Am I the only one who finds myself driving more carefully since getting a dash cam?

[LeeH]

Weird, but I feel like having a dash cam has made me a more attentive driver... like, if there's an accident and the video shows I missed the warning signs that something was about to go down, I'll have video evidence of the accident, but also that I should have been more aware! My cam is a Garmin Mini 2 so front only. I think I need to get another one for the rear. Camera works well, but their app is so clunky. Not a huge deal, as uploads will hopefully be a rare thing.

Have you recorded any near misses?

Two recent near misses. Both were way closer calls than they appear due to the wide angle lens on the dash cam. The one where the lady suddenly decides to take the carpool exit would have been a fender bender had I not been paying attention. I was in the ABS and steered left in order not to hit her.

The one on the ramp, which was today, absolutely would have ended very badly had I not seen him coming and given him room to be stupid. He appeared to be at triple digit speed and quite committed to a gap that wouldn't have been there had I not altered my speed prior to his arrival. Even so, he was frighteningly close to the Prius.

[masraum]

I figure a cam is more likely to get me in trouble than save me...

And it hasn't stopped Baz from running stop signs....

[A930Rocket]

I have a front/back camera system. Sometimes I hit a bump in the road, it goes into record mode with an exclamation point. It will do the same if I was in an accident.

I’ve had it so long, I don’t know if I can download via Bluetooth or if I have to move the card to my laptop?

That said, it’s not the camera slowing me down, it’s my age.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

That said, it’s not the camera slowing me down, it’s my age.

yup...

[Baz]

What...no music?

Hey and for the record....I do not "run" stop signs. I do a "slow roll" IF and only IF they are no vehicles either way plus no cops.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Baz

What...no music?

Hey and for the record....I do not "run" stop signs. I do a "slow roll" IF and only IF they are no vehicles either way plus no cops.

California stop...

And yes, I have no doubt that you can see the full intersection well enough to know that you aren't in any danger or causing a reckless situation. It's actually probably safer than the speeding that most people (but never me, of course) do.

[Chocaholic]

Just ordered a Rexing front camera....Bezos said it would be here Saturday. Didn’t expect it to alter my driving but now that you mention it...

[pwd72s]

No dash cam, But the age comment is spot on.

[SCadaddle]

I wish I would have had a dash cam a week ago, when on a 2 lane rural highway with a speed limit of 65 mph I remember seeing a pick up truck and a car behind it coming towards me then POW! something hit the top of my windshield hard enough to shatter the inside of the windshield throwing shards of glass all over me and into the back seat. That really sucked, surprised and extremely thankful I didn't wind up with glass in my eyes.

[Fast Freddy 944]

Um, this might sound silly, but un plug it?

[GH85Carrera]

I can't drive more carefully than I do now. I had a lady run a stop sign in 1978 and tag my door. She got the ticket, and paid to fix my car. Since then I have not had any sort of wreck or even a ticket since the mid 70s. Except the suicidal deer that wanted to ride on my car but that was unavoidable.

I can think of a dozen times I avoided accidents by anticipating the idiot drivers out there. Just a few weeks back a female human driver (can't say se was a lady) only looked south as she rolled out from a stop sign. I had to hit the brakes and the horn to get her to turn her head my direction and decide that he brakes were the better option. I still had to change lanes to avoid her. She gave me the one finger salute for honking at her.

I used to turn left across a busy 40 MPH road with two lanes going north and south to get into the work parking lot. I sometimes spent more time watching my rear view mirror than looking for a gap to tun left. I had to do a full 4,000 RPM dump the clutch take off once from some fool reading the paper and not watching the road. He only missed me by inches and if I had sat there my 914 would be a lot shorter.

Defensive driving is important.

[Chocaholic]

...and “evidence” could be important too when defensive driving isn’t enough.

[MBAtarga]

I've got dashcams (front only) on 2 vehicles and a front/rear camera system on the 997.2
I've told my wife- if she is in an accident, don't offer up anything about having a dashcam. Save it for the insurance company or court should it come to that.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by LeeH

Not to be funny, but your response time and reaction on that car moving in your lane was shocking.

2 secs to action, Very late,
and why did you move into the berm?? good way to get tyre puncture from debris.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by svandamme

Not to be funny, but your response time and reaction on that car moving in your lane was shocking.

2 secs to action, Very late,
and why did you move into the berm?? good way to get tyre puncture from debris.

I noticed that too.

I will sometimes watch someone doing something like that, fully aware, and with a foot hovering over the brake pedal and ready to swerve. Sometimes, they see what they are doing and change back. I am poised, but don't react immediately (but leave plenty of time to react when I finally do). Yes, the side of the road is more likely to have debris, but it is there, and at times I'll use it.

Would a better course of action have been to hit the brakes and let them move over, probably, but this course of action wasn't necessarily a bad one.

[svandamme]

either poor reaction time or a bit intentional, like showing the dork in front how he caused a near accident.. neither are great.

could have gone off the throttle soon as he indicated and moved, and wouldn't have come near him


Many Dash cam vids, uploaded to show bad form on other side, show bad form on both sides.


Motorbikers rev bombing, when they clearly didn't anticipate anything themselves.
dash cams work both ways, hence I don't have one

[masraum]

Originally Posted by svandamme

either poor reaction time or a bit intentional, like showing the dork in front how he caused a near accident.. neither are great.

I try, and I'm mostly successful, to NOT do that, but on occasion, I may still do that. Like I said, I'm mostly able to restrain myself, but when the situation is just right (wrong) I may still be an ass. As I get older, it improves, thank goodness.

Many Dash cam vids, uploaded to show bad form on other side, show bad form on both sides.

Yep

Motorbikers rev bombing

I've seen some REALLY stupid behavior from bikers. There's a reason that I haven't ever tried one. I'm sure that I'd like it, and I don't trust myself to always be 100% defensive and smart. I suspect the performance would be like a drug.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by svandamme

Not to be funny, but your response time and reaction on that car moving in your lane was shocking.

2 secs to action, Very late,
and why did you move into the berm?? good way to get tyre puncture from debris.

Interesting, but I've had the same thoughts watching other dash cam videos.... slow reaction time... if you'd really been looking you would have reacted faster, avoided the accident, etc. And, yes, even thought the same of this video.

I think a big part of it is the very wide angle on the lens makes it look like there's way more space than there really is. Makes the other car look farther away so makes it appear there was more time to just back off the gas. At that point of the ramp, you're not really looking for someone to make a left turn in front of you, so there probably was a bit of lag in reaction as I was looking ahead. Once past the slow traffic I was accelerating... probably running along at 65 and she was probably doing 30. I pulled left so as to not put my Jeep into her bumper. Had I not pulled left I would have hit her. The ABS was doing its thing but not at a fast enough rate to keep the two vehicles from sharing the same space. The whole thing was way more dramatic/violent in reality than it appears in the video. After, my girlfriend and I both discussed how truly close it was. Reviewing the video, it certainly doesn't give that feeling.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by LeeH

---snip---Reviewing the video, it certainly doesn't give that feeling.

Getting ribbing here is just the nature of the beast, Lee.

I wouldn't give it a second thought. You did just fine.

Let he without sin cast the first stone!

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Baz

Getting ribbing here is just the nature of the beast, Lee.

I wouldn't give it a second thought. You did just fine.

Let he without sin cast the first stone!

Haha... yeah... after 22 years of playing here, I know anything posted is subject to, umm, the "review" of my fellow Pelicans. The comments don't bother me a bit. Like I said, it looks like a nothing event on the video. My heart was racing and we were counting our blessings for not having had an accident right after it happened.