WINNIPEG – Dashboard camera videos are popping up online more and more, showing their growing popularity.
A recent dash cam video posted to YouTube by an Ontario couple heading from Winnipeg to their home in Sioux Lookout shows a frightening crash that happened Saturday.
Another vehicle cuts in front of their truck in the video shot just outside Kenora, Ont., causing a terrible crash.
“I hit the brakes as hard as I could,” said Ralph Ireland, 62. “My wife and I are pretty shaken up.”
Watch: Dashboard cameras are growing in popularity. Sean Mallen reports.
Ireland, his wife and the other driver walked away, but it could have been much worse.
“If I hit his door, he would have died for sure, and us probably,” said Ireland.
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Ireland’s dash cam captured the whole incident, giving police an unbiased witness.
The other driver was initially charged with failure to yield. After viewing the dash cam video, which shows the driver holding his hand to his ear as if talking on a cellphone, police started considering distracted driving charges.
“We’d be speaking to the two drivers that were involved and now, with that video recording, we’ll be dealing with that as well,” said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Shelley Garr.
As dash cams become more common, insurers are taking note.
“They are becoming more popular and as they become more popular, then our customers and people who were in crashes will then bring that footage forward and show our adjusters,” said Manitoba Public Insurance spokesman Brian Smiley.
An electronics store in Winnipeg is almost completely sold out of dash cams, with just one left.
“We’ve had lots of people come in and they’re interested. They’ve got lots of questions about it,” said Colin Vernon, car audio manager at Visions Electronics.
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