There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to crazy Russia dashcam videos like “Axe vs Bat”.

Or a compilation of dash cam footage of multiple accidents in Russia.

A dashcam isn’t anything that I ever considered needing because what is the purpose? Why would you need it?

My opinion changed last fall as I was involved in a pretty serious car accident. I was sitting at an onramp to the highway in front of a red light. It’s one of those onramps that has two lanes and two traffic signals to help slow down the flow of traffic entering the highway.

My light finally turned green and I started to slowly accelerate to enter the highway. I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw a minivan coming towards me from the onramp that was going incredibly fast. I realized that they weren’t going to be stopping at the onramp light. Seconds later, the minivan smashed into the rear of my car sending it (luckily) straight for the embankment on the right side shoulder of the highway instead of into highway traffic.

The force of the hit from behind caused my car to flip over as soon as it hit the grass.

I saw there in the car completely upside down with adrenaline coursing through my veins. I had fortunately been wearing my seatbelt and was suspended in the air upside down.

From what seemed like an eternity, someone opened up the passenger door, looked in and said: “is everyone alright in there?”

I was incredibly stressed but realized that I was,in fact,alright and that the car had done its job and the body of the car had not crushed me inside.

“I think I’m okay.”

They asked me to see if I could get out of the car. I unbuckled my seatbelt, falling to the roof of the car and crawled out and outside. I stood up and miraculously ended up not having any broken bones or bruises or frankly any long term effects.

Fortunately,there were multiple eyewitnesses and her insurance paid for all the physical therapy, etc.

I decided that I couldn’t take chances anymore and that it was time to purchase a dash cam. Dash cams aren’t something that I’ve ever considered purchasing and there are a dizzying array of various brands, models, and features. I found a website that is totally devoted to dash cams called DashCamTalk. They even have a forum broken down by the manufacturer where people discuss the models ad nase um.

After much research, I finally decided on the Street Guardian SGZC12SG v2 Pro Edition.

I chose this particular brand and model because the manufacturer had several models that had won “Best DashCam” by DashCamTalk. In addition, the camera records in 1080p, has built-in GPS to record your location and speed traveled, and records a continuous loop of footage without you needing to take out the memory card and delete the footage.

It’s powered by a cord that you plug into a cigarette lighter but also has the option of installing a direct power feed so that it records 24/7. I ended up doing this.

This is what the camera looks like when mounted behind the rear view mirror. It really is easy to set it and forget it.

I genuinely feel like that I am a much more safe driver knowing that every second of my driving is being recorded.

I’ve also witnessed a crash where I was able to provide the footage to the drivers as an eyewitness account of what had happened.

In addition, I had someone back into me in a parking lot while I was in the car and therefore had proof of what had happened.

The camera is also easy to unmount and transfer to other cars.

Having used the Street Guardian now for six months, I can confidently recommend it and when my son and daughter start driving, you can guarantee that they will have a dash cam installed as well!