I got side swiped on Friday and the swipers took off when I pulled into the nearest parking lot. I thought they were going to follow me in, but of course not. I pulled back onto the road and saw a deputy two streets up.

I figured I'd show him my dashcam video and much to my embarrassment I captured the "crunch", then my profanity laced tirade on audio, but not one frame of video showed the car that hit me or its license plate. The deputy offered a suggestion. Talk about everything I saw. For example, silver 4 door chevy, white male driver, white female passenger, etc. He mentioned getting a good description of the driver as well as the license plate to prevent the person from saying someone else was driving the car.

Looking at the video, it's obvious the other car doesn't pass me until I turned into the parking lot and it never enters the camera's field of view. It happened while pulling away from a stop light on US 41 in Sarasota near the airport (3 lanes in each direction) at 10:45am and I was towing my boat, so I was focusing on safely finding a place to pull over. Miraculously, only the other car's mirror hit my truck and only in the fuel door, so it should be a relatively easy, inexpensive repair.

Trappers post rings a bell with me. I had a dash cam but dont currently. Why? It only covered one axis of the vehicle. Did not do a thing for me when I was t-boned. And I know there are now front / rear dash cam systems. I want a good quality, easily installed, decently priced 360 degree system. So far I have not found it.

One of the reasons that I upgraded to a unit with both front and rear cameras was to increase the chance of recording someone sideswiping me (other is to record someone rear ending me).

I have the Viofo A129 GPS Dual Lens Dash Cam. It's the #1 recommended budget dual camera on DashCamTalk.

When I got swiped back in march, I immediately dropped back and got the tag with my camera and followed the jackass so he decided it would do no good to run.

However, I'm an asshole and trust no one to do the right thing.




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhbh_QyQafM

I have been using a dash cam for years. I have the audio off since it is an illegal wiretap if I did not notify my passengers they are being recorded.

I really need to turn the audio back on and this is a great reason why. There could be multiple reasons the plate was not captured and saying it aloud could solve this problem

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Trappers post rings a bell with me. I had a dash cam but dont currently. Why? It only covered one axis of the vehicle. Did not do a thing for me when I was t-boned...

While true it may not have captured the crash directly it can still be very beneficial. It can show traffic conditions and may show if you had a green light or the right of way.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I want a good quality, easily installed, decently priced 360 degree system. So far I have not found it.

The only systems I know of that are like that are used by racers to capture their track experience. They run in the thousands and require semi-permanent installations.

quote:

However, I'm an asshole and trust no one to do the right thing.

^^^^
I like your self description. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Trappers post rings a bell with me. I had a dash cam but dont currently. Why? It only covered one axis of the vehicle. Did not do a thing for me when I was t-boned. And I know there are now front / rear dash cam systems. I want a good quality, easily installed, decently priced 360 degree system. So far I have not found it.

The dual camera systems catch a lot. Way better than nothing.

During my research I found that some real fanatics just install two dual systems.
They put one "front camera on each of the front and rear windows, then they put the two rear cameras one on each side.

The video wasn't completely useless. It showed that I was stopped at a light, then started moving when the light went green accelerating to 15 mph and that I was completely in my lane the whole time.

A camera in the back of my pickup's cab might have captured them pulling up in the lane next to me, but Florida doesn't require front plates. Mostly, it would have great video of my boat's bow.

Ideally, I'd like cameras to be mounted much lower than the windshield and cab of my F350 allows. I'd like one the front grill facing forward, one in the tailgate facing backwards, and one on each side of the front bumper facing backwards and out.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
I have the audio off since it is an illegal wiretap if I did not notify my passengers they are being recorded.

Good tip for the OP (Floriduh) and others who live in one of the twelve two-party consent states.

The other 38 states (e.g. Texas) are single-party consent. Here is a link to a good site on the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

However, I'm an asshole and trust no one to do the right thing.

^^^^
I like your self description. LOL

Yep.

But he is one of the nicest guys I've ever met.

The other guy is his brother.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Good tip for [those] who live in one of the twelve two-party consent states.

Wow, good to know. So the creep at a California campground playing the part of friendly fellow outdoorsman, "secretly" recording with his phone in the crook of his elbow was committing a misdemeanor. And in PA it would be a felony.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
I have the audio off since it is an illegal wiretap if I did not notify my passengers they are being recorded.

Good tip for the OP (Floriduh) and others who live in one of the twelve two-party consent states.

The other 38 states (e.g. Texas) are single-party consent. Here is a link to a good site on the issue.

Interesting and I did not know this, so I just spent some time reading up on it. I believe I'm ok so long as it's just me and my family whose audio is being recorded. I believe I'm ok if it picks up audio from someone outside of my vehicle on public roads as there is no expectation of privacy. At other times, which would be rare, I'll have to turn off the mic or get consent.

Recommendation on a unit?

quote:

Originally posted by heisrizn:
Recommendation on a unit?

See my 1st post as it contains a link to DashCamTalk's 2019 recommended units

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

I have the Viofo A129 GPS Dual Lens Dash Cam. It's the #1 recommended budget dual camera on DashCamTalk.

This looks nice.

Anyone with recommendations on how I can mount the rear camera? With the top down, there is no glass. It’s pretty much a slick rear.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

I have the Viofo A129 GPS Dual Lens Dash Cam. It's the #1 recommended budget dual camera on DashCamTalk.

This looks nice.

Anyone with recommendations on how I can mount the rear camera? With the top down, there is no glass. It’s pretty much a slick rear.

Back of your headrest, or you have them, back of the rear seat head rest.

360 Degree Camera

Mount it on the roof like a Google car...

I took the rear headrests out to increase visibility. I will see if I can mount it on my headrest. Thanks