Why Front & Rear Dashcams Are a Smart Choice for Drivers

According to an IACP study, 51 percent of the citizens agreed that their behavior would change if they knew they were being recorded via dash cams. The same study also found that more than 1500 of the 3000 officers surveyed agreed that situations did not get out of hands when the drivers knew they were being recorded. In contemporary times, the number of drivers setting up dash cams in their vehicles is on the rise. Front and rear dash cams are valuable solutions to record video evidence, reduce confrontational situations and ensure rules & regulations are not violated. The article describes why dash cams are important in modern vehicles and how insurance companies and law enforcement agencies use the video evidence to investigate vehicular incidents using digital evidence management systems such as VIDIZMO. 

Importance of Dash Cams: 

Let's analyze the top 10 reasons why having dash cams is almost essential in 2021: 

1. Accountability becomes easier: In case of accidents, dash cams can prove crucial in providing assurance via evidence, especially if the person at fault tries to blame the victim. When the drivers know that they are being recorded, their vigilance will increase leading to safer and smarter driving habits.    
2. Makes insurance-related work easier: Complimenting the above point, it is easy to claim insurance when you catch accidents on film. Additionally, insurance companies also incentivize the usage of dash cams. In a survey of 2000 people, 20% claimed they installed dash cams to save on the cost of their car insurance. 
3. Budgetary challenges: Dashcams allow officers access to digital evidence, which will enable them to secure a conviction. Consequently, the effectiveness and importance of police departments increase, allowing the growing budgetary challenges to be tackled.    
4. Relief for the officers: Dashcams and in-car camera systems serve as an additional voice for the officers, allowing the recordings to do the talking for them. According to an IACP study, dashcams have helped exonerate wrongly accused police officers 93% of the time a complaint has been filed against them.   
5. Fewer complaints: According to a study by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), in-car video systems reduce the number of false complaints registered by members of the public as there is a lesser chance for any discrepancy. When being filmed via either front or rear dash cams, both the police and the public remain civilized, leading to a reduction in tensions between the police and the public.  
6. Increase in operational efficiency: Dashcams assist in the case of vehicle breakdowns. With advanced dash cams and 4G wireless connectivity, vehicle telematics data such as engine speed and tire pressures can be shared with law enforcement agencies in real-time. Dashcams can also transfer real-time video both from the front and rear of the police vehicle, which serve as important digital evidence that could be instantly transferred to the police headquarters.     
7. Improves conviction rates: The usage of dashcams has increased the conviction rate for most cases. It is difficult to build a clear perception of the event from officers’ verbal description of the incident. In contrast, the video recordings help paint a better picture of the event and serve as valuable digital evidence. In the IACP study already mentioned above, it was concluded that 93 percent of prosecutors rated the usage of video evidence in court as a success.  
8. Improves car safety: When the cars are parked, dashcams can be set to detect motion around cars which can record break-ins, acts of vandalism and hit-and-run incidents. It becomes less of a worry when you have front and rear dashcams installed which will record videos which could serve as potential evidence in case of a mishap when your car is parked.   
9. Improves road safety: Dashcams help in improving road safety for drivers and pedestrians. Having a front and rear dashcam installed, you can rest assure that you will not be a part of traffic scam fraud. In certain countries, fraudsters try to throw themselves in front of vehicles and demand the driver to pay for the fake injuries. Not only can you catch such scammers red-handed, but you can also ensure such acts come to a stop, thus improving road safety.     
10. Makes you a better driver: Imagine viewing your driving skills (or the lack of them) when you re-watch footage of you driving on a busy highway. Dashcams are the best way to improve your presence behind the wheel. 
    

Aware of the proper usage of dash cams? 

Perhaps not as important as the privacy and security aspects of front and rear dash cams, users still need to be aware of the following elements: 

• The dashcam must be correctly fitted to be admissible in court for the digital evidence recorded from dash cams.  
• The appropriate location for the front dash cam is behind the rear-view mirror as its central location allows a clear vision of the roads and the lanes ahead. 
• A rear dash cam needs to be bonded to the top-center part of the rear windshield using an adhesive mount.   
• Footage should absolutely not be tampered with! Deleting or editing footage that potentially contains incriminating evidence is a serious offense.     

The Privacy Challenge Associated with Dash Cams: 

The images and videos of a person recorded via a dashcam is considered personal data under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Usage of a dashcam, especially if both a front and a rear one is used, will record an image of a person, which is considered personal data under GPPR. According to Data Guidance, anyone using a dashcam needs to make sure the following points are adhered to: 

• There is a specific purpose for the use of personal data recorded via a front or rear dashcam, keeping the lawful basis for collecting and processing of personal data in mind. 
• Make sure the recorded material is securely stored, and only relevant personnel have the right to access the data from it. 
• Make sure the data retention policies are followed. 
• Footage should not be published on social media platforms as it infringes on the privacy rights of pedestrians, drivers and other personnel captured on recordings.    

Storage Challenges with Dashcams  

The technology behind the front and rear dash cams are in its most advanced phase in 2021. Most dash cams record Full HD (1080p) video, which records up to fifty frames per second. Viatech explains how dash cams now have the feature of High Dynamic Recording (HDR) and paired with infra-red LEDs, the ability to capture clear footage even in the dark has increased immensely.  

Police cars record a large amount of dashcam videos in a single day and its storage poses a significant financial challenge. Regular dashcams are connected with the ignition system and start recording as soon as the vehicle starts. A regular dashcam makes use of an SD card for storage purposes and records them as three-minute videos. The storage challenges associated with SD-card in-built dash cams is that all the data is lost if the dash cam or card gets stolen. An additional challenge is that the files in such dash cams are not easily accessible. Files from the SD card need to be taken out, plugged into the device, and then the footage is transferred.  

Dashcams, which provide the option of cloud storage, make the recorded footage immediately available. The data remains safe in the cloud regardless of the dashcam's condition (such as during accidents). However, even with cloud storage providing options, the data storage challenge still needs to be addressed.  

Organizations need to keep the following aspects in mind when they aim to address data storage challenges:  

• A cost-effective, scalable option that has an adequate bandwidth capacity to integrate third-party video evidence applications. 
• The service provides the features of data integrity, compliance and secure access. 
• The storage option needs to have a reliable backup. 
• Allows the safe sharing of video evidence with authorized users.  

Achieving these requirements is fairly simple with VIDIZMO and its services.  

Solving the challenges with VIDIZMO   

Using valuable digital evidence recorded via front and rear dash cams is becoming crucial for solving cases, whether insurance-related or specific to law enforcement. The catch is that even though dash cams are increasing exponentially, insurance and law enforcement agencies do not need to be overwhelmed. VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) is a consolidated system allowing digital evidence to be collected, stored, managed, analyzed and shared easily. VIDIZMO offers automatic video data ingestion from front and rear dash cams, enabling law enforcement officers to quickly store and analyze digital evidence. Using Artificial Intelligence, DEMS allows facial and object detection, as well as features such as redaction and secure sharing options, for quick investigations and case processing.      

That's not all! VIDIZMO's cloud deployment options give a choice to store and host videos, all while following the essential regulatory compliances. VIDIZMO's cloud deployment can be done through any of the following cloud provider options: 

VIDIZMO Solution on Microsoft Azure Cloud 

VIDIZMO from Microsoft Azure Marketplace deployed on either Azure Commercial Cloud or Azure Government Cloud. This solution is highly scalable with a pay-as-you-go model available, which you can decide upon as you become more aware of your video storage and hosting needs.  

VIDIZMO Cloud SaaS 

VIDIZMO is also available as a SaaS application deployed on VIDIZMO Cloud. This budget-friendly ready-to-deploy solution is well-suited for small and medium-sized corporations with fewer security and compliance concerns allowing videos to be hosted in a multitenant environment. This option is also highly scalable as your video storage needs to increase or reduce. 

VIDIZMO Solution on AWS Cloud Marketplace 

VIDIZMO also offers a solution from AWS Marketplace, which can be deployed on either AWS Cloud or AWS GovCloud (US). VIDIZMO cloud is also highly secure for video storage, with the highest number of compliances covered and greater than 2500 security controls. The solution also is highly scalable on-demand! 

Any Other Cloud Provider of Your Choice 

For VIDIZMO's cloud deployment, you can choose any other private or public cloud provider based on your needs. 

Integrate dashcams with VIDIZMO to ingest recorded interactions with the public and collect video evidence at crime scenes directly. 

To sum up, it can fairly be said that dash cams will only increase further in vehicles. To turn this technology into the most valuable asset without worrying about managing the terabytes of data associated with it, opt for VIDIZMO DEMS and save on your time and resources. Getting associated with an efficient system is just a couple of clicks away!