Dashboard cameras are becoming increasingly popular in today’s market and with a wide range of options to choose from it may be a pretty daunting task trying to find the best dash cam for your fleet and operational needs.
So what functionality should you look for when searching the market? We have provided you with a comprehensive insight into what a car camera should offer in order to address a Fleet Managers challenges and daily struggles.
Dash Cam with GPS Vehicle Tracking
When it comes to choosing the correct provider you will want to ensure they are an established telematics provider with a proven track record of developing gps solutions. Investing in a dash cam should not be a one-off purchase it should be the beginning of a long-term relationship with your provider offering excellent service and support throughout the length of your contract. A dash cam offering integrated vehicle tracking will provide real-time location data ensuring you are addressing all workforce management needs on one platform with one monthly cost.
HD Dash Cam
The quality of the videos are very important, you want to ensure they are high definition in order to provide clear footage and video evidence. Look out for cameras with at least 1920 x 1080p video recording quality to ensure clear, sharp images. The better the quality, the stronger the evidence in respect of any insurance claims.
3G Connectivity
Most standalone dash cams record to an SD card, a very problematic method for Fleet Managers. Dash cams using this type of storage are notorious for both drivers disposing of them and formatting issues, resulting in important video evidence being lost. 3G connectivity is a very important feature you should be looking out for, as it allows for videos to be sent in real-time to an admin portal for immediate review. This ensures videos are completely tamper-proof and allows for poor driver behaviour instances to be identified such as dangerous, reckless or fatigued driving.
Accelerometer
When choosing a car dash camera it is important to ensure they have an on-board accelerometer to detect changes in g-force. This measures impact and movement allowing the camera to identify sudden or severe instances such as harsh acceleration, braking or a collision and therefore trigger an event-generated video. You may also wish to select a dash cam which allows for manual recording, this is a useful feature if you witness an incident on the road you may need to document.
Fixed Speed Camera & Road Speed Data
In order to tackle the increasing issue of vehicle wear and tear and fuel costs, it is vital that Fleet Managers take action to improve driver behaviour. Finding a solution which offers speed camera and road speed data provides protection of employee’s valuable driving licenses by warning them both visually and audibly when they are exceeding the speed limit and approaching a fixed speed camera. In turn, this therefore improves driver behaviour by encouraging safer driving.
Paperless Vehicle Checks
With upcoming and tightened legislation impacting fleets, businesses must ensure they are operating well-maintained, roadworthy and safe vehicles at all times. Paperless vehicle checks are therefore critical in ensuring vehicles are compliant. Finding a solution which also offers this feature means you do not have to source a separate product with an additional cost.
Driver ID
This is an important feature you should look out for if your employees are not assigned to specific vehicles and if you wish to differentiate between business and private journeys. Driver ID allows employees to log into the device identifying themselves as the driver and verify business/private mileage accordingly.
Dash Cam Installation
Many standalone dash cams are not hardwired to the vehicle and instead connect to the vehicles cigarette lighter socket; however this method is somewhat troublesome for Fleet Managers as it allows for the device to be tampered with and unplugged by the driver. This is an ongoing headache for fleets as they are regularly unplugged and therefore important data is not recorded. Devices which are hardwired to the vehicle tackle this issue as they require experienced auto electricians to install/deinstall and are therefore tamper-proof ensuring all data is recorded.
By considering each of these features, we hope it has helped you narrow down your choices and identify a dash cam which ticks all the boxes.
To understand more about how a fleet tracking and 3G HD video solution could benefit your fleet and many more features visit our SmartCam page.
For more info regarding Driver Behaviour read our other blog post Top 4 Ways to Ensure Safer Driving for your Employees.