Dash cams are one of the most useful pieces of security hardware for vehicles today. The purpose of installing a dash cam is to record what is happening when you drive your vehicle on the road, and the footage can be used as evidence in case of an incident. In the unfortunate circumstance that you meet with an accident on the road or hit someone by mistake, the dash cam footage can be used to determine who was at fault. These pieces of hardware come packed with features that will also help keep your vehicle safe. Let’s take a look at some of the features the new vehicle dash cams come with.
Features of a Dash Cam
There are a number of dash cams for trucks and cars on the market that come packed with features. These features are useful as they will ensure that all your movements on the road are recorded and can provide you great insights about your driving.
If you run a trucking company or operate a fleet of vehicles there are dash cams for trucks that have features designed to be integrated into large vehicles. Let’s take a look at some of the features you should look for while buying a dash cam for your trucks.
Loop Recording
Loop recording is a feature in which the camera will automatically erase all old videos once the camera’s storage is full. This ensures that the camera always has space to record and will save you the time of having to manually erase all the data.
Auto Recording
Most dash cams come with an auto recording feature. This feature turns on the camera under certain circumstances and does not require you to turn it on manually. Usually, the auto-recording feature is activated when the vehicle is in motion or an external force is applied to the vehicle.
GPS
A number of dash cams for trucks come with in-built GPS systems. This allows the user to determine the geographical location of where an incident occurred. The GPS logs can also be used to determine the speed of the vehicle. Dash cams with built-in GPS systems can be a great tool for fleet management.
Supercapacitor
Supercapacitors or ultracapacitors have a capacitance that is much higher than regular capacitors but a lower voltage limit. The supercapacitor bridges the gap between rechargeable batteries and electrolytic capacitors.
When buying a dash cam for your trucks make sure that you buy one that is powered by a supercapacitor rather than the standard 2 AAA cells. The main reason to look for dash cams powered by supercapacitors is the fact that they are much more safe than traditional batteries when it comes to exposure to heat. Dash cams that are powered by supercapacitors can be left in the sun for really long without posing a fire hazard.
Event Tagging
Another feature to look for in dash cams for trucks is the presence of a g-sensor or accelerometer. These sensors help determine any irregular behavior like sudden deceleration, which can be a sign of an impact or sudden acceleration, which can also be a sign of impact. This data allows the dash cam to tag these events and allows the user to jump to those points of the video feed easily. Some dash cams also prevent event videos from being overwritten so that you don’t lose vital event data.
Buffered Parking Mode
The buffered parking mode feature on dash cams is one of the best security features on modern dash cams. This feature turns on the dash cam when the vehicle is parked and if it detects an impact or any movement, allowing you to record any activity in the vehicle while you were away.
Importance of a Dash Cam
There are a number of reasons to install a dash cam in your vehicle. Here are a few:
Evidence in case of a Road Incident
In case your vehicle is involved in a road accident, the dash cam for trucks provides a clear picture of the incident, allowing a court to use it as evidence of the incident. The dash cam footage hold more weight in court than testimonies when it comes to road accidents, as it provides an unbiased view of the incident.
Rash Driving
There are a number of rash drivers on the road that make commuting quite dangerous. A dash cam is perfect to record their erratic behavior on the road and report them to the police. Dash cam footage of a driver being rash on the road will make the police take your complaint seriously.
Vehicle Monitoring
If you run a large fleet of vehicles such as you would in a trucking service, the dash cam for trucks is perfect to monitor driver behavior and provide instruction to improve driving. Dash cams are also useful to record the driving of other people who might borrow your vehicle for their use.
Prevent Fraud
Insurance fraud is one of the biggest problems in the market today. Believe it or not, some drivers purposely drive erratically to cause accidents. When they cause an accident they will play the victim to extort money from the other party, in some cases they will even fake injuries to collect money from the other party’s insurance company. The dash cam is perfect for record the entire incident and preventing fraud.
Record the Trip
The dash cam is perfect for getting some good shots of the road you are driving on. Especially, if you’re taking a scenic route through the countryside or some other region the dash cam will record the entire trip for you to be able to download and store to view later.
