Clarion DRC-3 DriveEye captures vehicle crashes

It's been a tick since we've seen a new in-car accident recorder hit the market, but just in case none of the previous flavors caught your eye, Clarion's DRC-3 DriveEye can certainly do the trick. Per usual, this wee camera attaches to your windshield, and when an impact or sudden braking / acceleration is detected, it captures the 20 seconds before and after the event. Moreover, the built-in power backup system ensures that your recordings stay in tact regardless of electronic failures within the vehicle, and just in case you feel like logging a few frames of that Lambo ahead, the manual recording button allows you to indulge. ¥49,800 ($411) gets you the camera, a 128MB CF card, and all the sensors and switches needed to rig this up, but here's to hoping you never actually need it for legal proceedings.

[Via Switched]

[Bill @ Jul 25th 2007 9:19AM]

An interesting idea but couldn't your camera recording be subpoenaed by the other party and used against you? Also, is it right behind the mirror or to the left of it? I can see this thing disrupting your view out of the windshield if it's not placed properly.

[Matt @ Jul 25th 2007 11:03AM]

The only way I can see this being terribly useful is if insurance companies start doling out hefty discounts for people that have them. I guess it would be good for accident evidence, but I can imagine that it might come back to haunt you.

[paul34 @ Jul 25th 2007 11:26AM]

Yes, exactly. It's also illegal in most states...

Florida law only allows very few items/stickers on the windshield.

(2) STICKERS ON WINDSHIELD PROHIBITED - A person shall not operate any motor vehicle on any public highway, road, or street with any sign, sunscreening material, product, or covering attached to, or located in or upon, the windshield, except the following:
(a) A certificate or other paper required to be displayed by law.
(b) Sunscreening material along a strip at the top of the windshield, so long as such material is transparent and does not encroach upon the driver's direct forward viewing area as more particularly described and defined in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards No. 205 as the AS/1 portion of the windshield.
(c) A device, issued by a governmental entity as defined in s. 334.03, or its designee, for the purpose of electronic toll payments.

So basically, lawful stickers, the tint strip above the AS-1 line, and a toll transponder - that's it. This doesn't fit into any of those categories, and if someone decides to sue you, they could say you were negligent since you put something that could block your view. Even if it is up and out of the way, it could still be used against you in court.

[Nipponese @ Jul 25th 2007 1:35PM]

It's placed on the left side of the rear view mirror because that is the passenger side in Japan, as the price indicates that it's a Japanese product.

[KFahn @ Jul 25th 2007 9:24AM]

I am thinking that "in tact" should probably be one word.

Unless this is a particularly tactful recorder!

[Moshe @ Jul 25th 2007 11:02AM]

We already know that Engadget can't spell. Search the site and you will find countless examples.

[Dan @ Jul 25th 2007 9:31AM]

It's like the police dash-cam, but with more law breaking.

[Lucas @ Jul 25th 2007 9:32AM]

How does it record 20 seconds BEFORE the crash? :-)

Does it come from that DeJa Vu movie?

[kevink @ Jul 25th 2007 9:39AM]

because it is constantly recording, once it senses the emergency, it knows not to record over that.

[blackfeather @ Jul 25th 2007 9:46AM]

no.. that's not it. I think it's a wormhole.

[Vainentree @ Jul 25th 2007 9:52AM]

Most people won't want to pony up cash for something like this. Most people don't think they'll be in an accident so why would they buy one?

-Vainentree
http://thenerdcan.wordpress.com/

[Nogami @ Jul 25th 2007 10:40AM]

As my car was rear-ended recently, I think this would be more valuable to mount in the back to record people coming up from behind you (seems to be the leading type of accidents).

[Moshe @ Jul 25th 2007 11:02AM]

Great Idea:
Buy Four and put one on each side of your car.

Better Yet:
Buy SIX and put one each looking up and down too.

BEST:
Hope that there are good witnesses if you get in a crash!

[buzweaver @ Jul 25th 2007 1:23PM]

Of course people will buy them, because they know its the other persons fault and now they prove it! It should makes things real interesting. I wonder if google would offer me a deal if I provided images for their street level maps?

[Ray-- @ Jul 25th 2007 10:15AM]

"this wee camera"

are you kidding.. that thing looks huge. I'd probably get in an accident not being able to see around that thing!

[Bard @ Jul 25th 2007 11:14AM]

Actually this thing is small in comparison to other units on the market. Alot of the major fleet taxicabs in Phoenix are using these. Our variants have a lense facing outward and one facing inwards to record the driver and passengers. They also record handy info such as sound, GPS location, speed, time, compass direction and brake pedal frequency. These are great for any corporate fleet since it allows you to monitor any sudden action made by a driver since many versions have the ability to adjust the shock sensor's sensitivity.

The target market for this I think are families with new young drivers, small courier companies, pizza delivery joints, and other groups where they operate a fleet of machines yet have very low fleet budgets if they have one at all. Also, many corporate-account insurance plans offer discounts for use of this hardware

[Ashley Jones @ Jul 25th 2007 11:20AM]

It would be better with a remote control so you can record once you get out of the car. That way you can record the people like the ones who where in an accident with my dad. After the wreck they got out, walked around the car looking at the damage and then when they saw the police arriving they got back in their car and acted like they where so injured that they couldn't move.

[Osiris @ Jul 25th 2007 11:35AM]

If you're back ended it's pretty obvious who is to blame for the crash.
It's more often incidents from the front that end up in lawsuits as it's more tricky to work out who cause the crash.

I think these sort of devices should begin to be built into cars as standard, or at least as a manufacturer's extra.

[Ben @ Jul 25th 2007 11:42AM]

It's probably mounted on the left of the mirror because it's a Japanese car, their steering wheels are on the right-hand side of the car.

[Mystic Alpaca @ Jul 25th 2007 12:13PM]

It would be easy to stuff it under the seat or in the glove box to have your attorney examine later if your unsure of who caused the accident and do not want your device used agent you. But in most cases i think the police or insurance investigator can tell who caused an accident...so this would just be helpful if the evidence pointed at you and you were definitely NOT the cause.

However I see these as more for businesses to use or the real paranoid driver who doesn't trust the "system"...hmmm like me.

[SirPhunkee @ Jul 25th 2007 1:24PM]

While police and insurance investigators will form and present their opinions on fault in serious accident cases, it's the lawyers who end up determining where liability ends up, and these kinds of recordings aew something that prosecutors and defenders will both want to get their hands on any time it's available

[johnzilla @ Jul 25th 2007 12:22PM]

Doesn't make much sense to me. Why all the fancy sensors and wires? Why not just let it continually record the last 5-10 minutes or so, whenever the power is on? Basically like the "replay" buffer on your DVR.

[mike @ Jul 25th 2007 3:42PM]

Because dead/unconscious/ejected drivers can't press the record button.

[johnzilla @ Jul 25th 2007 4:04PM]

@mike:

Someone missed the word "continually" in my comment. As I said, like the replay buffer in a DVR cable box, there's no need to do anything...the device is constantly recording, overwriting the oldest with the newest.