Dash Cams in Cars

Are dash cams in cars gaining popularity with American drivers? Do they serve a good purpose for civilians? Last year, a new client at our law firm brought in the footage of his collision the car next to him captured. To say it’s compelling evidence is an understatement. So the question remains, why are dash cams gaining popularity in the United States? A few weeks, a serious crash involving a runaway dump truck was captured on video in Austin, Texas.   As seen within the link below, this footage is absolutely profound and can definitely provide concrete evidence for any sort of case. This blog article is going to look into the history of dash cams and see what the future of civilian cams is.

History of Dash Cams

For nearly two decades now, law enforcement have used dash cams in cars. The main purpose they serve is to capture evidence during traffic stops and high-speed chases. DWI video dash cams have become the standard on nearly all DWI stops in the last 10 to 15 years. With newer technology, the officers now wear remote microphones that capture audio of their DWI “investigation”. Generally, these videos record all the standardized field sobriety tests on camera and subsequently use those videos if the DWI case ends up in court.  With technology increasing and the price and equipment getting smaller, most police departments across the nation have some sort of implemented system.

Dash cams in Russia are a phenomenon

According to Aleksei Dozoroy, nearly everyone in Russia has a dash cam mounted in his or her car. Due to the size of the county, combined with careless and often corrupt law enforcement, and a legal system that does not give credence to first hand accounts of collisions, has made dash cams nearly a requirement to protect their interests and rights. Aleksei Dozoroy, a motorists’ rights activist in Russia, has said, “you can get into your car without your pants on, but never get into a car without a dash cam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmsQ-obL1Z4&ebc=ANyPxKrF4MY47_r6haLpzDJ6kDuSKKWlr1CPvfo1q38g_y6CS2IEZ1HyZfMET-ndGcOKLDG-NBNeptk44Whq9s7HwmUJfWlbPg

In Russia, dash cams have become the only way to substantiate claims in their courts. Witnesses are given zero credibility and insurance companies in Russia notoriously specialize in denying claims.   In addition, in Russia “full coverage” is very expensive and not available for cars over ten years old. Thus most vehicles on the roads only have liability coverage. So you can only imagine the incentive most drivers have to lie when they get into collisions. And more so, hit-and-run collisions are very common, thus making the dash cam extremely necessary because the Russian insurance won’t pay unless the offenders is found and sued. With the dash cam phenomenon in Russia, many websites have been created to show case horrible crashes, trucks flipping over and cars flying in the air and exploding. Sites, such as the Ru CHP LiveJournal community is where major crashes, fights and deaths of crashes are stored.

Are Dash Cams becoming more popular in the United States

There is definitely new trend in the United States.   More people are installing dash cams that record every second while they drive.   This is apparent with increase sales in the dash cam industry. It seems more people really want to insure they have footage should something happen while on the road. Some have even said that dash cams provide more safety, protecting them from fraudulent insurance claims.

The increase in demand of these cams has allowed for greater professional grade units to hit the market place. For example, Cobra now makes a professional grade unit for around $99. These units record every second of driving in HD quality and are very user friendly. According the Cobra, “It’s a new category for us that we felt that having been in the electronics for automotive, especially for professional truck drivers, that this would be a useful resource not only for them, but for everyday drivers as well,” said Kooistra.

In our opinion, we feel dash cams in cars will steadily increase in popularity. Lots of vehicles already have front, side and rear cameras, so it doesn’t seem difficult to implement recording devices. They are very helpful and if we had it our way, all our cases would have dash cam evidence.