The Dashcam Chronicles

[Tiberius Jim]

I recently started using my cellphone as a dashcam in my car as a safeguard in case I'm in an accident and might need to prove who is at fault. The idea is to avoid any he said/she said issues and provide actual video evidence if something were to happen. It'd be especially helpful if anyone ever tries to pull one of those insurance scams where they reverse into you and claim you rear-ended them.

It has also proved to serve as a form of entertainment, as I've been able to share with my family and friends all of the terrible drivers I've come across. So I've put together a new YouTube channel to showcase them. There are a lot of similar channels on the Tube but instead of long compilation videos like I've seen, I like to present these motoring mishaps al a carte.

Anyway, subscribe if you like and give me some feedback either way. I know a lot of guys who post these can come off as aggressive, overreacting jerks but I hope I give people a chance to not screw up before I call them on it. I usually get a clip either once or every other day so stay tuned. Link to the channel is in my sig.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I have watched a bunch of them.

You can keep the popcorn.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I'm going to take that to mean...you're not a fan?

 

[Finn]

^my two cents

Your primary reason sounds good though angles might be an issue in some cases.

As for entertainment, unless you drive by famous landmarks of San Francisco, it would appear so random to those not familiar with the neighborhoods of the Bay Area.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Using the cellphone as a dashcam for evidence in case of accidents is smart. Uploading what are mostly incredibly minor traffic violations, misunderstandings, or irritations to YouTube seems petty and vindictive. I'm sure if someone followed around you or any of us with a dashcam all day they would find minor violations and things to be annoyed about as well.

I can understand if it was serious incidents like a drunk driver or something, but congrats on nailing the homeless guy who took a bit too long to cross the street. I'm sure when he checks YouTube from his cardboard box under the overpass he'll be suitably chastened.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I watched a couple episodes and expect Fox will be canceling this show any day now.

 

[Australis]

Weeeeelll, after watching 'The Daily Show' a few weeks ago, about the meteor strike in Russia, and the dashcam footage of that, which was amazing, and then they showed some 'ordinary' Russian dashcam footage

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0fcHAHf8rU[/yt]

You never know, it could turn into a series...

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Yeah, but in Russia you can literally be struck at any moment by meteors, falling cows, babushkas wielding your own bumper, guys with axes and bats, depressed horses, corrupt cops (okay, we have some of that here too, but the Russians take it up a notch), tanks, helicopters, ancient WWII era trucks, etc. Here, it's fairly boring by comparison.

 

[Pingfah]

You forgot bears. Russia has a lot of bears.

 

[Trekker4747]

I think such a dash cam has a degree of "entertainment value" especially if you catch a particularly idiotic drive. It's not so much about these people seeing the video and learning from their mistake but, perhaps, more about venting.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Well, call me an old fart, but I kind of miss the days where "venting" consisted of coming home and saying "honey, you wouldn't believe what some idiot did on the freeway today" instead of rushing to upload the video to YouTube, visible license plates and all.

 

[Trekker4747]

Everyone vents in their own way. As long as they're not doing it with a gun from the proverbial clock tower what difference does it make?

 

[Scout101]

Makes it seem really petty, then. Especially if these are the examples of things he really needed to vent about. Not really anything over the top, and some of those you'd have to stretch to even figure out if a traffic violation even technically occured.

For most of them, had he not recorded them, he'd have forgotten them within a few moments; just not a big deal, and part of living in a society that's not entirely filled with clones of yourself.

Just comes across as somewhat pompus and full of yourself to post that kinda stuff (and go through the extra effort of putting in text so we KNOW what the 'idiot' driver is about to do) like you're a perfect driver yourself. For all you know the guy behind you is recording you going 67 in a 65 and putting up snarky videos to youtube. No one's perfect, and no harm, no foul usually.

If more of these things had something worth actually spending effort watching or commenting on, maybe. As is? Not worth it at all.

And what kinds of problems have you been having, Flux, where you feel you need a dashboard cam for all the accidents, scams, and illegal activity that's been going on around you? Or is the real motivator just heckling others for at BEST minor offenses?

 

[Pingfah]

If he thinks bad drivers trouble him now, I can't wait to see how he handles riding a motorbike

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Everyone vents in their own way. As long as they're not doing it with a gun from the proverbial clock tower what difference does it make?

That's quite the low bar for behavior you've set there, Trekker. "Hey, as long as you're not some crazed sniper firing from a tower, anything goes." Jesus Christ, man.

 

[Trekker4747]

I dunno, I can see where he is coming from. Hell, the other day I was going 15-over in the far-left lane on a crowded highway and someone passed me ON THE SHOULDER! Actually he had to pass a couple of other cars before getting back on the highway-proper. Plenty of things you see drivers do everyday can be aggravating. IIRC, Flux lives in SanFran which I suspect has a mountain full of crappy drivers compared to my little suburb,

Small, petty, venting can be "helpful" in many ways, heck we've seen Flux rant here a few times about bad co-workers and customers. Hell, I've thought about getting a dash-cam and posting pictures/videos of people that piss me off in traffic.

Like the countless numbers of people who don't know how to make a left-turn on a solid green/flashing yellow, merge onto the highway, or how to not run a red light.

That's quite the low bar for behavior you've set there, Trekker. "Hey, as long as you're not some crazed sniper firing from a tower, anything goes." Jesus Christ, man.

He's posting videos of drivers that tick him off and commenting about them, I think he's in the clear when it comes to reacting to minor annoyances. Now, if he took their plate number, used civic resources to find the name of the driver of that car and then plastered their name, plate number and make/model of their car with the video. Then he'd go to far. As it is now, he posting videos of dumb people.

Seems like a pretty benign thing. If he has the time/resources to do this what's the harm. It's a venting procedure that works for him.

 

[Scout101]

Kinda like the "starving kids in Africa" defense. It's not THAT bad, so why complain about anything?

And then we get 20 Trekker rants about utterly innane nonsense that's even less offensive than whatever these drivers were supposed to be doing.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Those dashcams are cool, your camera phone gives some great quality videos, and that JS clip was just awesome, i wish he was on every night over here.

 

[Trekker4747]

Kinda like the "starving kids in Africa" defense. It's not THAT bad, so why complain about anything?

And then we get 20 Trekker rants about utterly innane nonsense that's even less offensive than whatever these drivers were supposed to be doing.

Yeah, it's so funny the way you enjoy so much pissing all over me.

 

[Scout101]

Like the countless numbers of people who don't know how to make a left-turn on a solid green/flashing yellow, merge onto the highway, or how to not run a red light.

Or people that don't know not to drive when they've been told by a doctor they aren't allowed to drive because they had a seizure. Things like that?

Whatever stupid shit you want to post that other people did, I'm sure you can find someone that can justify what they did in their own mind.

For all we know, the guy that passed you in the shoulder (which is stupid, agree) had a pregnant wife about to give birth in the passenger seat and was wondering why the hell you wouldn't get over...

Not usually a good defense anyway when you admit to breaking the law, and then want to bitch about someone else that was doing it slightly worse than you. What fire were you responding to that had you doing 15 over the speed limit? Why's 15 over perfectly fine, but 20 over and passing you in (hopefully) a safe but stupid manner should get them shamed? And the guy what was doing the speed limit, or 5 over even, was pissed at you that he had to move out of the left lane because you were in such a hurry for some reason...