ADUK Archive

Does anyone here use, or has used, a Total Event Data Recorder, or more commonly called a Black Box Recorder, in their vehicle? There seem to be several different ones available, Roadhawk, being one example (see http://www.roadhawk.co.uk). The providers of these devices claim many benefits, the obvious one being the ability to use it in evidence following an accident. I'd be interested to hear the views and opinions of anyone here as to there effectiveness.

I have a small DVR recorder fitted to my car which unfortuneately does not have time and date feature on it,and I am looking at purchasing a RH1 which for my money are the next best thing to the DVR systems that I use at work,I have posted you a link to show you the quality that you can get for as alittle as £45.00
http://s694.photobucket.com/albums/vv31 ... ngton2.flv
Hope this helps

You can get incar cameras that run on the cigarette lighter socket and record onto an SD card for under £40. The picture quality is quite good too.

The driver trainer who does the assessments for St. John Ambulance where I'm a member uses a RH1 from the link as a driver training aid and to settle any dispute over the debrief it's really quite good from that point of view.

The shock sensor, G forces and ability to link to GPS mapping is quite handy as a training aid.

You can buy sunglasses with a built in 640x480 30fps video camera for £12 off Ebay - I heard video from bullet cams and the like isn't useable as evidence though... I can't figure out why? A video of an event is a video of an event and therefore better than nothing, surely...

TiJay wrote:You can buy sunglasses with a built in 640x480 30fps video camera for £12 off Ebay - I heard video from bullet cams and the like isn't useable as evidence though... I can't figure out why? A video of an event is a video of an event and therefore better than nothing, surely...

Since police have used Youtube as a lead to naughty bikers (daft enough to start/end their videos where they live . . . ), I'd guess that there's evidence and evidence.

TiJay wrote: A video of an event is a video of an event and therefore better than nothing, surely...

Any video can be used in court but, for many cases, establishing that the video really relates to the case in question requires that the court be satisfied that the video was taken on a given date and time.

Prosecutors prefer videos that have time/date codes because all you need to do is establish that the equipment's timing system is working correctly to establish the date and time. Without a date/time code you often need a witness to attest that the video was actually taken at the time and date claimed, and the credibility of that witness is likely to be critical to the courts willingness to give weight to the video evidence.

In the cases involving YouTube videos, that I have encountered the police have had to expend considerable effort to identify the location and time of the incident, and I would imagine that for every success there are probably a great many more cases where that was not possible.

I thought I was the only lunatic round 'ere: maybe not.

Best wishes all,
Dave.