With more accidents on the road involving riders being reported than ever before, our highways are clearly not getting any safer. Motorists continue to drive irresponsibly around horses and the results can be devastating. If you are injured in a road accident while riding, it can be a complete nightmare to prove who caused the incident. Drivers often leave the scene without stopping and you are never in the best position to note their number plate when you are lying on the road with a broken leg or are trying to catch your fleeing mount.
Bad drivers escaping justice
Every day, riders are injured as the result of bad driving and yet few gain the compensation they deserve. It's too easy for drivers to deny involvement or blame the rider for the accident. Clearly you should do everything you can to prevent an incident. This will include investing in a for yourself and for your horse. But what if your horse still gets spooked or hit by a motor vehicle?A helmet cam could secure a successful prosecution of the driver and gain you the compensation you are entitled to.
Shocked and incapacitated
If you are involved in a hit and run, you may be too shocked or incapacitated to even register who has hit you. In such an incident, your helmet cam footage will record the vehicle and enable you to identify it. Better still, that footage will represent powerful evidence in court and will save you from having to search for witnesses to the accident.
Is it legal to film?
Filming in public areas is perfectly legal, so you are not breaking any laws by using a helmet camera. The footage from these cameras is increasingly being provided as evidence in both civil and criminal courts in the same way as CCTV footage. To admit a recording from your helmet camera into evidence, you should simply download the footage onto a CD and submit a signed statement that the film has not been altered in any way. This should be countersigned by a solicitor.
What about filming on private property?
It is important to note that if you are riding on private property, the landowner is entitled to forbid or restrict any filming on their land and you are obliged to abide by any rules that they set.
Could a helmet cam cause an injury?
It has been suggested that hat cams could worsen head injuries in an accident. This argument was made by an expert during the enquiry into the skiing accident which left racing driver Michael Schumacher with serious head injuries. However, this was just an opinion and the argument has never been proven. Head cams are very unlikely to cause or worsen injuries which occur while riding but are highly likely to help you identify the motorist at fault and secure a successful prosecution. Better still, you can use your head cam to film all of your sporting activities and you may capture memorable footage as you ride. Naturally you will be hoping that you never need to call on your footage to help you, but it is nice to know that you have this extra help at your disposal, just in case. Drivers may be less inclined to act recklessly if they see your camera and may behave less aggressively if they do stop to discuss an incident.