A friend of ours who lives in Mexico has been running with a dash cam for several years. They are cheap to buy and a good thing to have when you are in the right. This is an e-mail we received the other day and I thought it might give a few people pause to consider using a camera - whether in Mexico, or right at home. They record in an endless loop and will start and shut off with the ignition. Here's the mail - note the use of the Telcel internet stick on the road. RYV
.............. I was driving to Jocotepec last Saturday and a bus cut me short as it passed and destroyed my left outside mirror. Sounded like a bomb going off. Damn driver was playing chicken, happens all the time. Buses and trucks come as close as they can when coming back into the lane and more than once I had to slam on my brakes to keep from being hit. We pull over and he says I should have moved over and it was my fault. A passenger from the bus comes over, Alicia, and spoke English and helped translate. I said I was going to call the police, he said he didn't have a phone, told him I did. I pointed out the dash video cam which I have hanging in my windshield which records as I drive, he got a funny look on his face. Later he pulls out his cell phone to make calls ! The passengers had to finish their trip on a different bus which pulled up later. While waiting for his insurance company to arrive I connected my laptop to the dash cam and pulled the video clip of his bus hitting my RV, it even has sound and you could hear the bus hit me. I showed him the clip and he was not very happy. Next, I hopped on the internet, I have a Telcel USB drive which connects me to the internet anywhere in Mexico. I pulled up the info to replace my mirror, $395 including shipping. The insurance guy arrives and I show him the clip and later he is talking to the driver and I understand he is reaming his butt. I also show him how much it will cost me to replace the mirror. I mention if I have the mirror shipped to Mexico the cost will double due to import duties. And, I determined how much this was in pesos, $5,012. So I had my ducks in a row for the insurance guy and he realized I wasn't some gringo pushover. In Mexico you really don't want to get the police involved if you can settle it among yourselves. The police are nothing but crooks and always want a bribe. I finally settled for $4,508 pesos, knew I wasn't going to get anymore than that and I was lucky to get this much out of them.
