeBee]

Interesting concept, but with so many idiots on the street you may need 360 degrees field of view.
About a month ago I had to make a sudden stop in traffic on the highway. The car behind me was at least 50ft away when I hit the brakes so had plenty of space to stop. Yet it didn't.