Dashcam - A Hinderance For Performance Car Drivers?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
A surprising number of halos ;) pose a question - if one were nabbed for being over enthusiastic, what powers do plod have/need to confiscate the footage?

It could obviously contain evidence but as one of probably quite a few personal belongings in the vehicle I wouldn't have thought it was "there for taking" so to speak.

A genuine question btw
 
A surprising number of halos ;) pose a question - if one were nabbed for being over enthusiastic, what powers do plod have/need to confiscate the footage?

It could obviously contain evidence but as one of probably quite a few personal belongings in the vehicle I wouldn't have thought it was "there for taking" so to speak.

A genuine question btw

As with entering your home I would imagine a warrant is needed ;)
 
A surprising number of halos ;) pose a question - if one were nabbed for being over enthusiastic, what powers do plod have/need to confiscate the footage?

It could obviously contain evidence but as one of probably quite a few personal belongings in the vehicle I wouldn't have thought it was "there for taking" so to speak.

A genuine question btw

I believe if they stop you they have to tell you why and that determines the powers of search and seizure. If its an RTC or person related accident I would imagine the memory card would be seized but for a bit of spirited driving I doubt it unless it was considered DD as there are already prosecutions where the drivers/riders own footage has convicted them
 
I've been meaning to gat a dashcam for a few months and finally narrowed it down to either a Transcend 200 or 220. The only plus for the 220 is that it has the "parking collision" camera option but it also comes with "lane departure warning" , "collision Prevention" and GPS which I really don't want. Popped into my local Halfords this afternoon with a view to buying one of them but as it's only a small outlet they only stocked Nextbase dashcams. I asked if it was possible to switch off the "speed" display on these units but I might as well have asked if it was raining in China.
Anybody on here know if it's possible to disable the speed display ? not really interested if it is raining in China or not.
 
Best I've seen is the Road Angel one. That's what I'll get
 
I bought a cheap one off eBay, it was about £35. Front & Rear cams.

It's been in the car constantly for about 18 months now. Doesn't have GPS or speed etc, but the 32GB card I put it will last a few weeks worth of footage.
 
I have a mini 0806, hard wired into my dome lighting.

I see too many terrible drivers NOT to have a dash cam.

u8OtgB0pLpMhdbDFkKaNd4E7-uzo01enKVDfLXK8icTsrOOW4ZbBGlv9RMlnHjkhPeBVGwqqLuY4jDv1dcAs1m6ZOiVuV86Swb7vuY0QP0KATtmL8-abKY28amAnZ72akcMneeLybuQBVQ_PCm9v5wbiEXidE9P64EK7gleWrQHkrd1pPGHvrR56LoaiYk4PQWtmkR_JH6JyZcbp_S5wqhoctiXPJYOvWORiAdeqHskkAfg4MCsykI-HprMppICk4ffW5Ixzm5MLNqfd_tsdOUvxWl1yEdiA6Woii6LXFrDgW4XoMm13CDYW4suTHlPu93j6ncIj1nde5PKZlxDXP3Yl3JT3UPFbBOxxaSjHCgGHdFR6ZM2fRVE1p3OgC-4tYiaQJ4pDLKdwb8Esm2ZugjuHIlz6RDHpvntjQJ8xch9XWJEWrEieAQso5HoVqMspf3siHpz34_hlUN6IdA2h1Rqmstn_zecc4fVmPAd086nTL55uluvthvnaTMVAaE5SsFbFunjiQ-GQvJbv2Grw6OdFMIMGUq45H-Ql7PxuIi1LSTrso_AhAQ8-wxBhyd5gmzle=w341-h192-no
 
I would imagine that police will have the same powers regarding seizing an SD card as they currently have for seizing the driver's mobile phone.

I.e., they should be able to seize an SD card under the same circumstances where they can seize a mobile phone.
 
I've been meaning to gat a dashcam for a few months and finally narrowed it down to either a Transcend 200 or 220. The only plus for the 220 is that it has the "parking collision" camera option but it also comes with "lane departure warning" , "collision Prevention" and GPS which I really don't want. Popped into my local Halfords this afternoon with a view to buying one of them but as it's only a small outlet they only stocked Nextbase dashcams. I asked if it was possible to switch off the "speed" display on these units but I might as well have asked if it was raining in China.
Anybody on here know if it's possible to disable the speed display ? not really interested if it is raining in China or not.

I don't know about the units you mention , but I've had a cheap and cheerful unbranded dashcam , bought for £15 in my local petrol station , for a while now . While it does record 1920x1080 resolution , the CCD does not cope well with either bright sunlight or night driving at all well , however it does record as soon as the cigarette lighter socket , from which it is powered , goes live , and continually overwrites , recording 10 minute clips , which on a 32Gb card amounts to a couple of days footage before being erased .

Prior to getting the above ( which was only bought as a stopgap because it was so cheap ) , I had previously messed around with GoPro cameras which we use at work for video production : these do offer amazing HD image quality in all lighting conditions , the later ones offer loop recording and link by wi-fi to my phone for setup ; what they don't do is to start recording automatically when power is applied , so unless you're going to leave one continuously powered on , they aren't ideal as dashcams , the other downside is that GoPro s and their accessories are expensive .

About a year ago , I bought a Vivitar DVR 794HD from Currys for £49 . This little camera is very similar to a GoPro in size and appearance , produces very similar image quality , came bundled with much the same accessories including mounts and a housing , and the product description on Argos website claimed that it recorded continuously , overwriting once the card was full - alas this proved not to be the case since it just stops recording when the card is full - and since I bought from Currys who were £10 cheaper than Argos , I couldn't use Argos product description to return it ! It is , however , a very good little camera , which when supplied with external power and a 32Gb card will record all day . It does not invert video if mounted upside down , so you either have to do this in post , or fabricate a mount to hang it right way up , which I did . The camera is a bit of a faff to set up , even via the iPhone app , so I tend to just use it as a 'point of view' camera for video work now .

I had toyed with buying one of the new GoPro Hero Session cameras which are very small and offer loop recording , but not auto start , but on reading reviews and corresponding with the makers am now looking at the Veho Muvi K1 action cam , which sells for around £130 , is a bit smaller than a Hero 4 , and is reviewed as being more user friendly and easier to set up , offering wi-fi , an app for the phone , loop recording , image inversion and apparently a g force sensor which triggers recording .

Both the Vivitar and the Veho , unlike the GoPro , have standard tripod bushes in their bases , so are easier and more discrete to mount without housings , and allowing for external power leads to be connected ( with GoPro you either need to drill holes in the housing or buy the £40 mounting frame ) to do this .

These are all 'action cameras' which record very good image quality , not particularly designed for vehicular use , but the couple I've tried do work very well . They don't have built in GPS so don't display speeds , but some can display date and time . I don't bother with this as I like my footage 'clean' , and from an evidential point of view , for the authorities to try to use anything for prosecution , lack of a specific , verified , date and time would lead to difficulties , unless a continuous recording culminated in a police stop ( for which the time would be recorded by the officers and therefore earlier events on a continuous recording could be backtracked ) , any outward looking footage would not show who was driving , never mind on what date or at what time , without which it is all but useless in court as charges have to be very specific . Even to request information from a registered keeper , they have to ask who was driving at a specific date and time , that is assuming that they could prove the camera was mounted in a specific vehicle when a questionable piece of footage was recorded - a smart lawyer would easily pick holes in such 'evidence' - although not shown on screen , some data may be embedded in the file though , but it would depend on the date and time being correctly set , and stored , in the camera ;) if a camera were to 'lose' date and time settings every time power was removed , always returning to a default setting , then it would be quite difficult to show when any recording was made - unless you help by recording the sound of radio broadcasts and station logs could be used to 'time stamp' any recording !
 
Last edited:
I completely agree that branded SD cards are very reliable.
My point was that according to a leading manufacturer it is good practice to format the SD card every now and then. In case somebody is involved in an accident where he/she would not particularly like to show his/her video footage to 3rd parties, the above recommendation might become handy :cool:

Certainly formatting cards is good practice , I always format in camera before starting a job on any of my still cameras - this ensures that file structure and folders are correct for the camera before I start , important if you use a number of different cameras . I generally leave stuff from previous jobs on cards until I come to re use cards ( my cards are numbered and used in rotation ) this just maximises my chances of finding something again if I were to accidentally delete or lose something on my computer !

Although cards are removed from cameras and read into my computer using a card reader , I don't tend to erase or format in the computer since it would just need formatting again to a specific camera .

Only if I encounter a problem with a particular card will I use Disc Utility on my Mac to repair or erase a card , or something like Data Rescue to recover files . If I have a problem with a card , even once , I don't re use it for work : cards are cheap to replace and images are much more valuable , but recycled cards can be passed onto family for casual use or other non critical uses .

With the dashboard camera I have just now , it is just fitted and forgotten , the couple of times I've either played back in camera , or taken the card indoors to review on my computer , it has been fine . I generally , out of habit , format cards in camera on insertion , but don't generally bother if the dashcam is just left to its own devices .
 
Jailed - Selsey motorcyclist who filmed his own dangerous driving

'The court heard that two police officers saw Hammond riding his Honda Fireblade motorbike on 29 April this year on the A27 at Chichester. He did a wheelie, undertook several vehicles and was travelling at about 80mph in a 50mph zone.

They stopped him and seized a memory card from a camera which was mounted to his helmet. When the card was viewed, it showed more than 150 clips of him on his motorbike. Many of these clips recorded him riding in a manner that showed a blatant disregard for the safety of himself or other road users.'
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom