Dash Cam Use On Motorcycles
Dash cams are changing the world of insurance claims and crime reporting, and even the entertainment industry. It's easy to install a dash cam near the interior lights of a car or somewhere near a dashboard, but motorcycles have fewer obvious mounting points. For most accidents or incidents, a little bit of knocking around or flipping won't destroy the camera. Unfortunately, severe crashes or landing on just the wrong angle can spell disaster for your camera--and if it's disaster for you as well, some added evidence can help you hold onto injury settlement dollars or give something for your survivors to use in court. Here are a few dash cam features and benefits with a focus on motorcycles.
How Do Dash Cams Work?
Dash cameras have been around for decades, but recent developments you may have seen in smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices have made the dash cam industry a lot more affordable with many more features.
First, video quality has a new bottom line. Don't be impressed by the term "high definition" anymore, because HD is now standard. Any dash cam worth buying will have a minimum resolution called 720p, which was the first major resolution available for true HD computer monitors and televisions.
This means that the baseline quality is enough to discern the details of someone's hairstyle from a few yards away in at least evening lighting. Increased quality means bigger file size, and since these devices are essentially computers--or, from another angle, smartphones that don't call and only record video--you'll need to worry about storage space.
Modern dash cams don't use hard drives, although you may hear people incorrectly mention hard drives when talking about storage capacity. Instead, solid state storage is used in some models as a built in drive. Many models will expect you to bring your own storage in the form of a secure digital (SD) card, which can hold hundreds of gigabytes of data. Look for a model that advertises at least 3 days of storage.
Dash Cams And The Insurance Industry
Dash cams can protect your side of a dispute during an accident. Even in the most obvious fault situations, some people may come up with convoluted stories about how their mistake was your fault, and in some situations, they may be believable. Even if they're lying, it's hard to prove what happened without a camera.
When mounting a dash camera, it needs to be bolted in place and away from the center column/console. This is to make it less likely that your head will hit the camera in a typical head-on collision scenario, protecting you from a device that isn't designed for impact and saving the camera from being demolished by your helmet.
Aside from recording fault, some insurance companies may provide discounts for dash cam use. If they don't, the evidence alone can be useful in talking premiums back down by showing how your performance was not a contributing factor to the accident.
Contact a motorcycle insurance professional to discuss proper mounting, the right way to submit videos after an accident, and discount options.
