do u have a dash cam?

We got one from Amazon. You don't have to pay a lot to get a decent one. Look for one that works in the dark as well as daylight and can be downloaded onto a computer if necessary. The police used one of our clips to prosecute a lunatic in a black van who nearly ran over a lady at pelican crossing. They're also effective if someone is being stupid and you catch their attention and point to the camera. It's amazing how quickly they start to drive properly.

My husband had one fitted in his car when he was in England. He had it installed so there were no trailing wires. Unfortunately they are illegal in Portugal and also France I believe. So it stayed with the car when it was sold in England. I do think they are a good idea though.

Living in France I would love one !!! I got fined 90 euros for 'speeding' on my local road filmed by a mobile police camera mounted inside an umarked car parked at the side of the road ! no one else on road just doing 6 0 in the 50 limit without realising ! don't normally speed ! BUT I would love one, if only to prove on our local road into town limit 50,70 and max 90 ...so why does everyone pass me when I am doing 70 in that limit and disappear into the distance ! My neighbour is a Gendarme and told me they are discussing using ordinary prople's cars to instal these cameras in for their use ...I said Good, can I have one PLEASE........just on that little local road I could earn them a fortune in fines in one day ! I counted up the 90 euro minimum speeding fine I would have earned them ,,,,I think before I had gone a few kms it amounted to around 1,000 plus ! (and be nice if I could have 10% ! ) ....they have the right idea here for excessive speeding ...the car is simply taken away !

I would like to have one in my car ....like someone said, I don't think they are legal here ...I know those sat navs with built in radar detectors are not ...must ask said neighbour !

We got one after I had an accident where the other driver left the scene before I could get out of mine, hid his car in another road and then claimed all kinds of problems, I had only got small scratch.

Thank you All. My DH has a birthday coming up and it would make a wonderful present! Definitely need one where the sound can be turned off!

DH has had a dash cam on his motorcycle helmet for years and then we got one for the car after we were hit by somebody pulling out of a side road. Luckily we haven't had to use it ourselves but when a driver pulled out and hit the car in front of us we stopped as a witness, and the driver who pulled out said the driver she hit was indicating to turn left. We said she wasn't and we had it on our dash came and gave the innocent party our contact number. Now, thinking of having one at the back as well. Like us, a few of the comments above don't get one until they have and accident and then it's a bit too late. Ours wasn't expensive and the picture is amazingly clear, though it is one you plug into the 'cigarette lighter'. You can buy those that are hard wired in and you would have to pay for fitting as well.

That probably rules ours out.
If you wouldlike to know the make, he will go and look at the manual.

Just found out my car number has been cloned, by a police prosecution notice arriving in the post about an 'accident' I know I didn't have, somewhere I've never been. I am going to struggle to prove it wasn't me because I was just pottering at home that day. So I'm getting a dash cam this week.

Oh Icy that's awful, really sorry to hear that. But if you can demonstrate that your car clearly has not been involved in an accident, that could help? Just more mither you don't need or want though.

Yes, I have one. My stepson bought it for me 18 months ago and he fitted it for me too. He fits blue lights on doctors' cars as a side line (he's a paramedic), so it was properly done. It's saved me my excess when a foreign artic drove in to me. The only annoying thing is that it's quite sensitive so switches to 'emergency recording' if the road is a bit bumpier than usual. Also picks up sound so probably needs a 'bleeper' facility for my more fruity comments on other drivers' antics!

Should have added, the make is a Transcend DrivePro 200.

I got one for Christmas. I haven't had to put its usefulness to the test, thank goodness, but with all these cash for crash scams going around, and all the "his word against his" malarky, I want to be sure I can back up my words with visuals.

It was fitted by Halfords, so the wiring is tucked away, and it is small and discrete. Although the screen can be watched if the passenger wants to, I don't find it intrudes into my own eyeline, so I never know it's there.

It can easily be removed when the car is parked so isn't a thieves magnet.

I'd actually quite like one to be fitted to the rear of the car so watch out for those rear end shunts.

Thanks Chewbacca. It's a horrible letter to receive out of the blue. So, definitely worth the having Morgana, I reckon.

Sorry no nothing about them

Anya, what do you have against our home grown lorry drivers?

We have one . They are fairly inexpensive and provide evidence if you have an accident. Make sure the SD card is big enough to store footage though. Word of warning though they provide evidence it might not be the sort u need

Truckingsam IMO lorry drivers fall into two categories with nothing in between; the best drivers on the roads and the worse drivers in the roads. I used to do a lot of motorway driving and that's based on this experience anyway.

Now, White Van Man is not a myth. He (and occasionally she) is alive and driving atrociously in every part of the UK I've ever visited. Don't know if there's a 'foreign' equivalent....perhaps our overseas GNetters can answer that one?

Would love one in the front of the car and rear window but as previously mentioned it is illegal to have one in Portugal. But saying that it would show my DH appalling driving and might just get through to him that he needs to stop driving.?

Thanks everyone. Sounds a good idea.

Anya, I think lorry drivers get a bad name because of a lack of understanding by the average car driver of how we have to drive. I really think there should be a section in the theory test about understanding how lorries manoeuvre, blind spots, braking distance etc. Something else I wish people would think about before giving us a hard time is that, every single thing in your home and every single thing your home is made of was once upon a time in the back of a lorry.

I saw something lately where someone driving a very large caravan[american RV so you can imagine the size] tried to tell people that by pulling out in front of him, that was a very risky thing to do.

That his size vehicle, and any that size for that matter, really really cannot stop in anything like the speed a person might think they can.

Personally, this has made me really take notice of that type of thing.
No way do I want to be underneath a lorry.

Before I heard him say that, I had not thought twice about the difference between pulling out in front of a car, or a truck.

Hold on Truckingsam did you read my post? I didn't condemn all truck drivers. And I used to drive a large horse box myself, so I do know a thing or two about manoeuvring, blind spots and braking.

If you think all lorry drivers are 'good drivers' then you're disillusionall.

I don't think Truckingsam said that at all, Anya*. And he's quite right, the average car driver doesn't appreciate the difference driving a very heavy vehicle makes to many things. However, the most frightening experience I've had as a driver who has driven thousands of miles in many different countries was driving a mini and being tailgated at speed down a narrow country road by an empty car transporter. I was much younger and would have slowed down now until I found somewhere to pull in, but then, as a young inexperienced driver, I was pressurised into going faster and by the time he got past I was shaking.

Anya, firstly there is no need for insults, I am in no way dillusional, I did read your posts all of them and in one of your earlier posts you did indeed condemn all home grown (as you called them) lorry drivers. It was that post that prompted me to write my post.

Ankers, that is a very good point about pulling in front of a large vehicle, that large space that I deliberately leave between me and the next vehicle is my braking distance.

Badenkate, I am a lady truck driver, a very proud lady truck driver of a 40 ton artic. I am sorry to hear about your experience, it must have been terrifying. That certainly is a case of bad driving.

Apologise deeply Truckingsam - very sexist of me to assume you are a man