Why Boomers need a dash camera
by Gareth E on 26/10/2022
A recent social media post by South Australian police focuses on encouraging seniors to give up driving. The catch-cry "don't give up driving by accident" may be well-meaning but it ignores some hard realities. For example, many of us can't afford to take taxis everywhere we go. It may also signal some awkward dangers for baby-boomers.
In recent years we have seen many accidents caused by elderly drivers variously hitting the accelerator instead of the brake, going forward instead of reverse or vice-versa. Some of these incidents have resulted in fatalities. We have also seen senior drivers crash after suffering a medical episode. These events paint a rather ugly picture of older drivers.
The problem with that picture is that it could conceivably be seized upon and used for an untoward purpose. In an accident scenario where it's impossible to determine precisely what happened, a senior citizen might find allegations that their advancing years and the possibility of even minor cognitive decline being claimed as a contributing factor when that isn't the case.
In order to protect themselves against such outcomes, older drivers should strongly consider fitting dashcams to their vehicles. These are not prohibitively expensive. My own cost $100, though that was a half-price special at JB Hi-fi. While they can be professionally installed, which is quite costly, I managed fit my own both front and rear without a lot of difficulty. Of course, boomers who have children or grandchildren who can help out enjoy a big advantage.
I bought a Navman unit that gives a high quality picture. The storage medium is an sdhc card which can be bought for less than fifty dollars.
Another advantage to having a dashcam is that footage can occasionally be used as evidence in crimes that have been caught on video. Besides that, it can be fun to play back video of your own driving. There's still enough kid left in we boomers that we're not immune to a bit of that sort of entertainment from time to time.