RoadHawk In Car Video (1 Viewer)

LesAshmore

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Hi all, It has taken me some time to bring myself to post this on a public forum but here goes.

On September 7th Last year after a lengthy tour of Europe we (My wife and I) were on our way back home, we were travelling to Zeebrugge to catch the 1900 hrs Ferry and we had to check in by 1700 hrs, The time was 1230 hrs and we were approx 25 k away from Brugge, we were travelling down a pretty straight road single lane in each direction with a centre reservation which was lined for no overtaking and there were boxed sections for traffic crossing from side streets etc, The speed limit was 70k, There was the usual cycle tracks to the right.
I was travelling at 62 k (39 mph) I use a GPS speedo which displays in either MPH or KPH and when abroad I set it to KPH, approx 500 metres in front was a large vehicle also travelling at the same speed as me, about 300 metres in front to my left was a petrol station and as we were approaching I saw a Moped come out of the petrol station to the central reservation where she stopped and put her foot to the floor, when I was about 30 metre from her she set off directly into my line, to my right was a woman pedal cyclist, I had no chance whatsoever to avoid an accident, I have always prided myself on being calm and collected and in fact in my younger years I used to race cars so I thought I was very knowledgeable about these things, How wrong could I be ?, I totally went to pieces afterwards and had no idea what happened or how or even in fact what to do, Fortunately the lady on the pedal cycle spoke perfect English and she took control telling me what to do etc and she called the Police and Ambulance who I have got to say were there well within 5 minutes.
The police were asking me about the accident but I couldn't stop shaking and I couldn't speak for a good while, The Paramedics and Ambulance men were working on the lady in the middle of the road, after a while I started to calm down, strangely enough my wife was the calming force (I thought she would be the one who panicked) The Police kept wanting to know what had happened as there were no witnesses that actually saw the accident, my wife informed them that we a were on our way to Zeebrugge for the ferry, the Police officer who was in charge told us to cancel as we would not be leaving the country until after everything had been investigated.
At this point we suddenly remembered my Roadhawk system and we told the Police woman, she asked if we could show her the video, we did and right away she saw what had occurred and actually said straight away that the lady had set off without looking, the system showed my speed and the time, From her setting off to the collision was under 2 seconds.
She informed me that under Belgium law we had to wait for a court official translator even though the Police officers spoke perfect English and we also had to await the senior accident investigator, The paramedics were still working on the Lady for 45 minutes on the road and then they transferred her to the ambulance and continued working on her there for another 30 minutes before taking her to hospital, I was informed that she had massive facial and chest injuries and there was massive internal bleeding.
After the court official arrived a very decorated Police officer arrived in uniform and along with him was a gentleman who continued to take photos of everything, then the Police Officer who had seen the video went and spoke to them their demeanors changed right away and they came and asked to view the video which I shown them, Their comments were that I could not avoid the accident and they asked for a copy which I asked them to take, 15 minutes later we were released and continued to Zeebrugge where we managed to catch the Ferry at 1725.
I now have a Roadhawk in both my own car and in my wifes car, If it hadn't been for this system I hate to think what may have happened.

Also on numerous occasions I kept thinking "could I have done this to avoid it" or "could I have done that" I have on each occasion viewed the video again and i now am 1000% convinced that not under any circumstances could I have avoided what happened.
 
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Jim

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Jul 19, 2007
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Hi Les, I know the aftermath from an incident like this is considerable. Having the camera must have been been a big help in getting your head round it and convincing yourself you couldn't have done things differently. It's so easy to keep re-living the incident and beating yourself up. Happily it seems you are now over it. Well done :thumb:

For careful drivers, in-car cameras are fast becoming 'must-have' pieces of kit and stories like yours really do prove their worth. :thumb:
 

Chris

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They do seem like a good idea.

I think there was a thread about them not long ago.

Thanks for sharing your story. There is no knowing how you will react to something like that until it actually happens.

Without that camera you could have been falsely accused which would have added insult to injury.

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Landy lover

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We have cameras in all our vehicles following a youngster hitting a lorry we owned where the lorry driver was not at fault but still ended up on a 50/50 claim basis - fortunately we have not had to use it in 'anger' so as to speak but it had been of use to prove to ourselves just how unthinking and dangerous some peoples driving really is and allow us to review 'near misses' in the comfort of our own home.
 

GJH

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Reading reviews of some of these systems I see that several interfere with Sat Nav systems. Also, there is a very wide variation between prices and descriptions on various web sites aren't all that detailed.

Is there a web site anywhere which has comparisons between models?
 

Landy lover

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Scotjimland had a thread on here a while ago about cameras. Simply put you get what you pay for - IMHO you need not only an 'in car video camera' which many are you need night vision capability. GPS and speed track which links back to mapping - this system will show then not only what happened but also where it happened and what your speed was - a good system will also have 'impact or incident' capture so no matter what happens if you brake rapidly or have an impact it will be preserved as a clip which will stop it being overwritten. Road hawk are expensive but one of the few that actually do all these things . plenty of cheapo's on the market but they are just cameras

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LesAshmore

LesAshmore

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Just one question - how were you able to play the video to the Belgian police?

There is a removable SD card in the camera, Roadhawk supply software and a SD card stick and I put it in the laptop.
The software shows exact location exact speed sound and automatically records any event ie a bump etc which cannot be recorded over by accident.
 
Jul 1, 2010
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There is a very informative thread about these cameras running on the dark side with links to reviews and tests along with motorhomers own experiences

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GJH

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The Roadhawk certainly looks impressive but installation might be a problem for me. I would want to use a camera in both the motorhome and the car, just as I do with the sat nav, so permanent mounting as suggested on the Roadhawk web site isn't on.

Currently the sat nav is mounted on a clipboard for use in the van (as in the attachment) so ideally I would want a camera which could be similarly mounted alongside or between the sat nav and the windscreen.
 

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Jul 1, 2010
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Some links that may be of interest, I'm leaning toward the Mi Witness system bur waiting to see if when fitted it allows the internal blinds to close properly. (Don't take delivery of new MH till 1st March

http://www.incarcamerasystems.co.uk/BlackVue_DR500GW.php

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rainbow chasers

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The Roadhawk certainly looks impressive but installation might be a problem for me. I would want to use a camera in both the motorhome and the car, just as I do with the sat nav, so permanent mounting as suggested on the Roadhawk web site isn't on.

Currently the sat nav is mounted on a clipboard for use in the van (as in the attachment) so ideally I would want a camera which could be similarly mounted alongside or between the sat nav and the windscreen.


This isn't an issue, I cannot speak for roadstar, but hte ones we do can come with cigartte lighter attachment and window clamps similar to sat nav so that you can move from vehicle to vehicle.

It does show what a useful piece of equipment they can be! I always advise business vans to have them in, not to keep an eye on drivers - but to be a witness in cases such as this, or where crash for cash is involved where they target business vehicles as they know they are insured, and are more likely to pay out quickly.
 

Xabia

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The Roadhawk certainly looks impressive but installation might be a problem for me. I would want to use a camera in both the motorhome and the car, just as I do with the sat nav, so permanent mounting as suggested on the Roadhawk web site isn't on.

Currently the sat nav is mounted on a clipboard for use in the van (as in the attachment) so ideally I would want a camera which could be similarly mounted alongside or between the sat nav and the windscreen.

I have just ordered DC1 together with a removable windscreen mount and extra power cable so that I can move the camera from car to motorhome. The removable windscreen mount means that I can take it off to close the front blinds at night.
 
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LesAshmore

LesAshmore

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Jan 20, 2009
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The Roadhawk certainly looks impressive but installation might be a problem for me. I would want to use a camera in both the motorhome and the car, just as I do with the sat nav, so permanent mounting as suggested on the Roadhawk web site isn't on.

Currently the sat nav is mounted on a clipboard for use in the van (as in the attachment) so ideally I would want a camera which could be similarly mounted alongside or between the sat nav and the windscreen.

My Roadhawk is moved from my MH to my car and is extremely easy to change over as it slides out of bracket, I have hard wired it so just plug it in and slide in bracket and it switches on automatically, You do get a Cig Lighter plug with the unit and a suction mount for the windscreen, But I purchased the separate permanent windscreen mount and just swap the unit out.
::bigsmile:

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GJH

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Having looked around what is on the market and various comments I decided to go for a cheaper model than Roadhawk. I bought this - Link Removed. I noticed that the seller had several which looked the same but listed at different prices so e-mailed to ask if there was a difference in spec. The answer was that they are all the same spec so I ordered the cheapest last Wednesday and it was delivered on Friday. There was a label saying use a class 6 Micro SD card. The 4GB card fitted is class 4 but it works fine.

Today was the first opportunity we have had to try it and it worked fine. On playback on the laptop the link to Google Maps shows the journey undertaken. Image quality is not HD but certainly acceptable. The only disconcerting thing was that the display on the camera went off after a few minutes. I wasn't sure if this was a fault or not so kept switching it back on. It turned out that it was simply a feature and recording continued without any pause.

I'm not sure how much use it will be, which is why I went for one a lot cheaper than the Roadhawk, but it certainly seems to do what it says in the listing.

Note: If you don't have a Micro SD card reader on your computer, the 99p Stores have one which plugs into a USB socket (bought one yesterday).
 

grumps147

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I am looking at upgrading the ones I have, putting a permanent bracket in the front of the car and motorhome and swapping the front one between vehicles.

Some questions if anyone can assist please.

1. Are the 12v cables long enough to permanently fit the long way round the windscreen to the 12v socket on the fiat Ducato (for your model camera) or do you need to extend it?

2. Has anyone using fixed windscreen mounts had problems with heat affecting the glue to windscreen?

3. Is the pick up of GPS affected by electronic heated windscreen and overhead cab of Luton style mh's?

4. On the models without a built in display screen, e.g. Road hawk, before every journey do you have to log in to computer to ensure its time and date is correct, or does it auto correct from GPS signal (hence importance of q3).

Thanks.
 
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GJH
I bought a very similar (ebay)unit about a year ago, in use every day, no problems although the rear view camera bit is U/S at night. Records, GPS, speed, Accel and decel, G force x 2 and records course and position and tranfers to Google maps. Also warns when it starts to over write sd card. Paid a bit more then 80 euro but well worth it.
JK

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GJH

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Graham, just a point but if you had a crash wouldn't the bean bag be propelled forward and you would lose any post event recording?
Must admit I hadn't thought of that, it was simply for convenience. Maybe I'll have to find an alternative for that. It only applies to my usage in the car though as it is mounted firmly in the van.
 
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Well, it arrived and have just taken it on a trip to Vantage motorhomes in Leeds for their open day and then on to IH motorhomes in knottingley where the missus whipped out her cheque book to order one! Just looked at the recording on my PC and it looks quite good for the price. Just need to work out how to show the map on google, may have to ask GJH on that one......

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Dec 6, 2011
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A couple of observations that i would welcome comments on.

It seems a great idea to have it connected to the ignition so its on and recording with gps without any intervention or not get switched on when needed.

But,

If you have an incident it seems normal to switch off the engine when you come to a stop to sort things out, the unit will power down automatically,, just when u may want a recording of what happens next. :Eeek:
 
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LesAshmore

LesAshmore

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I am looking at upgrading the ones I have, putting a permanent bracket in the front of the car and motorhome and swapping the front one between vehicles.

Some questions if anyone can assist please.

1. Are the 12v cables long enough to permanently fit the long way round the windscreen to the 12v socket on the fiat Ducato (for your model camera) or do you need to extend it?

2. Has anyone using fixed windscreen mounts had problems with heat affecting the glue to windscreen?

3. Is the pick up of GPS affected by electronic heated windscreen and overhead cab of Luton style mh's?

4. On the models without a built in display screen, e.g. Road hawk, before every journey do you have to log in to computer to ensure its time and date is correct, or does it auto correct from GPS signal (hence importance of q3).

Thanks.


I am not sure of the actual length of the wire I got with mine but it comes from the centre of windscreen across to the side then into the dash and across to the centre again where it is hard wired, No the heat doesnt affect anything including the adhesive pad, I drove in some pretty high heat all across Europe and down into Greece with no problems at all, No you do not have to update the date and time, It is automatic from the GPS satellites.


:thumb:


Phil D mine is fitted on the Aux so it doesnt switch off until I actually remove the key, But I see your point and it is quite easy to wire it to a switch.
 
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