Dash cams are like computer backups

Over the years, most of us have had a bad data loss of some kind or another. The Word doc that you wrote your paper on got corrupted. The hard drive for your computer crashed with a lot of photos on it. Things happen.

In most of those cases, it’s a bit of a wake-up call to start keeping better backups. I’m finding a similar train of thought happening with dash cams; they can go from “nice to have” to “why didn’t I have one?” right after an accident where facts are disputed.

I’ve had one in my car for about six years now, and it’s helped a bit. I’ve been rear-ended twice in that time, and while my camera only faces forward, it still shows that I was at a complete stop when I was hit, removing any doubt that I might somehow be at fault. That said, in both cases the other party admitted fault and the footage wasn’t necessary.

There’s also a few times I’ve captured really bad drivers in our area, like this:

It might be super helpful someday, and it might not

Like a regular backup of your computer, having a dash cam could prove to be incredibly useful one day, or you might never need it. While I keep great backups of my computer files, I’ve not needed any of those backups in about 15 years. I’m going to keep doing it, because you never know what next week might bring.

If you are looking to try a dash cam, I’m using this Garmin one right now, and it works well. It’s very small, but what I really like is that I can wirelessly copy videos to my phone, instead of having to take the MicroSD card inside and connect that way. The transfer is bit slow and clunky, but it’s not too bad. Ideally I’d like a dash cam that captures the rear view as well, but I haven’t gone there yet.

Just like with computer backups, I encourage you to not wait until you wish you had one. Spend a few dollars and get one today, and you might be super glad you did in the future.