>>>>There is the legal question of who can access the video in an accident.
I got a dose of that in the last couple months . . . by new car was hit by an amateur driving a Budget moving van. 2 people left notes on my windshield that it had been hit by the van at 8:32AM.
One of the bennies of the high end apartment complexes is really good security and the event occurred on no less than 3 security cameras.
I also found that Budget (and no one is really confirming this, but their behavior supports that it may be true) tracks their trucks. i.e. I can find where truck # xxx was at 8:32aM.
But . . . these same yuppies buying the new Porsche 918 and the Ferraris are crummy drivers.
Anyone familiar with Mobius? Looks like a promising dash cam. They claim it can be set to run in loop mode and power on with the power from a USB port. Price looks attractive too. It can be had with a "weather cover" too, so it looks to be bike friendly. I'm sure it's not going to be GoPro quality, but I'm more interested in good dash cam features.
One of the propane suppliers in this area equips their trucks with cameras to capture video of the driver, triggered by a bump sensor (not sure if it's a simple mercury switch type setup or more sophisticated accelerometer).
Driver I spoke to said the system was so sensitive that potholes and RR crossings would set it off (of course, being HazMat, he wouldn't be going faster than a walking pace over RR tracks). Supervisor and dispatch desk both get an email instantly upon triggering of system. Potential for unjustified butt-chewing, to be sure.
This is the problem Sifo, I know that camera is filming me all the time, whether I'm texting, eating, drinking, adjusting the radio, picking my nose, whatever. We already have onboard monitoring for all the truck systems, gradients, gears, brakes, throttle % . Plus full-time satellite monitoring & coms. I find it difficult to believe there's no system integration & that those images aren't accessible without my knowledge. Yes I know it just creates a file taken from the rolling loop of memory of 3 mins either side of the event point, but I have no desire to work in a goldfish bowl.
It amazes me how in this time of techno-spying, we as consumers just simply sign up to be spied upon. This entire system from big brother, bank cards, to our insurance companies would have been thrown to the ditch or stuffed in court back in the 60's and 70's. Now days it is "Ooooh....sign me up for the latest gadget.....I'm not worried who's looking!"
Have you ever just yelled out "Onstar!" just to see if they are listening?
Ohh.....I gotta go....,Geico(that is GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INSURANCE) is calling.....offering a 2% discount if I perpetually tell on myself! Gotta get it for the Uly and the Corvette! Soon it will be a 20% penalty for NOT having it. But what the hell.....we gullible Americans asked for it over and over with that voting through our wallets again!
Grumpy, I can appreciate not wanting to work in a fish bowl atmosphere. The one thing I would keep in mind... I sincerely hope that those in charge have better things to do than watch video of their drivers driving down the road. Don't give them cause for concern and they will almost certainly not have any desire to see how many times you may, or may not pick your nose per hour. Hopefully, if they ever do have cause to review the tape, it will show that you did your job well.
My co-driver & I have decided that every time they give us a truck with a camera we're going to dress up in fancy dress & trigger an event, just for fun.
Edit: Here's their website, maybe one could call them directly and skip paypal-
http://www.helmethedz.com.au/Home.aspx
The manufacturer lists some of the drawbacks to using these, but none of them outweigh the visibility factor by a longshot... my only real concern would be how well my visor would open and close.
Still- I may have to crank up my paypal account again.
(Message edited by 86129squids on October 12, 2014)
Those seem like a much better option than a dash cam.
We as a population are always looking for a way to assign blame, never focusing on the cause. I could give a damn less who's fault it is if I'm dead which is all a dash cam really does - assigns blame.
There's a light by my house, where the rural road we live off of crosses a major artery. If we are first in line, I make my kids count after the light turns green for us - usually to five mississippi. "hey they ran a red, they should be ticketed!" was the first response…With one coming up on driving age, I hope its sinking in that it may not matter.
Potential for unjustified butt-chewing, to be sure. Near 30 years ago when driving for pay I rolled blue smoke off my locked up tires. then met my dispatcher at the door to the docks. He wanted to know why I was all over the back of a car. Yep, after I kept from hitting a car that pulled out in front of me, they called me in. I couldn't get the dispatcher to share their contact info with me so I could personally apologize. =]
-glow in the dark skull masks Careful with the masks, could be construed as driving distracted or impaired. If it is too entertaining they may start watching your films.
Roads would be much safer it it weren't so damned easy to get a driver's license in this country. As I use to point out when I taught the MSF course: The hardest thing you need to do to get your driver's license is parallel park. Guaranteed 75% of the licensed drivers out there have forgotten how to do that unless they live in an urban area.
Parallel Parking. THAT is the hardest thing to do on an American license exam. Are you KIDDING me??
When I was in San Francisco I was astounded at the number of automobiles that cut off Cable Cars. C'mon, it doesn't take rocket science to know where the cable car is going, and it's not like they can deviate from that course if they WANTED to... but idiots were cutting in front of them at nearly every intersection. Unbelievable.
So I found out that this week we have had three of our school bus drivers suspended for using their phone while driver the school bus. I know that at least one case was with kids on the bus. I'm not sure about the other two.
Today we had a company cookout lunch before the afternoon routes. One of our drivers cracked open a beer at the cook out. I'm not sure if he's coming back or not.
These are supposed to be professional drivers! AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Ya never know when you are going to get it . . . . I went to a wake this evening Long Island. Dropped a friend off on the way back to Manhattan. I am sitting at a red light on a 4 lane divided highway.
I check my mirrors frequently . . . looked up to see headlights in the rear view mirror . . . showing absolutely NO sign of even thinking about slowing down.
Next thing I know there are 2 ambulances . . . a fire truck and 2 police cars.
The kid's air bag went off which saved him. I just went for a really fast ride.
One of the reasons I NEVER stop directly behind a car at traffic lights; always to one side or another. That way if some idiot does come flying up behind me I can duck off to one side of the vehicle in front of me to get out of the way. That has saved me at least once, and that was enough!
Both times I was rear-ended on a bike, I made the mistake of obeying traffic laws.
First, I stopped for a guy in a cross walk before a red light. Didn't jam my brakes on either. I was stopped for a few seconds. This was a long time ago before cell phones so she had to distract herself with lighting a cigarette. The ironhead took out a surprising amount of that plastic little car and I was still able to ride it home.
The more recent time, I had the audacity of coming to a complete stop before taking a right turn on red. <thump> There went my uly's saddlebag mounts and some plastic.
I went ahead and bought two Helmet Hedz, had them shipped from AUS, spent about $70ish, had to wait a week. Got a grey/shaggy one, and a Kermit green one with a red nose.
I've been out riding the past 2 days with my grey, shaggy Helmet Hed, and have these observations- folks REALLY notice me now, as I look like a renegade Muppet rolling down the highway/high speeds tend to drag back the eyes & upper lip, so to speak, but that just reveals my "BACON!" sticker/I probably will be on the "highlights" page on Killboy in a few days/chicks dig it/no more boredom AT ALL.
Haven't tried the green one yet, which is much smoother and a tighter fit...
Another addition to my Triumph is a more functional one, I've found a pair of "bullet" shaped chrome LED's that mount the license plate- when wired into the brake light, they fast-cycle blink and then steady red. They also have a secondary white back-up light which I've not decided to use yet, but that may or may not work with the turnsignals.
Got them at Autozone (Advance may have them), the store had them priced on the shelf at $17.99, but for some reason they rang up at the register for $7! I'll be going back to get a 2nd pair for the Beemer, they are bright and work well, even at regular price they're a great deal to bump up visibility from behind! They are called/branded "Pilot", and have some "try me" buttons wired into the packaging.
Go getcha some, youn's...
(Message edited by 86129squids on October 28, 2014)
