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      04-03-2019, 03:40 PM   #20
WingZeroX5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adc View Post
Don’t most of these only keep the data long term only in the case of accident? Meaning, in normal operation they only keep the last few minutes. Plus you can erase it all with a push of a button.

So what would be there to subpoena?
Quote:
Originally Posted by xQx View Post
I haven't installed dashcams in any of my cars because in Australia there's no tried and tested legislation that prevents your footage being subpoenaed and used against you if you are disputing a serious traffic offence in court.

If you live in the states, it should fall under under the protections of the 5th amendment; but I also believe this hasn't yet been tested by SCOTUS.

I guess if you're innocent, you've got nothing to worry about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xQx View Post
If you're doing a fast drive-by, nothing at all.

But if you hit something, it's going to record and keep the data long term.
Most cameras keep the events leading up to a collision in memory, which is automatically saved in a collision. So if you were exceeding the speed limit right before the accident, your dashcam is going to have that on record.

This means if you hit something and there's a dashcam in the car; the only reason it wouldn't have a recording of the events leading up to the accident would be because it was in the car but turned off (which is pretty unlikely), or had been manually deleted.

Now, while I doubt a "destroying evidence" charge is ever going to stick, it'd certainly be making a point of it if I were the prosecution:

"The defendant had a dash-cam in the car at the time of the accident; and the model in question is configured out of the box to automatically record in the event of an accident - so it should contain vital footage which would confirm the defendant's version of events and prove their innocence.

Unfortunately, it doesn't contain any footage at the time of the event. Which would only be the case if it were unplugged at the time of the incident or manually deleted by the defendant. "
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveinArizona View Post
In addition, in a comparative negligence jurisdiction, if you were driving over the speed limit, it is likely that a court would find that you were at least partially responsible cutting your recovery even if the other driver was totally wrong.
Lol I don't know exactly what you guys are talking about with all this mumbo jumbo... Making it more complicated than it really is

A dash cam is to do one thing and one thing only: Record what the driver see and cannot see. In a lot of asian countries, there's rampant insurance fraud where pedestrians would literally run up to a car and claim that a car hit them.

For me, in the U.S., I'm most concerned about accidents and people hitting ME and other stupid shit that happens on the road. It makes insurance or whatever I need to deal with so much easier.

The last minor incident I had was when I was turning from the main road into a small street that had a stop sign. The lady clearly blew past the stop sign and clipped my rear rim as I turned. Her bumper got shredded and blamed it on me that I "TURNED INTO HER LANE" when the cops came. I said F that, downloaded the footage I needed from my camera, handed it off to my insurance, and got my deductible back within DAYS. Had everything replaced OEM, BMW collision shop, rental car, whatever the cost they paid, no questions asked and no push-back...