The news that footage from a dashboard camera (car camcorder) can be presented as evidence to support a motorist’s version of an accident ought to bring relief to those who abide by the traffic law and serve as a warning to “daredevil drivers” who are too common a sight on Qatar roads.
A Traffic Department official has told Gulf Times that should a motorist be unfortunately involved in an accident that was not his or her fault, and another party is disputing how the incident happened, then the video footage can be used to evidence one’s innocence.
The few motorists who are already using car camcorders vouch for their effectiveness. An expatriate motorist, who has been using the gadget for a couple of years, recently shared his experience with Gulf Times. He has installed a car camcorder each on the front and rear windshields of his SUV.
The gadgets record as long as the engine remains on and everything transpiring in front and behind his vehicle, including the sound, is recorded onto a memory card. On the few occasions when he has been tailgated, resulting in accidents, all he had to do was to simply tell the offending motorists that he had proof for what had happened and the other party, caught red-handed, would readily admit the mistake.
If every vehicle plying on Qatar’s road has such camcorders recording the road in front and behind, it means every motorist is under constant surveillance. In such a scenario, who would dare to violate the traffic law?
If an accident happens and there is a dispute regarding who caused it, all the motorists concerned need to do is to provide their car camcorder footage as evidence and the traffic police could easily identify the offender.
With the correct time and date input into the gadget, a one-time process at the time of installation, the footage will come imprinted with the information. There are high temperature-resistant models too, ensuring that the gadgets work without fail in the blistering summer heat in Qatar.
As pointed out by the Traffic Department official, car camcorders are extensively used in countries like Russia and China where accident and insurance fraud appears to be a problem. In the United States and many other countries, police have been using dash cams for decades to record evidence at traffic stops.
Now the technology has begun to catch on among civilians. Considering that reliable car camcorders can be imported and sold in Qatar, starting from QR600, authorities ought to incorporate the necessary clauses in the traffic law for the use of the gadgets and ensure their availability at affordable prices in the local market.
Maybe, a permission to use car camcorders could be printed on to the vehicle registration cards, as it is being done now for windshield tinting. Given the ever-increasing number of vehicles, an unavoidable element of Qatar’s rapid growth, making the car camcorder mandatory could go a long way in making the roads safer.