An August 2021 survey conducted by Budget Direct found 64% of their 1000 respondents had been involved in at least one car accident.
If you drive on Australian roads, or on any roads for that matter, you must be aware that the chances of having an accident of some kind are high. It could be anything from a scratch in a car park to something far more serious. There is always a financial impact. Often mental and physical trauma add to the toll. Who’s at fault often degenerates into a war of words. This doesn’t have to be the case if you can call on Dash Cam to be your first witness.
What is a Dash Cam?
Dashboard Cameras, commonly known as Dash Cams, are video cameras designed to be mounted inside your vehicle. They can automatically, continually record a point of view of your journey. Some models also record when your vehicle is parked. The captured footage can be saved to a memory card or uploaded to cloud storage. They cost from under $100 to over $600. As with most things in life you get what you pay for.
Dash Cams, the most useful aftermarket accessory you can buy for your vehicle?
Metallic paint, roof racks, wider rims and woollen seat covers all have their appeal, but it is arguable in this day and age, that a Dash Cam is a must have. Here’s some of the things they can do for you:
Proof you didn’t do it. This is by far the biggest reason people install dash cams in their vehicles. If you’re not at fault a Dash Cam can provide the irrefutable evidence required to prove it. Accidents, police traffic stops, road rage, thefts, vandalism and insurance scam collisions are just some of the occasions when Dash Cams footage can be invaluable. They can also save you from having to pay insurance excess costs and raised premiums.
Deter car thieves. Most car thieves are not completely stupid. They will pretty much always select a vehicle without a dash cam over one that has a Dash Cam to steel. Be the one that does have a Dash Cam.
Record the good stuff as well as the bad. As your dash cam records automatically every time you hit the road it provides an incredible library of places you’ve been and things you’ve seen. Ideal for preserving road trips, holidays and other memorable moments for posterity.
Help prevent fraud. Unfortunately it is not uncommon for predator drivers to deliberately cause an accident with the intent of blaming the other party and initiating an insurance claim against them. A Dash Cam can provide the evidence to thwart this activity by providing evidence of who is really to blame.
Record things you could never ever see coming. Most, if not all vehicle accidents and incidents happen unexpectedly. They come out of the blue. In the blink of an eye. There’s no time to think what’s happening let alone make a rational analysis of the situation. You only have to spend a few moments on YouTube to see stuff that’s hard to believe if it hadn’t been recorded on a Dash Cam.
Identify perpetrators of deliberate and accidental assaults on your vehicle. When your car is alone bad stuff can happen to it. Car park scratches, keying and falling tree branches are not uncommon occurrences. With a Dash Cams properly installed you will never have to wonder ‘how the heck did that happen’ again.
Instill a general sense of security. Firstly, it’s reassuring to know that if anything untoward does happen to you, your passengers and/or your vehicle a demonstrative record of it will exist is. At Thrive 50 Plus we see Dash Cams as hugely beneficial. What do you think. Let us know. thrive50plus.com
Things to ask whoever you’re buying a Dash Cam from:
. Does it have auto recording?
. Does it have remote recording?
. Does it record when my car is stationary and/or parked?
. How much memory/data storage does it have?
. How easy or not, is it to install?
. How easy is it to select a particular field of vision?
. Does it have impact detection to auto record if your car is bumped/hit
. Does it have built-in display?
. What quality will the video be?
. How much is it? Can I have a discount?
Other things you need to know.
Dash Cams do have limits. They can only record what they are pointed at. Make sure your camera is properly mounted and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the best results.
Dash Cams are legal. But you can’t operate them manually whilst driving. If you drive onto private property, you must turn it off if asked. There could be legal issues if you plan to upload your videos onto public platforms without the subject’s written permission.
Best Dash Cams?
According to Tim Falk and Sarah Brandon at finder.com the following Dash Cams, these are the best Dash Cams on the market in Australia. There is however, a very large choice of units available. They vary enormously in price and quality so take your time and ask around before you shop around.
. Best overall dash cam: Garmin 66W
. Best cheap dash cam: Uniden iGo Cam 30
. Best high-end dash cam: BlackVue DR900S
. Best wide-angle dash cam: Garmin 66W
. Best dash cam with a screen: Navman MiVUE745
. Best mini dash cam: Garmin Dash Cam Mini
. Best 4K dash cam: Uniden iGo Cam 85R
. Best low light night vision dash cam: Lanmodo Vast Pro
“The finder.com editorial team selected the dash cams on this list based on extensive research, real customer reviews and personal experience. For each category, they selected parameters based on research and identified the products with the highest review score within those parameters.”
In Conclusion.
Dash Cams are very much a part of the Digital Revolution that has changed all our lives so dramatically in the formative years of this century. Things we never imagined possible are now everyday occurrences. If you want to confuse a 10 year old just show them a phone manufactured in 1969. Most of the changes are good, some of them not so much. If you haven’t as yet seen Dash Cams in action all you have to do is visit YouTube. A lot of the available footage is spectacular. Some of it is tragic in the extreme. A lot of it is down right silly. It demonstrates how far technology has progressed and how human nature in the main, has not. It also cements the idea that if you are involved in a vehicular accident or incident of some kind, it’s best that you be the one with the operating Dash Cam.
