Over the last 2 years, we found that our customer base has gone heavily towards 2-channel (front and rear) dash cam systems. Many people making the investment towards a dash cam figure that they might as well get a 2-channel setup but we understand that restrictions like budget and vehicle type might limit someone to a 1-channel (front only) dash cam. The front camera typically offers the most important camera angle in many situations such as:
- Head on collisions or T-Bone accident
- Hit and run while parallel parked (e.g., vehicle reverses into you)
- Insurance scams where a vehicle backs into you or someone jumps in front of you
The front camera shows where you are and captures important details like traffic lights, vehicle position, and license plates of vehicles in front.
What About Rear Enders?
If you only have a front camera and get rear ended there are a few things you won't be able to capture. Perhaps most importantly and obviously, you will not be able to identify the vehicle or the person who hit you with the dash cam footage. This will be very important if you get hit and run, if someone rear ends you and pulls a U-turn and runs away, your video will not be able to help you catch that vehicle. It can however prove that you were involved in a hit and run and might clear you of any potential fraud investigation. In most cases, if you're rear ended while driving, the other driver will most likely pull over and exchange information with you. In those cases, you wouldn't need your dash cam to capture details of the vehicle behind you as you are able to do that on the side of the road.
In the video above, our customer running an older Thinkware F50 was rear ended on SE Marine Dr. by Prince Edward St. in Vancouver. This is a front only dash cam but ICBC requested to see the video as they believed it could help her claim. The video shows several important key points:
- It proves that she did not brake check the vehicle behind thus causing the accident. In fact, it shows the relatively low speed of traffic and that the car in front had slowed down to let the bus in.
- It also shows the lane position and proves that our customer was not changing lanes which could also potentially cause a rear ender.
- It shows the green traffic light and that our customer was following the rules of the road.
The example above was enough to prove that the other vehicle was 100% at fault and helped ensure that our customer's insurance premiums were not affected. Having a rear camera might have shown what the other driver was doing such as looking down at their phone. After watching the video with our customer, she decided to upgrade to the Thinkware FA200 2CH as she considered the potential hit and run and wanted to be covered in those situations as well.