Working for a company that prioritizes road safety, I was lucky that I got to witness road rage, car crashes, and “I -was-having-a-good-day-until” driving moments through footage submissions and clips of the month on our YouTube channel. For the past three years of driving, I’m confident to say that every trip has been smooth and safe, until that fateful day, that is.
But what will you do if something you’ve been writing and warning people about actually happens to you? Today, I’ll share with you how I experienced my first-ever fender bender, and how I handled it based on what I learned at BlackboxMyCar.
When I first applied as a Content Writer for BlackboxMyCar, I was tasked with researching and writing about a dash cam, particularly the FineVu GX33, highlighting its Smart Time Lapse feature. Admittedly, it was a tough challenge – especially when that specific model isn’t available in the place where I’m at.
In fact, in the area where I live, the majority of the vehicles still have no dash cams, and you could only see them in Ubers, taxis, and police cars. But thanks to Reddit threads, review videos, and product specifications available online, I was able to dig deeper for my test article. And even more thankfully, BlackboxMyCar got me on board.
However, prior to applying to BlackboxMyCar, my writing experience was solely about cars, business, and lifestyle. I never imagined myself writing about tech tools, including dash cams, because I first thought that they’re too complex, they’re expensive, and not a lot of people are in need of them.
But as my days at BlackboxMyCar went by, I’ve been assigned to cover stories and product launches that proved to me that having a dash cam in your car is a must, and all drivers need them, regardless if they’re driving a car, truck, van, or even a motorcycle. I was lucky enough to be sent a FineVu GX300 last Christmas, which is an upgraded version of the first dash cam model I wrote about. It’s a FineVu deja vu.
When I got the dash cam, the first thing I did was to have it hardwired by a professional installer so I could activate the FineVu GX300’s parking mode and see what was happening around my car even if I left it overnight. It is a two-channel dash cam, so whenever I’m driving, I can see what’s ahead of me while also having the option to check what’s behind through the rear camera.
I love it, especially since I can access my dash cam files easily through the FineVu app. It surely saved me a lot of time, especially when updating my family members about a trip. For the past months of having the dash cam in my car, I’ve always considered myself lucky that my dash cam’s purpose has been merely for updating about my whereabouts, travels and leisure. All positive, unlike what we’ve been writing about – insurance claims, theft, traffic violations, keying, and worse, car crashes.
Until the 3rd of September 2023.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was driving on my way to the church with my siblings. I was running approximately 20 mph on the highway. No traffic, so it was supposed to be a day without a headache. There was a public transport vehicle in front of me, and it stopped to pick up some passengers. Of course, I stopped too… until I heard a loud crash at the rear of my car, where my 10-year-old brother was seated.
The crash's impact was so hard that I was shocked, staring blankly for at least 10 seconds. I checked my sibling at the back to ensure they were okay, but I wasn’t so sure about my car because the impact was so strong – the strongest I’ve experienced in my three years of driving.
I got out of the car (a Toyota SUV) and saw that I was hit by a jeepney - a public transport vehicle, almost built like a tank. It was driven by an old male driver with about 10 passengers on board, who obviously didn’t expect that the driver coming out of the SUV was a five-foot-one tall, young female driver.
Examining my vehicle, I found a huge hole in my rear lift gate, the rear bumper lights were broken, and the whole rear panel was wrecked. Upon seeing it, I could already imagine that the repair costs would reach at least 800 US dollars. And at that time, I wasn’t sure if the driver would take responsibility or not.
I approached him, and the moment he saw me, the first thing he said was it wasn’t his fault.
He said that he’s just chill, driving slowly (similar to how Adam Levine would describe a Sunday morning), and he’s at the center of the lane. The old man said that it was my fault because I stopped abruptly, and even compared our years of driving experiences – where I only started in 2020, while he's been driving since the 80s.
Sounds like a pro, yeah? The old driver kept babbling, and I was just listening to him blame me, lie to me, and make up stories. I kept my cool, and patiently waited for my turn.
After a few minutes, the police officers came and asked us to go with them to the nearest station where we could elaborate what happened and discuss the repairs, damages, and who was going to file a case or whatnot. The driver, still, insisted that it was my fault.
And in front of the police, my siblings, the driver, and some of his passengers, I smiled.
“Thank you for sharing your side, Mr. Driver. I won’t speak much about what happened, but can I please have 20 seconds of everybody’s time?”
Time for my secret weapon – they didn’t know that I had a dash cam.
Like I said earlier, only a few cars here have dash cams. And the one that I have installed in my car? It also has a camera right on the rear, which was able to capture everything that had happened. My FineVu GX300 did its job in capturing what I needed to defend myself – to prove that it wasn’t my fault, that the driver was actually speeding, not in the center of the lane, and was, in fact, trying to overtake.
Because of the 20-second footage, I could prove the accusations wrong. Without speaking much, the police officers and traffic enforcers were able to find the truth about the incident, while also giving disciplinary actions to drivers who act recklessly on the road.
The driver was really humiliated. I was given the option to file a case, but I didn’t, because I knew that the incident would affect the jeepney driver more than myself. His party then confirmed that I will not shoulder any of the expenses, and they sincerely apologized for what happened.
So after a long and tiring day, I was saved by my rear camera’s 20-second footage, and it will continue to do so in the coming years.
I didn’t imagine or wish to be involved in an accident to prove how a dash cam could save lives, but I’m glad that it happened to me, as I got to share this experience with drivers like you, who surely want to protect your car, and most especially your families too.
And this blog marks my first anniversary in BBMC.