Sometimes, yes.
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Iāve been using a $40 front and rear generic dash cam for about 2 years now. It works great except for the audio. Itās the rear view mirror cam that clamps over your existing mirror. I routed the wires under the headliner, rear wire is routed under the truck to the high mount brake light. Itās hardly noticeable at all.
Iāve thought about these cameras a lot, but if you think about it, really think about it, the visual portion of what occurred prior to an incident can already be perfectly recorded and translated by your smart phone and your vehicle. Being able to see what happened isnāt really that important when we have all the tech in the vehicle recording all sorts of throttle, brake, wheel speed parameters etcā¦ your phone is sitting there seemingly doing nothing (or so they tell you) yet it can easily be recording velocity, direction, deceleration, angle, vocal as well as video and who knows what else.
The video is just for us āMeat Bagsā. The computers we use daily, know quite well what exactly occurred. Whether the guy flipped you the bird might not be one of themā¦ but that is irrelevantā¦ No? Or does that speak toward intent?
ā¦and yet I still ponder buying a vehicle cameraā¦
I believe the camera is mounted in the nose but Corvettes (2LT or 3LT trim) and certain Camaroās can be had with a Performance Data Recorder that can have the speed and other info on the screen or just with the video and in car audio. Records to a standard SD card
Iāve been considering getting one due to a recent incident. A guy passed me on a steep hill, crossing double yellows and contacted my left front fender when he cut me off coming back into our lane. What sensors will help illustrate this reckless conduct? The cops called it reckless endangerment and a felony. The camera may also have recorded his plate number as I was too shook up checking on my family to pay much attention to thatā¦
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I definitely feel you @TwinTurbo ā¦ of course there will be some variables that video would be able to addā¦ no question. Those variable are what have me pondering the idea of getting oneā¦ it surely isnāt priceā¦ they are cheap as you could ask for.
My last semi coherent sentence in my post was in reference to the Ponderation of said Cam-e-ra-ation.
I should already have one what with all the time and physical liberties I have already lost in the absence of said cameraā¦ A camera that would have easily prevented that reality.
But alasā¦ Iād probably just lose the damn thing
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If it were easily removable (as weāve been discussing) and if you were in an accident, it might be best to quickly remove it to avoid this issue.
And if they find out you did that, itās obstruction of justice, which at least in my state can get you a felony with up to 5 years in prison.
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My luck, Iād forget to start it the one time I needed itā¦
So there has to be a legal proceeding in order for it to be a crime?
Based on my reading of the definition of ālegal proceeding,ā that only comes into play if the courts get involved.
I had a suspicion @shadowfax might be out of his wheelhouse giving legal advice. In the law, there are almost always extenuating circumstances and exceptions.
First, I wasnāt giving legal advice. Thatās a very specific term which describes a crime and itās not generally a great idea to falsely accuse someone of such.
Second, if you can reasonably assume that a legal proceeding may result from your actions, and you destroy evidence, you can get in trouble for it federally and in some states. You might find a Google search for āobstruction of contemplated justiceā illuminating.
Would you mind explaining the difference between what you wrote and legal advice? Youāve listed the name of a statute, determined that a particular behavior constitutes a violation of that statute, and outlined the maximum sentence. That sure looks like legal advice to me.
Iāll grant you that itās not qualified legal advice.
Why is this hard?
Stating facts is not the same thing as advising someone to take action based on my interpretation of those facts.
Read this.
So in this case, I can say that someone could get in trouble if they destroy evidence because thatās what the law says, and Iām perfectly at liberty to recite it. But if I told them āYou should destroy that evidence before a prosecutor comes looking for it so you can stay out of trouble,ā that would be legal counsel and therefore illegal.
Iām unclear on why youāve decided to nitpick what I say every few months, but it does get tiresome. Especially when youāre wrong.
Now that @shadowfax has informed us heās not a lawyer, I think the reasonable person reading here would not construe his comments as legal advice because he said he wasnāt giving legal advice.
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Okay, but I contend that fact and opinion are being conflated here.
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If your rearview mirror is self dimming and has a compass, then there is a power plug on the back of it. Many of these cameras, as well as GPS and radar detectors use a 4 pin phone jack (RJ-14 or RJ-11) for the device and a cigarette lighter plug for power. You can cut the cord and plug the power wires directly into the back of your mirror.
@Marnet, I donāt remember the make and model, but I was doing a build and price on a manufacturerās website and one of the options was a dash cam; you could get forward looking only, for forward and backward looking.
@shadowfax, dashcams to not transmit the images they record, so the only way your own bad behavior would be discovered via dash cam would be if you sent it to someone. Also, Iām pretty sure that your father would argue that if you were in an accident, or pulled over for something relatively serious, your own dash cam footage would be covered under the 4th and 5th amendments (an interesting argument we may see in the future).
@lion9car, I have a dual dash cam system installed in my Jeep. I bought it at Best Buy and it was installed by them. My car is a 2015 so the inside rearview mirror is not just attached to the windshield, itās attached to a base inside of which is the wiring for the UConnect system and Sirius radio. The camera itself is attached to the windshield just below the rearview mirror with a suction cup and the only wire is about 4 inches long from the camera to where it disappears inside the mirror mount. The rear facing camera is attached to the backlight also via suction cup, and thereās a removeable plastic panel above the center of the backlight that has wiring for the CHMSL and other things, so about 4 inches of the wire for the rear camera disappears behind that panel. Neither camera causes a serious degradation of the view. The power for the camera is provided by wiring the technician routed behind the dash, I believe to the radio.
If someone wants to find out the specifics Iām sure you can contact the Best Buy installers and they will give you that information.
Thereās no way he would argue that. The 4th protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Gathering evidence of the cause of a crash pursuant to an investigation of the crash is not unreasonable. The part of the 5th that I assume youāre referring to says you donāt have to testify against yourself. It doesnāt say you get to actively hide all possible evidence of your crimes.
The other way would be that the investigating officers become aware that there was a dash cam and demands the footage.