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Long story made short. The drivers in the Washington DC area are getting worse, it is hard to imagine but they are.
Over the last three weeks, I have had three distracted drivers veer into my lane and almost took out my front end.
Needless to say, I am looking for a camera to record other people's lack of driving skills.
Most likely front and rear facing cameras.
Any recommendations?
This has nothing to do with drivers' skills. DC/ NoVA have some of the worst roads in the country. Drivers are frustrated and you're an annoying blip on their road rage radar.
You're occupying precious real estate on roads that weren't designed for bicycles. Recording won't affect change although I refer you to the experts ATH who seem to catch 360 degree footage of every near incident on their rides.
The drivers aren't getting worse but rather congestion is and distractions e.g. phones probably aren't helping. Ideally, they would drive from your perspective and you would ride from theirs but this doesn't change the fact that you're riding in a problem area.
Find better roads if you can. Check with Josh.
Have you pedaled around Loudoun County?
Ride gravel out there and you wouldn't think twice about a camera but don't be a dbag and record your rides just because you can pretending like that will fix anything.
this is for my car, not my bicycle.
I sometimes commute by car and it has gotten bad.....
Buy a large SUV.
Get some game son.
I still would like to document a bad driver if they do something stupid.Quote:
Originally Posted by Too Tall
That might work where people are relatively civil. Down here is crazytown drivers don't care that my FJ towers above them. I'm curious to hear if there are nicely integrated dashboard cam solutions or if buying a couple go pros is the way to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Too Tall
me too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew Strongin
Never checked, can a go-pro rotate video files automatically so the video record continuously without getting a storage full at some point ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew Strongin
Garmin to the rescue:
Garmin Dash Cam™ 65W
Not sure if this can be wired to always be on:
BC™ 30 Wireless Backup Camera
I am also waiting for someone to program an app that will allow you to use the rear backup camera in most cars to constantly run a loop of 30 second video so you can have it in case of a crash. And, since most cars auto-brake and/or auto-cruise use lasers and forward facing cameras it would be great to be able to record a 30 second loop of that video as well. Would solve znfdl request.
Next level wow!Quote:
Originally Posted by znfdl
What is your goal though to show police or have in case of an accident or what?
Bad drivers aren't going away so I just don't see what a dash cam solves unless peace of mind (how?)
Yes, I want to be able to document when someone does something stupid. For example, a couple of years ago, my wife was at a four way stop sign and one driver decided not to stop and t-bones her. A camera could have shown that the person did not stop. One of the major commuting routes has people swerving in and out of traffic to get a couple of car lengths ahead. Yesterday, I had to brake fairly hard to avoid being hit and then almost got rear ended.Quote:
Originally Posted by holliscx
Most of the set-ups I've seen are a couple of Go-Pros or similar cameras mounted on the dash. You don't need high resolution and with a decent card, you can get a large amount of footage before you need to wipe and replace.
Hollis, dash cams are tremendously useful in working through liability in these situations. There are plenty of times when the at-fault driver claims you merged into him versus the opposite. It becomes a word vs word situation where liability is unproven. This can mean that the liable driver gets away with not covering your damages and deductible.
Personally, I can't wait for autonomous vehicles. There are a lot of industry stats regarding reaction times of distracted drivers being correlated to drunk drivers and the number of distracted drivers is on the rise as the technology integration increases in vehicles making it easier to interface with it versus the road and other drivers. Most of my driving/commute are highway miles but it's still incredible that to see how many dangerous things drivers do, half the time not even aware they are doing them...
Super Commuter, more road hugging weight as Ford says.Quote:
Originally Posted by Too Tall
Attachment 102176
Especially on "major commuting routes" this is what eyewitness are for? If someone wronged you to the point of an accident I'm sure any respectable American would pull over and be happy to leave a statement on your behalf right? Are the cops going to care about "almost" incidents are you planning to take that sort of footage to show the authorities? I'm scratching my head because we're talking about NoVa it's a hamster wheel for driving incivility.Quote:
Originally Posted by znfdl
I am worried about real incidents and not close calls.
Driving is getting worse in the DC area......
64 months to go.
I haven't lived in NoVa in about 11 years; it was bad then but at least I didn't live there for the rise of the smart phone. I will say that here in Miami, another large metro area with a heavy car commuting culture, the answers to your questions are: 1) even respectable Americans won't pull over to leave a statement. Pretty much never. We also have a very large number of uninsured and even unlicensed drivers, so proving liability can be very important. And 2) our state and local police have hotlines to report aggressive driving and, when possible, do take action. I just looked online and Virginia has a similar hotline.Quote:
Originally Posted by holliscx
Full disclosure: I haven't owned a car for 12+ years though I'm starting to jones for a Subaru or Defender if I could afford two (second one for parts they say)
The US is so car centric. I was born in Virginia and lived in Atlanta which rivals NoVA for congestion but I've been out of the game for awhile. I literally walk to rent a car now a handful of times a year.
Assume insurance rates have risen proportionally?
I'm jealous. My wife and I were in Boston last weekend and a couple trips on the T had me longing for my non-car days in DC. I hate driving, but there's no reasonable way to get around Miami without a car. I've been thinking about dashboard cams after a couple close calls the last few months so this thread was timely.Quote:
Originally Posted by holliscx
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew Strongin
My wife walks across a park about 7-9 minutes to get to work.
I take the T (= transit, train, etc.) about 15-20 minutes (opposite rush hour) to work. If I had to take the T with rush hour I would cry every single day.
With that said, our car sits in the garage and unless we need it to drive to the North Shore and visit my mother in law. Once a week we drive it out so it does not die. I have been begging my wife for 2 years to get rid of it but she wants the convenience to go see her mom. Basically, it is so much nicer when you do not need to rely on a car every day because there is so much less stress in your life.
I am tempted to get the Garmin or GoPro because Massachusetts drivers are called Mass-holes for a reason.
Downright polite compared with Miami drivers. That's off topic, but those Mass-holes are saints relatively speaking.Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCfixie
Apparently during your visit you did not walk or drive in the Fenway area before/after a game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew Strongin
Wish I would have known you were in town, I live less than a mile from Fenway and less than 4 from Firefly. Although TTX1 did share that the last time you were here and rode with him, it was "fast paced" which I could not keep up with in my current state of fitness/roundness.
If you want the dash cam function, get one with the function. You want one that loops continually but when you tell it to it saves a segment of the file so you have a number of minutes saved off. This way you don't have to worry about filling up the card fifteen miles back somewhere. You also want one that does this when it detects a significant acceleration, like you just got hit. You don't want to fool around with a goPro or similar and have it keep recording over the accident footage while you're out of commission and can't get anybody to stop it.
Something like the Garmin GDR35D is what you want.
Dual cameras, looped recording, acceleration triggers.
We use them on our endurance cars that run 20k miles/month out in the wild.
This would do the trick and I assume that you like them.
I kept my visit low key, mostly because I was sick the entire time and spent the majority of the trip napping in an AirBNB in Portland or Boston.Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCfixie
Get a total shitbox car that makes the other drivers think that you are uninsured and prone to sue them. (Aka "plaintiff-mobile). Folks will give you a wide berth.
Not a bad strategy. Also the elderly enjoy a generous safety zone so the OP might consider an automobile favored by seniors like a Buick Lucerne or Lincoln TC.Quote:
Originally Posted by maunahaole
I am looking for a partially restored roadmaster, know where I can get one :)Quote:
Originally Posted by maunahaole
I haven't been through there during rush hour in a while, but the last time I did, there was a guy that nearly rear-ended me about 20 times in stop and go traffic. His head was down looking at his phone, but he would accelerate hard every time he let a gap open. No looking up the whole time. I assume he has crashed a few times doing that. I really wanted to let him pass me, but I couldn't figure out a strategy that would allow it. I finally did get him in front of me somehow.
I was thinking about getting a dash cam. There is a lot of bad driving going on.
I really like riding the metro. It's too bad the outer areas are so afraid that inner-city dwellers will come out and rob them in their homes. As if the people that would do that don't have access to cars.
That reminds me of the guy a couple of months ago that here in town robbed a bank branch, walked outside and caught the bus. His planning was flawed, though, because he didn't get on the express and the police just went a few stops down and waited.Quote:
Originally Posted by EricKeller
Quote:
Originally Posted by znfdl
It is an old man car. A wagon can hold a lot of scuba gear.
Yes I am very jealous of the amount of space that your car has......Quote:
Originally Posted by maunahaole
It would also hold a lot of bikes
Lori has a pic somewhere of a bunch of mannequins in the back. I got volunteered to do an errand for the fashion design department. It gives a rough idea of how many corpses I could haul at one time. It's very spacious once all the seats are folded flat. 12' surfboard goes in with the right coaxing.
Quite disturbing. Considered a 60's Cadillac?Quote:
Originally Posted by maunahaole
I've had 5 dash cams, and am currently using a Mobius. None last long, so I wouldn't spend over $100. Gopro's don't do well for this application, it's likely to get your car broken into when they steal it because it's a Gopro. You don't want to be taking it up and down everytime you park. A little black no name camera will not draw attention like a Gopro, and some are much smaller than a Gopro. Most all will shoot 1080 and loop at least 6 hours with a larger card. I also had a Street Guardian, it did well. Buy the one that will fit well in your car and not be in the way. Good luck!
Quote:
Originally Posted by znfdl
I got a laugh out of this. I'm in a wheelchair to get around because I have a full leg cast anyway yesterday I was coming down a steep sidewalk and had to turn right 90 degrees to cross the street. Anyone who's ever ridden in a wheelchair knows this isn't easy. As I was making my move with a green light to cross, an oblivious driver pulls right into the crosswalk. I had to brake at a 3/4 angle whilst turning on a descent which the wheelchair was not having. So I had no choice but to put my good foot on the ground to support the chair from toppling over. If I had only had GoPros recording we could put this driver away where he belongs. ; )
Almost every airport shuttle I take these days, along with a few of the Uber drivers has a dashcam installed. You might call your insurance agent and see if you get a break in your car insurance. In the not too distant future they will be as common as backup cameras.
https://www.wired.com/2013/02/russian-dash-cams/
Dash-Cams
My impression is that wheelchairs require artillery to cross some intersections safely, at least in NYC.Quote:
Originally Posted by holliscx
There's definitely a need for urban wheelchairs. The front wheels are laughably sensitive to the slightest degree of slope. On sidewalks most of the time I have to simultaneously brake with my left hand while propelling forward with my right. It's like swimming upstream and this is only for a slope which is exacerbated if going uphill.Quote:
Originally Posted by j44ke
Still I get out a couple times a day and spin around for upper body exercise, but wheelchairs are definitely designed for smooth flat marble floors at the hospital where they can turn on a dime but gloves are off once I hit the urban jungle.
Zoo York is crowded with pedestrians making a wheelchair worse than a baby stroller. I lived in the city for 4 years and remember pitying the elderly. NYC is a tough place to grow old.