A picture paints a thousand words

There’s an old saying that goes, “If you didn’t get the picture, it never happened.” Now that works perfectly well in newspapers and magazines, but unfortunately most idiots out on our roads, including the traffic accident bureau, seem to live by the same motto.

I’ve seen it happen too many times. And I’m sure you have, too. Take the minor fender bender. This is something that can be sorted out by swapping numbers and license details. But, no. Let’s just back up traffic all the way back to the 70’s just so we can wait for a traffic officer to draw a sketch. Yes, a sketch. Which is basically a technique that cavemen would use to describe what the hell happened.

Funny, but even though the humble cigarette vendor these days carries a cellphone  cam capable of taking a picture, we still need to wait for kindergarten cop to come over and draw a pretty picture that can be submitted as evidence to the insurance companies and the traffic accident bureau. Why, you ask? Trust.

Given an opportunity, too many drivers out there will change their tune once they have left the scene. No matter how at fault they know they are. Never admit guilt. Ever. And this is where it starts getting ugly.

I don’t know if it is inherent in our culture, but it seems that too many people will rather use the same effort, money, and resources avoiding responsibility than they would to just pay the damages in the first place. Sometimes it has nothing to even do with the money and becomes a matter of pride and a display of power.

I could fill the rest of this column with horror stories of sketches being drawn in favor of the highest bidder, which not only made the innocent party liable for damages, but exposed her to harassment, intimidation and horrendous extortion. Or I could sum up the solution for you in two short words: Dash Cam.

Personally, I would like to see these become mandatory in every car, just like they are in certain cities in Russia and taxi cabs in Singapore and Korea, simply because it is the simplest, most cost-effective way to protect yourself from the evil that lurks out on our roads. Had my friend had one installed in her car, not only would she have saved hundreds of thousands of pesos, but she could have nailed the cop and other party for extortion and falsifying public documents.

The device itself can be as small as a ‘D’ sized battery and is usually fitted just behind your rearview mirror with the camera facing out the windshield. You can have the cigarette lighter adapter or one that connects straight to your fusebox and hides the wires neatly. I recently tested two brands of these fantastic devices. One was called Vico TF2, which is sold through Dash Cam Manila, and the other is the FXD700 from Blackbox Philippines. You can find both companies on Facebook. 

Both cameras offer extremely wide angles that cover your entire windshield and perform continuous recording from the moment you start up your car. Both allow you to take photos, record audio, and have built in G-sensors that can detect an accident and automatically store the 30 seconds leading up to it and the 30 seconds after and place it in a folder on the microSD card that won’t be overwritten.

My test units were fitted with a 16GB card that is good for about 7 hours of continuous recording in HD before it starts overwriting the oldest data. After just five minutes, though, I genuinely wondered how I ever felt safe leaving home without one in the past. It is like having the truth sitting next to you at all times. So much so, that not only did I immediately get one permanently installed in my car, I am saving up for a second one that I can put on every test car I review.

I’ll guarantee you that once you have one installed, you just tend to drive around with a certain confidence. Instead of feeling vulnerable when a cop tries shaking you down for a traffic violation, or infuriated when a VIP’s backup vehicle with rent-a-thugs try to run you off the road, you look at it as YouTube content. It’s all a matter of perspective.

And just think, the more dash cameras there are out there, the more viral videos we’ll have, which should eventually embarrass all these asses out there into driving more respectfully and responsibly lest they end up becoming the latest internet sensation among their peers. After all, if we can’t train them, let’s shame them into being more considerate.

And the best part is that because it is a two-way street, it makes you a better driver in the process because there’s no point showing a video of some idiot doing something stupid when you happen to be counter-flowing yourself, right?

I could give you a hundred reasons why you should get one, like insurance, safety, extortion, but if you haven’t gotten the picture by now, this never happened.