Dash Cams, do we need them?

Here at the Car Audio Centre, there is a belief that dash cams are the must have option for any road user, whether you have just passed your driving test or have been driving for 50+ years there are many reasons to have a dash camera recording your everyday driving. The Harsh Reality of Britain's Roads According to Brake, In 2017, there were 1,793 people killed on the roads in Britain, the highest annual total since 2011 and 24,831 people were seriously injured on the road in Britain.  Now these are statistics that we’re sure we would all like to see reduced. So, here is our reason why Car Audio Centre thinks you should all invest in a dash cam. Not only to protect you and the car you own, but other road users. Catching and reporting dangerous/careless drivers we see on the road provides a great service to Britain's road users. I certainly am sure, the more dangerous drivers off our roads, the better. That's one of the reasons why dash cam footage is important. There has been so many occasions where I have seen drivers tailgating (a personal pet hate for me), constantly on their phones, overtaking in dangerous situations and rubber necking. I am sure these bad habits will cause a lot of collisions. Having a high quality dash cam like the Road Angel will capture events like this in crystal clear HD. So you do not have to worry about getting evidence for an insurance claim. The main brands currently on the market are Road Angel, Blackvue, Thinkware and Nextbase. We have experience with all of these dashcams, we favour the Road Angel over the other brands based on a few reasons. Price- perfect price points, they offer exceptional value for money. The quality offered in these dashcams, you would find in a more expensive camera. Quality- the Road Angel Halo ranges utilises the Huawei designed lenses which offer far superior picture quality. If you do not know about Huawei camera lenses. See the Huawei P30 Pro! Another thing to consider is the CPU which is made by HiSilicon (owned by Huawei). This chip allows the Halo dash cams to perform excellently. No more laggy footage or piping hot camera! Reliability- We have fitted many dash cams over the years. We have come across the rubbish and the very best. We have found Road Angel to be the most reliable, catching important footage 24/7 with parking mode (hardwire kit needed). There is no point in buying a £30 dashcam, if you are looking for reliability. They will only last so long. The appeal is price, but you know what they say. Buy cheap, buy twice! Good dashcams aren’t (really) cheap and cheap dashcams aren’t good! Usability- We have also found with the Road Angel Halo dashcams, they are easy to fit and easy to use. If you need a plug and play, perfect! If you are looking for more radical protection, then hardwiring in will get the best out of it. This will enable parking mode, giving you 24/7 coverage. The app has been designed so it is easy to use by all. Something that is hard to come by these days. The Road Angel dash cams we sell are- Road Angel Halo Go- offers 1080P recording at 30fps, has a G-Sensor, parking mode (hardwire kit needed), WIFI and high-end camera lens. Prices from £99.99 Road Angel Halo Drive- Same as the Go but with 1440P resolution quality. This creates an image that is over 50% sharper than 1080P recording, which really shows when comparing the two images.  Prices from £149.99 Road Angel Halo Pro- the front camera has the same lens as the Drive, but this dashcam incorporates a front and rear dash cam, GPS and dual storage. This has proven to be the most popular option as people prefer having the front and rear of the vehicle covered. Prices start from £199.99 These are the main benefits and if you are unsure if you need a dashcam, see below. We have information you might find useful. Protecting yourself in the event of accident One of the most important reason to own a dash camera is to have visual evidence if you happen to find yourself in a car accident, imagine how useful this video evidence is to your car insurance companies or the police in the cases of cash for crash or hit and run incidents. According to the Insurance Fraud Bureau, “Crash for Cash” costs UK motorist around £340m a year. That is a staggering amount of money. Each claim can go into the tens of thousands of pounds. Organised crime is a big problem in the UK and “crash for cash” is one of their avenues they venture when trying to make money. The IFB recommend many ways to protect yourself against bogus claims. One of them being “Take photos of the incident, if you are able”. Go one better, GET THE WHOLE THING ON CAMERA! In an accident, not everyone is able to get photos or videos of the scene. A Road Angel Halo will record from the moment you start the journey. Protecting other road users if you witness an accident I'm sure we have all witnessed accidents on the roads whilst commuting to work or enjoying a drive on the weekends, your video evidence can help other insurance companies to keep the cost down on false claims. For example; you may not be a victim of “crash for cash”, but a fellow motorist in front of you is. You have got the whole thing on camera, assuming you stop to help the victim are already doing a good thing. To help them get justice? That is above and beyond. As Bertrand Russell once said “The only thing that will redeem mankind, is cooperation”, it goes without saying really. Here’s our theory, the more we protect ourselves with things like dash cams, the less likely organised crime or individuals trying to make a quick buck will see “crash for cash” as a viable way to make money. Therefore, reducing these bogus claims, which then reduce our insurance premiums. So, we think there is a personal gain and a communal gain from using a dash cam. Even if you don’t get a crash on camera, your Road Angel Halo (if hardwired in) will have parking mode enabled. You might catch an act of vandalism, assault or have footage of a suspect of ongoing enquiry walking past your car which could help put a time and place on someone’s whereabouts. Think about your footage actually being used to help solve a crime! There are many personal and communal benefits of using a dash cam. Currently a number of police constabularies are actively asking for dashcam footage from potential road traffic offences. For instance, Nottinghamshire Police (our local police service) have set up a dedicated portal for this exact purpose, we would all like to see potentially dangerous motorists off our roads. Uninsured/unlicensed drivers There’s nothing worse than being hit by an uninsured driver because not only does this affect your car insurance in the long run but it could also put you out of pocket or worse even out of work. In September 2018 the RAC foundation found almost one in five (19 per cent) job adverts say that applicants must be able to drive. So, we have a lot of drivers depending on their vehicle, imagine being out of work and having to fork out hundreds maybe even thousands because some moron decided it was perfectly acceptable to drive without insurance/licence and you do not have evidence to support your claim? Having a dashcam will help in almost all cases. Car park crashes Whether you have a brand-new £35,000 Audi A4 or a £500 run around. Its never nice to come back to your vehicle and find that someone has crashed into it and driven off without leaving any details, with a lot of dash camera’s there are parking modes that record 24/7 when parked up, this can worry some people about that feature draining the battery. With the Road Angel Halo range, you don’t have to worry about your battery draining as it has a voltage detector and switches the camera off if your battery drops below a certain voltage. This allows you to start the car and go to your local garage for a charge up/replacement. (if needed) These are just a few reasons why we think everyone on the road would benefit from a dash camera. We would always recommend buying a branded product like the Road Angel Halo’s as they are a well-established company who provide a great quality product at reasonable prices. The Road Angel Halo keeps watching when you are not. Some sample footage below for the Road Angel Dash cams- [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=HBqHycCsxSY[/embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=wH0rzKUXdIY Useful links- You can get a Road Angel Halo dash cam fitted at one of our stores for as little as £49.99 (excluding hardwire kit)- https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/store-finder.htm. Still stuck? Drop us an email- https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/contact-us.htm Road Angel website- https://www.roadangelgroup.com/shop/dash-cams