Motor vehicle accidents and other adverse incidents frequently occur on America’s roads for a wide range of reasons. These events commonly involve new and reckless drivers, vulnerable road users, domestic and wild animals, and natural or man-made poor road conditions. Dash cams placed in a new car can help a driver save time, money and possibly even lives. Read on to learn more…
Missing Details from Motor Vehicle Accidents
According to the NHTSA, 42,514 died in vehicle accidents in 2022. The National Safety Council estimates that the number of fatalities was possibly as high as 46,027. Many of these accidents involved witnesses that gave conflicting testimonies or lacked any witnesses at all. At any time, drivers, passengers, pedestrians and others might misremember what happened because of shock or lie outright to emergency personnel as well.
In 2022, the NHTSA found that people reported 5.93 million car accidents to police. This number is actually lower than the true number of accidents. Many drivers don’t report incidents because of concerns about insurance and legal complications. For example, in a two-vehicle incident, both drivers might attempt to negotiate the cost of repairs outside of their insurance to save money. Yet, this type of agreement sometimes results in one party ultimately suing the other one for damages. A driver might have to pay more as a result of a lawsuit than if they had reported the incident and collected eyewitness testimony.
A hit-and-run incident is another example. Hit-and-runs usually occur as a result of distracted driving, early morning, evening and weekend traffic rushes, and poor lighting conditions. Unless a street camera has a clear view of an accident area, a new car owner has no way to pursue a claim against a hit-and-run driver. They can report the incident to police and their insurer, but police often fail to solve these crimes. If the vehicle needs costly repairs, their insurer might raise their monthly premiums.
Unbiased Audio and Visual Witness Testimony
Dash cams provide much-needed details without bias. As long as the cameras survive an accident intact or back up automatically to a cloud service, modern technological advances guarantee that police, insurers and others will have high-definition imagery to supplement or replace testimony by witnesses after an accident on a road, in a parking lot, or at some other location.
Video footage can show the makes, models and colors of all vehicles; the faces of drivers and passengers; license plate numbers; the date and time of an incident; and road conditions. This type of evidence may be crucial in a hit-and-run accident, a situation that is far too common. In 2023, the small city of Fremont, California alone saw 45 hit-and-run accidents. If a new car is damaged by another type of road user, such as someone on a bicycle or skateboard or one or more pedestrians, or a criminal attempting to break into the car, auto-backup footage can provide police and others with the critical details they need as well.
Additional Reasons to Invest in Dash Cams
Two-way cameras installed on the dash and other areas of a motor vehicle can provide details that help in many other ways. For example, if a driver receives a parking or traffic violation for running a red light at night or speeding, they might be able to prove their innocence with camera footage and attached data. Most cameras have night vision features. Some also collect data about a vehicle’s speed.
Many experts believe that just having the cameras in a car prompts drivers, passengers and children to act more responsibly because they know that they’re being recorded at all times. That said, dash cams can serve to help improve society beyond a new car driver’s personal experiences.
If one or more cameras in their parked or moving vehicle record an external incident, such as an accident involving other drivers or reckless driving, they can help make the roads safer by reporting the event to police. While checking their car’s cameras remotely, a driver might also discover a forgotten child or pet locked in another vehicle on a hot day, a mugger trying to steal from a pedestrian, the moments leading up to a sinkhole opening in a parking lot, or the damage caused by an earthquake or tornado.