We’re all being watched now – so it’s maybe not a bad idea to watch back. A camera in your car – such as a GoPro or one of the cheaper knock-offs – could prevent you from being victimized by an insurance fraudster or the fraudsters who are paid to Harass and Collect (serving and protecting went out of style around the same time as compact discs).
If more people had them, it might even reduce the costs of what we’re all effectively forced to pay to the car insurance mafia each year, on account of what is styled the “no fault” approach to who’s at fault when there’s an “accident.” Both the term and the word are italicized to call attention to the etymological legerdemain.
There is almost always someone at fault when there is an “accident” – which is almost never that, because “accidents” rarely just happen for no reason attributable to the actions (or lack thereof) of the person behind the wheel. A tree limb breaking off from a tree by the side of the road and falling on your car – which just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – is an accident, properly speaking. Running into the car ahead because you were following too closely and not paying enough attention isn’t.
It is a wreck caused by driver error. And if the error was yours then the consequences are also properly yours to pay for.
Unfortunately, they are often everyone’s – due to this business of “no fault.” Which is due to the difficulty of determining who was at fault, after the fact. It is usually the case that no cops were around to witness what happened and the testimony of non-cop witnesses is regarded by the courts as hearsay. Plus it can be a time (and money) consuming business to litigate “accidents” – and everyone just wants their car fixed and their bills paid.
Thus, “no fault” – which doesn’t even try to bother with determining who caused the “accident.” Instead, everyone is held equally responsible – via the higher extortion payments (they are called “premiums,” to give it a better mouth feel) we’re all effectively forced to pay, even if we have never ourselves been the cause of an “accident.”
It is no accident that these premiums increase each year – and in recent years, have been increasing more than ever before. As new cars have become more expensive – chiefly on account of the cost of compliance with the endless roster of government regs – as well as more fragile (also due to the regs) they have become more expensive to repair (and replace) when they are damaged (or totaled) in an “accident.” But since no one’s at fault, everyone pays for this. Including people who’ve not bought a new (expensive) vehicle. They get to help pay the repair/replacement costs of the new, expensive vehicles bought by others.
But if it were possible to easily prove you didn’t cause the “accident,” it would be much easier to establish who was at fault – and who ought to pay. Not in a vindictive way. In a right and proper way.
Having video evidence of what happened could end this business of making everyone pay for the mistakes of a relative few. It would also inject a much-needed financial incentive for everyone to drive with greater care – and competence. If it were mostly just the people at-fault for causing “accidents” who paid for them, it is likely there would be fewer “accidents.”
And – eventually – even fewer drivers on the road who cause them.
For now, having a camera on board can at least protect you from the people who deliberately set up “accidents” – so as to make you pay for them. Including their “injuries” – which of course prevent them from working and that means you (or someone else or all of us) get to pay for their endless “disability” payments. This can ruin you, if it ever gets to civil damages successfully asserted in court – because you had no evidence to prove the “accident” was not your fault.
The other reason to get a camera is to have evidence of what you didn’t do that a “law enforcer” says you did. Courts say that what a law enforcer – who is not a neutral party in the proceedings – says about what happened is not hearsay but testimony. On the other hand, whatever you say – never mind whether it’s the truth – is hearsay and worthless as evidence in your defense. But video evidence – particularly of malfeasance – is very persuasive. So much so that your “case” may never get to court because the law enforcer decides not to charge you with something you can prove you did not do.
A camera – the prospect of evidence of your side of the story – can have a chastening effect on law enforcers. And judges, for that matter. Most of them want to move up the ladder to higher judgeships, which usually require political appointment. A judge who looks bad is politically less tenable than one who looks not-bad. But the most important thing, arguably, is that having a camera in sight of a law enforcer may restrain him from a steroid-fueled roadside Hut! Hut! Hutting! because he says he “smelled the odor of marijuana” and you were “resisting.”
They’re so inexpensive now – you can get a Go Pro knockoff on Amazon for about $70 or less – that almost no one can’t afford to leave the driveway without one.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you like items like the Baaaaaa! baseball cap pictured below, you can find that and more at the EPautos store!
I’d consider it solely for financial self defense. It’s shitty but if you have assets you need to put as many barriers between you and the shit heads as possible.
Any recommendations on brands?
“but the bigger question is if cameras are needed than we have an integrity problem, not a liability problem. Maybe if people stopped doing stupid crap and lying about it we could all enjoy a little more freedom and a lot more privacy.” RG
We have a huge integrity problem in this country . . . which is exactly how we got here.
Trump, Harris both are professional liars without integrity and celebrated for their dishonesty to boot!
“Top talent” at Harvard has publicly been shamed for lack of integrity:
Claudine Gay – plagiarism got her demoted but she still has a job.
Francesca Gino – forged data and plagiarized and got fired. She the tried to sue those that exposed her for $25M after Harvard fired her.
West Point no longer upholds integrity. Has allowed cadets to be set back one year instead of outright expulsion.
And those are just a couple high profile examples. We’ve all seen a decay of integrity in those we deal with in our own personal space.
I hate the camera’s too but I’m afraid it’s time for me to go get one.
In an interaction with an AGM…they might confiscate the camera….any footage they don’t like…erased….
If you have an older car that doesn’t rat you out….the camera might…..if it shows you were speeding etc…..they could say your insurance is void and or ticket you…if high speed…impound your car….
but…… in an accident it might save you a lot of money….the only positive…
if you have multiple cars….you need lots of cameras….or a portable one….
If AGW mistakes it for a radar detector…could get pulled over…
if a 360 degree camera…recording AGW…..if it makes him mad….might guarantee some sort of ticket…
I am going to take the opposite view on the cameras. I am sick of being recorded. I am sick of cell phones, RING door bells, Alexas, Siris, Go Pros, and the like.
To me the cameras are on par with all of the “safety crap”. The cameras may reduce liability, but the bigger question is if cameras are needed than we have an integrity problem, not a liability problem. Maybe if people stopped doing stupid crap and lying about it we could all enjoy a little more freedom and a lot more privacy.
I’m with you on this. I hate the proliferation of the “all seeing eye” always watching (and listening) to every move I make. There’s no freedom possible with total surveillance. I would go full anti-libertarian and destroy them all if I could.
The scary part is that most of the kids today are conditioned to view it as normal, because that’s all they’ve known.
In videos I’ve seen, when the accosted “citizen” informs the officer that he’s recording, the officer usually responds with “so am I” and points to his body camera. Just once, I’d like to hear a retort along the lines of “well this footage can’t be manipulated later by you guys”.
The importance of recording interactions with “law enforcement” cannot be overstated.
A while back, a Michigan State Police “stakeout team” ran a stop sign and “t-boned” a vehicle that had the right-of-way.
The first thing these vile bastards did was to handcuff the driver of the vehicle they “t-boned” showing absolutely no regard for the driver’s injuries.
They almost “got away with it” save for a video camera mounted on a nearby building which recorded the whole thing.
After an initial flurry, the case seemed to “disappear”.
I hop the driver got a nice settlement from the cops…
This is where my strategy of running multiple beater daily drivers and a bunch of antiques comes apart. I’d need too many cameras to get the job done right. And portable installations have a bunch of shortcomings. A better approach would be some kind of wearable, but it’s also very useful to have something watching where you aren’t, precisely to record the evil deeds of criminal enforcers and the rare private criminal.
The term “no-fault” has nothing to do with property damage.
In New York, “no-fault” has only to do with injuries sustained from a motor vehicle collision.
The insurer of the vehicle is responsible for medical bills for the injured passengers inside the vehicle, regardless of who was at fault. This also includes coverage for a pedestrian who gets hit – even if they wander into traffic – the insurer of the vehicle that hits them pays for their medical bills.
My understanding is that NY also has intricate fraud rings – like the one on the video – but also includes medical professionals (in on the scam) who will treat and bill infinitely for trumped up “injuries.”
There are some states with “no pay, no play” laws that restrict drivers from making claims – if they themselves lack in some coverages.
If a liable party is determined and recovery for damages are possible, you can bet that an insurance company will subrogate against the other carrier or obtain a judgement directly against them.
No fault….no big payouts for personal injury….paralyzed?….here is $5000…piss off….
A dash cam *saved* this young man from being likely arrested and charged based solely on the word of this absolute jerk California bike rider activist. This jerk should have been arrested for assault and battery but only got a disorderly charge while the kid had to take the ticket based on solely on this jerk’s word. I believe the ticket was eventually dismissed after the DA saw the dash cam. Hope this kid sues the Sh’t of him. Cops is this case weren’t bad, but they weren’t good either in my opinion.
A dash cam can save you from jerks like this as well as Bad AGW’s. I admire the kid’s calm restraint during all this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajMviq2j7ic
Hi Hans,
The kid had every legal and moral right to shove that spandex faggot into next week once he physically accosted the kid.
Good idea to have one for your own protection, I’m hoping to find one that uploads the video to “the cloud” so if the memory fails you’ll have a backup.
I have been using dash cameras for about 10 years, tapped into the rain sensor by the rear view mirror. The first couple only lasted a couple of years, been running the last ones for almost five years, they sink with a smart phone for playback and use sd cards to store the video. I nearly was in a collision when NYC cops decided to brake check an SUV who didn’t move fast enough out of the left lane for their authori-tay.
Sent it to the NY Post after uploading it to YouTube. No one cared.
They provide a useful record. https://youtu.be/n4FNBQIruNA
“No one cared.”
An AGW is a sovereign citizen…the only one….above any liability….
I was 17 and working for a horse stable. I was involved in one of those “no fault” accidents. I was approaching a sharp mountain curve in the company truck and a Virginia game warden was on the left hand side coming at me and we collided. A Virginia state trooper responded and declared it a no fault accident to save his buddy in a badge. I learned early on that the system is gamed against an everyday average Joe. That incident happened in ‘85. I also got a lesson in “justice” when I learned that the courthouse is nothing but a house of fleecing. The first thing thrown out is the truth and it becomes a “who can out lie who”.
Electronic gremlins: My dashcam, hardwired to the vehicle
(2012 Toyota), caused malfunctions in the vehicle
operation, had to disconnect it.
Next dashcam will be powered from cigarette lighter.
I remember reading that in Russia that phony accidents or phony hit and run accidents are so common that everyone has those cameras now to protect themselves from the legal/ insurance implications of that sort of crime being committed against them.
Looks like it’s getting more common here and just another sign we are becoming a low trust society.
Yeah, probably time to get one . . . world going crazy!
Make sure to get one that’s good in low light. I have an older one that is basically useless at night. Also make sure it has it’s own GPS and date/time stamps the video. I’m not sure where EXIF data sits as far as admissible evidence, or even if they’re capable of recording EXIF data to the video.
Also make sure you check the SD card from time to time, they wear out. They also will fill up if you have the collision logging set too sensitive or go off road, and it might not be obvious, especially with the off-brand cameras.
Had to look it up: you don’t need a sthmart phone to use a Go Pro camera. I thought maybe you did.
I wonder how long they’ll last, sitting on a super hot or (sub-zero) dashboard? [Do they even work in sub-zero temps? And, do the batteries do well in such conditions? How often do the batteries need swapped out/recharged?] Are they almost indestructible?
And, how often would you have to futz around with it to clear the memory or such like?
…Just thinking out loud.
I bought a camera some time ago. It’s easy to have it record what happens in front of you, but the rear camera requires running wires from the front, which is not easy to do. Plus with a lifting tail, mounting it on the window is problematic. Does anyone know of a good solution?
Also, if I am stopped by law enforcement, I will swing the camera around to record the interaction, though my camera is video only – no audio. I figure if the officer knows he is being recorded it may change his behavior.
I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. I have a 12V adapter in the rear of the car. I’ll just buy another camera.
There are 360 degree dashcams available.
I’ve looked at front/rear facing cameras on Amazon. Just never clicked “add to cart”. The wiring looks to be a bit of a PITA. Still in today’s age it seems like a wise investment.