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Thursday, October 25, 2007 - 10:56PM

The DashCam Files

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

Back in July, I installed a permanent dash-mounted video camera and VCR system in my car. The concept is not much different from the camera systems in police cars. It is always running whever I am driving, so anything that happens in front of me will be on tape. I figure it is a good insurance policy as an irrefutable advocate for me in any road-related incident - and another good way to build up a library of interesting footage. Since I installed the system, nothing really interesting has happened worth keeping until during this latest business trip to Raleigh. Yesterday and today, the camera caught three incidents that I felt were worthy of capturing in and filing away for posterity (and a possible compilation video sometime in the future). My new DashCam Files page is the repository for these incidents that the cameras happen to capture. Stay tuned to this blog for updates on when new videos are added.

Interestingly enough, I've found that a lot of potential 'keepers' are happening behind me rather than in front of me, including things like near-rear endings, close tailgaters and road ragers. For this reason I am planning to install a second camera and VCR to record out of the back window, when I can afford it.

Why am I doing this? I really don't have a grudge against other drivers, as I'm not a perfect driver by any means either. But I see so many examples of dangerous driving on the road that I thought it would be interesting to start recording and collecting them. Spurred on by this and the coverage on icy roads that I've worked on in the past few years, highway safety is becoming a growing interest of mine. My long-term plan is to start an online highway safety section to this site, bringing all of these videos and related information together in one place.