Aug 08 2008
Relive Your Driving Experience, Whether Good or Bad
You all know about those black boxes were hear about whenever an airplane mysteriously crashes, right? Well, this little recorder serves a similar purpose, with a few extras. The Vehicle Safeguard Video Recording Camera easily mounts onto your dashboard, and faces out the windshield, taking in every bit of video as you see it from the driver’s seat. This is great for a few reasons. First, say you were in an accident and when the police arrive on the scene you are too groggy or even unconscious to tell them what happened. All they would need to do is watch the playback of the dashboard video to get a clearer picture of how you ended up in the mess. From the recording they should be able to tell if you were blindsided by another motorist, or if the roads were too icy and/or snowy and you slid off into a ditch, or it can even point out the fact that maybe you were the root cause of the accident. The latter would not be to your benefit, but you have to take some responsibility, right? Police officers all over the country currently have similar devices, and you will see those “caught on tape” shows exploiting the technology sometimes. But overall, they are there for public safety, and that’s what counts.
A little added bonus with this product is that you can record some of those beautiful scenic road trips, capturing all of the colors of the autumn trees, or the coastline of a summer trip. Watch it later with your family to relive the event, or bring it to a friend’s house and show them how beautiful a Sunday drive can be.
The camera is powered by either a 12 volt DC plug or 4 AAA batteries. Your best bet is the cigarette lighter, especially if this runs through batteries as fast as a digital camera. You have the option of recording from 128MB to 2GB with the expansion slot, so it looks like you would have to invest in a memory stick. The good part is it uses an SD card, which is commonly compatible with other digital recorders and cameras. The video is recorded in AVI format and is easy to download and share on your computer.
Will this make the world a safer place for drivers? No. But what it will do is allow for a more thorough police report, which is to your benefit if you were not the one causing the accident. It will put an end to the finger pointing, at least. And who needs that headache after getting t-boned on a busy intersection?
