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What do you attorneys think about this

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marbol

Member
This is not a specific state question, but I live in Texas

I would like to drive around with one or two of those cameras pointing out the front and back of the car.

I would construct two video cameras. One would be taking video out the front window and the other out the back window. The cameras would be recording to a hard drive whenever the keys are on whether rolling or not. Each frame would be time stamped to the millisecond and time would be synchronized to the national time clock operated by the government in Fort Collins colorado by radio.

These cameras would store at least the last several running hours of footage while the car was being operated - and possibly also record the speed of the car, and whether the brakes were on or off at each millisecond.

If the car is involved in an accident, or the driver was accused of speeding or running a red light, the operator of this device could presumably use these images in court.

I feel that if the government can use red light cameras and if troopers can use them in their cars, why can't Joe Public?

My question is, would this be permissible as evidence in court (just as police cameras are) as long as the evidence they show is corroberated (sp) in open court? How about in civil matters where accidents or personal property are involved?

What would someone expect to pay for one of those? I personally would pay a little for one of those, just in case I am wrongly accused of something or in case someone hits me and then tells their insurance company that it was my fault.

The impetus for this is because my wife had someone pull directly in front of her with only about 5 feet to spare while travelling down the road and then they slammed on their brakes at the same time they moved over. She hit them but only barely (didn't do any damage at all to either car that she could see) but a few days later, their insurance company was hitting up my insurance company for over 2000 dollars in damages. But in Texas if you hit someone from behind, it's pretty much your fault no matter what. We feel this was done by someone committing insurance fraud - however they didn't claim medical damages - of course, by the time my wife hit them, she was going less than 5 MPH.

What if we had footage that proved it was someone committing fraud, the insurance companies would love that - and the police would like being able to see what actually happened.

TIA
 


S

seniorjudge

Guest
marbol said:
This is not a specific state question, but I live in Texas

I would like to drive around with one or two of those cameras pointing out the front and back of the car.

I would construct two video cameras. One would be taking video out the front window and the other out the back window. The cameras would be recording to a hard drive whenever the keys are on whether rolling or not. Each frame would be time stamped to the millisecond and time would be synchronized to the national time clock operated by the government in Fort Collins colorado by radio.

These cameras would store at least the last several running hours of footage while the car was being operated - and possibly also record the speed of the car, and whether the brakes were on or off at each millisecond.

If the car is involved in an accident, or the driver was accused of speeding or running a red light, the operator of this device could presumably use these images in court.

I feel that if the government can use red light cameras and if troopers can use them in their cars, why can't Joe Public?

My question is, would this be permissible as evidence in court (just as police cameras are) as long as the evidence they show is corroberated (sp) in open court? How about in civil matters where accidents or personal property are involved?

What would someone expect to pay for one of those? I personally would pay a little for one of those, just in case I am wrongly accused of something or in case someone hits me and then tells their insurance company that it was my fault.

The impetus for this is because my wife had someone pull directly in front of her with only about 5 feet to spare while travelling down the road and then they slammed on their brakes at the same time they moved over. She hit them but only barely (didn't do any damage at all to either car that she could see) but a few days later, their insurance company was hitting up my insurance company for over 2000 dollars in damages. But in Texas if you hit someone from behind, it's pretty much your fault no matter what. We feel this was done by someone committing insurance fraud - however they didn't claim medical damages - of course, by the time my wife hit them, she was going less than 5 MPH.

What if we had footage that proved it was someone committing fraud, the insurance companies would love that - and the police would like being able to see what actually happened.

TIA


But in Texas if you hit someone from behind, it's pretty much your fault no matter what.

You are correct. The electronic gizmos you mention would not have helped in this situation. If you have a wreck by hitting someone in the rear, that means you did not have your car under control.

According to the facts in your post, your wife was following too closely: "The impetus for this is because my wife had someone pull directly in front of her with only about 5 feet to spare while travelling down the road and then they slammed on their brakes at the same time they moved over."

It takes nothing these days to get $2K damage; y'all were lucky.
 

marbol

Member
According to the facts in your post, your wife was following too closely: "The impetus for this is because my wife had someone pull directly in front of her with only about 5 feet to spare while travelling down the road and then they slammed on their brakes at the same time they moved over."
No. She wasn't following at all. Someone moved over in front of her (and she started putting on the brakes) and at the same time slammed on their brakes.

If what you say is true, it would be impossible for anyone to pass anyone else even if they are in a different lane. There is a point in time where someone is still inside their lane and comes over into yours in an abrupt move in order to force you to have an accident. It happens all the time. It's called insurance fraud and if they do it at just the correct time, then no one could avoid it ever.

It seemed you noticed I said 5 feet - but the 5 feet was when they were in the OTHER lane next to her. So what are you saying? That she was following too close when she wasn't even following them? They were in the lane to the right of her and passing her on the right even. Once their rear bumper was only 5 feet in front of her front bumper (but they were still in the lane to the right of her) they whipped over into HER lane, and slammed on their brakes in one move - WITHOUT SIGNALLING FIRST!

She hit them at only 5 MPH because her reflexes were that good.

So how could this device not have helped? It could have shown the illegal lane change they made. I would say that was one thing.

It takes nothing these days to get $2K damage; y'all were lucky.
We had a sleeping baby in the back seat at the time. The baby didn't even wake up this impact was so soft. There was NO damage to our car. Not even a scratch on the plastic on the bumper. There was no visible damage to the car she hit. We probably shoudln't even have exchanged insurance cards- and told them if they think they need to call the police, then they could do it.

So please tell me how this hidden damage because 2 thousand dollars?

This was a case of insurance fraud. Pure and simple. I took pictures of my car with no damage at all and sent it to the insurance company to show no damage.
 

keith.e

Member
I also live in Texas and I feel you and your wife's pain somewhat.

The same situation almost happened to me. I was driving on the highway today in some decent traffic, going at about 65-70mph. I was in the passing lane. I don't even know if this guy signaled to get over, but he pulls in right in front of me causing me to press on the brakes quite hard and causing the car behind me to have to dangerously swerve to a different lane. I think I might have been in his blind spot, but he saw me right after cutting me off and sped off so I think he knew he was in the wrong. It pisses me off because if I would have hit him, it would have been from behind.

As for the camera, I haven't a clue. Your wife's situation probably wasn't even her fault, but sometimes justice is blind.
 

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