Hi there fellow RVers. First off, let me clarify; with the item I am about to bring to your attention, I have no connection to the manufacturer, distributor or any other part of a company. The nearest claim I must admit to, is that I am from that damp, foggy lump of rock on the western edge of Europe, more commonly known as Great Britain. Several years ago, while reading a news article from the UK my attention was drawn to what can best be described as a 'police type dashboard camera' available to the general public. This camera, or Total Event Data Recorder as they prefer to call it, is about the same size as a stick of deodorant and records what is taking place outside the front of the vehicle, the speed, time, direction, audio (inside the vehicle) and any g forces imparted on the vehicle. When connected to a computer and the information is transferred it is possible to plot the location of where the vehicle has travelled by linking in to Google maps. This data is stored on an SD card with up to a 32gb capacity. This TEDR is known as the Roadhawk RH-1 (super-ceded by the improved DC-1). There is also a model (RH-2) that simultaneously records the interior of the vehicle too. I have an RH-1 and an RH-2 in my two vehicles. They can be hard wired to the ignition but I prefer to have mine plugged into the 12v auxiliary outlet. So far I haven't had the necessity to call upon the recorded material but it is comforting to know that in the advent of a collision where I was the innocent victim, I have video images to corroborate my side of events. This is more relevant due to the likelihood of being sued in the advent of a collision. I have captured numerous motorists running red lights in front or from my side and a couple of near misses when vehicles have barreled through 'stop' signs, cutting straight across my bows. Earlier this year I took the TEDR with me to Phoenix and installed it inside the rental car, just as added protection. It has been shown to also modify driver behaviour (UK spelling). A buddy of mine has purchased one for his Class A and I also persuaded the company I work for to buy them for our fleet of vehicles in Canada. At a cost of £200 (U$320) it might save your insurance premiums or prevent you from being sued. Mention it to your insurance company and they may even reduce your premium. Some may feel this is a little eccentric but then as I stated at the beginning, I am from the UK. You may feel this isn't for you or it smacks of big brother. Ok, I accept your opinion, I just thought I'd share this with the wider public beyond the UK shores. Here is a link to the site for more information about them; http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-black-b...tems/cat_2.html There are also numerous clips on You Tube.
Nifty. Thanks for the info. I always like learning about stuff like that. Not so fond of it capturing the audio though. I wonder if the data would be admissible in court if you happen to catch one of those morons who pass stopped school buses or whatever.
GandJ, It has been used in UK courts to provide evidence but most of the time the other side give up when they see what you have as your corroborating evidence. It has helped a lot of folk over there with 'cash for crash' claims that have been made whereby drivers have deliberately caused an RTA in order to submit a claim against another. In particular car drivers causing a truck driver to rear end the car and then claim damages for the vehicle and soft tissue injury. Certainly worth thinking about for people who drive motor homes, 5th wheels and travel trailers that take longer to stop than a car alone. The audio can be switched off and not record. In the advent of an emergency incident the unit automatically saves that data to a separate file so it isn't over written. Otherwise the data is overwritten once the card is full; the oldest marterial being dropped first. There is also a manual function for emergency incident activation, you just need to press the button on the unit. I found with a 32gb SD card I have enough room to store several weeks of normal daily driving. After that time I download the data to my computer at work and save it for about 3 months before deleting it. I have to save it to my work PC because unfortunately it isn't compatible with a Mac.
FINAL MOMENTS The National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged the existence of a highly secret plan they had funded with the US auto makers for the past five years. The NTSB covertly funded a project whereby the auto makers were installing black boxes in four wheel drive pickup trucks with the idea to determine, in fatal accidents, the circumstances of the last 15 seconds before the crash. They were not surprised to find that the last words of drivers in 61.2% of fatal crashes were the same as those of pilots prior to air crashes, "Oh, S**t!" However they were intrigued to find this held true only in 49 of the 50 states. The state of Texas was different, where 89.3% of the final words were, "Hey y'all, hold my beer and watch this!"
