Dash cam recommendations? (road rage story)

[Wiggity]

So last night I experienced the most extreme case of road rage I have ever personally seen. I've had several cases over the past 8 years where someone was raging at me for no good reason; however, this one was the worst and its not even close.

I was on southbound I-25 in the DTC on my way home from work. Solid drive. Traffic lighter than normal. Looking to get over to the left, I put on my left turn signal and begin to merge. As I was about half way into the other lane, the white SUV I was merging in front of decided to speed up and lay on his horn. I assume this is because he did not want me to merge in front of him. As I was already mostly into the lane and he was behind me, I finished merging. He immediately pulled into the lane on my left and drove along side me, rolling down his window and yelling/pointing at me. At this point, my middle finger immediately reacted to the situation and arose from my hand (clearly against my better judgement).

The driver of the white SUV then swerved at my car and entering into my lane. As I swerved away and slammed on my brakes, he pulled in front of me and brake-checked me to a complete stop right in the middle lane of I-25 as cars are passing by on each side. I have never seen a person purposefully do something so dangerous in a car in my entire life. As the situation escalated, I remember my G19 is literally right in the seat next to me in a bag just in case. The man gets out of his car and approaches my driver's side door right in the middle of the freeway.

Now having been an angry teen, I've been in my share of scuffles. That combined with being a 6'1" college boxer for 3 years and hitting the gym consistently, I don't mind throwing down. However, I'd much rather avoid it at this point in my life. On top of this, the last thing I want to do when armed is get into an unnecessary physical altercation. At this point, cars were stopped all around us and he was approaching my driver's side. Using my better judgement this time, I began to pull into the lane to my right. Opposite of his position relative to his SUV. As I was pulling away, the man runs to my door and attempts to open it. As his hand slipped off my moving door handle, he then kicks the back of my car. As much as I wanted to confront, I decided this was neither the time nor the place and drove off. This left him looking like a complete idiot walking back to his car in the middle of I-25 as I sailed away. My behavior could have slightly improved and I assume he was having a terrible day. However, his reaction was akin to dropping a 2000lb bomb on an ant hill.

All this to say, I'm now in the market for a dash cam. Had I hit the back of his car during his brake check, I would have no way to prove it was his fault unless I had a witness. On top of that, if I wanted to pursue road rage/assault charges, all I would have to do is hand the video over to the police. My innocence would not be questioned and I would have undeniable evidence of his guilt. I don't believe going to the PD for absolutely everything is the correct decision; however, this driver was exhibiting abundantly dangerous behavior that could have EASILY resulted in serious bodily injury.

Any one have similar experiences or recommendations on a dash cam?

[hurley842002]

No recommendations for a cam, but I've made it my policy to not flip people off while I'm carrying or while my family is with me, and since I'm pretty much always carrying, it's worked out pretty well for me. I'm sure you don't need counseling from the collective minds, but I'm also sure you knew someone would say something about it. Good luck in your search for a dash cam.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Wiggity]

No recommendations for a cam, but I've made it my policy to not flip people off while I'm carrying or while my family is with me, and since I'm pretty much always carrying, it's worked out pretty well for me. I'm sure you don't need counseling from the collective minds, but I'm also sure you knew someone would say something about it. Good luck in your search for a dash cam.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Yes this is why I admitted in my original post that it was a bad idea. I don't need y'all telling me it was a bad idea after I literally just told you that I already know it was a bad idea.

On top of that, most people would be lying hypocrites if they said they have never done the same thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BushMasterBoy]

Any sign of trouble I call *277 (*CSP) and report it to the Colorado State Patrol. This call line is specifically designed to handle "road rage" events. With a video as evidence, I'm sure they would go visit the guy at his address. All you really needed was the tag number. I guess in a pinch a "Go Pro would work. Glad to hear you weren't injured. And yes, these incidents need to be reported to CSP.

[Wiggity]

Any sign of trouble I call *277 (*CSP) and report it to the Colorado State Patrol. This call line is specifically designed to handle "road rage" events. With a video as evidence, I'm sure they would go visit the guy at his address. All you really needed was the tag number. I guess in a pinch a "Go Pro would work. Glad to hear you weren't injured. And yes, these incidents need to be reported to CSP.

That is a good call. I probably should have grabbed his plate number.

I do have a go pro, but it only holds so much video, then I'd have to delete it. I'd rather have something that turns on when I start my car and continuously records and stores the last hour or so of video.

[hurley842002]

Disregard, no point in dirtying up the thread.

[OneGuy67]

Instead of calling the CSP, who just records the information and if enough complaints are lodged against a driver, will go out and speak to them, call 911 and have an on duty cop come to you. Give them the plate number of the other person. You were in Greenwood Village at the time of the incident and they would have been happy to deal with that person.

[Wulf202]

Irving had a thread about the one he uses. I'll be getting that one next.

[Wiggity]

Well, do stupid irresponsible things, expect criticism rather you want it or not. Yes, I've flipped people off while driving, probably hundreds of times, even a few times after I started carrying. Once I realized the seriousness of escalating things while carrying, I immediately stopped acting stupid. Yes, I would have expected people to tell me "flipping the bird while carrying is stupid!", and I would have deserved to be told this as many times as it took, to get me to stop doing it.

How is your criticism going to be beneficial when I literally admitted that I already know it was a bad idea? Not all criticism is helpful and there is a term for this type of criticism. Its called "beating a dead horse". Thank you for beating this dead horse.

Instead of calling the CSP, who just records the information and if enough complaints are lodged against a driver, will go out and speak to them, call 911 and have an on duty cop come to you. Give them the plate number of the other person. You were in Greenwood Village at the time of the incident and they would have been happy to deal with that person.

That's a good idea as well. I've never felt the need to call 911 because of a road rage incident, but this one was a completely different animal.

Irving had a thread about the one he uses. I'll be getting that one next.

Have a link to the thread? Definitely interested.

[00tec]

https://www.ar-15.co/threads/155748-Dash-camera