Dashcams: a tool against antisocial behavior

Dashcams are selling like hot cakes. In addition, car manufacturers are increasingly equipping their cars with cameras for the benefit of the car's driver assistance system. These cameras can also be used as dashcams.

A dashcam – a contraction of dashboard en room – not only makes for entertaining YouTube videos. Insurers use the footage as evidence when assessing guilt. Police and the judiciary use the images to track down and prosecute traffic offenders. Having a dashcam in your car can earn you a discount on your car insurance premium. Some insurers even require a dashcam as a condition for taking out a policy. Dashcams also contribute to road safety by increasing the chance of catching antisocial traffic offenders.

Police do or cannot do anything with half of the images

Due to the explosive increase in the number of dashcams on Dutch roads, the images are increasingly ending up with the police. Half of the videos uploaded via politie.nl are reason for the police to take follow-up action. Partly because the images are unusable as evidence, partly due to insufficient capacity. A filmed offender can expect a written reprimand, a fine or – in a limited number of cases – a court case. Incidentally, images are only usable by the police together with a witness statement. Without this statement, they have no legal basis.

What about privacy?

Although dashcams are a great way to catch traffic offenders, there are also some questions to be asked about the proliferation of dashcams. Is there covert filming? Shouldn't faces be made unrecognizable? And aren't we encouraging a click culture?

We are very curious about what you think about dashcams. They undoubtedly contribute to road safety, but does this not come at the expense of our privacy? What do you think? Rent a car in the Urmond region, without a dashcam? That is possible at Adrem Car Rental!