Just a little heads up to those who use dashcams. I needed some video footage today but on trying to download it, the SD card had partially failed. I buy high endurance cards for video and checked this one before my French trip in September. As its winter and getting a bit more dangerous maybe a good idea to check your SD cards and renew them if they are getting old. Without dashcam footage most insurers just go 50/50 on rural roads so could help in that situation.
This is my big gripe with dashcams. Manufacturers tell you to check the card often, but they are fiddly to get out and after a while one naturally lets the novelty to wear off.
To anyone contemplating buying a dashcam, I suggest pay the bit extra and get one where footage can be downloaded via an app onto your phone. Most reputable high-end ones have this feature now.
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I second that thought. Mine, a Viofo, failed a couple of months back and the problem, identified by their help line, was a worn out card. I bought a new one, formatted it, and all is good again.
@Adam1 I gave up taking the card out because my nail slipped off it and the spring shot it over my shoulder. In spite of the fact that I knew where it would have landed I could never find it again. Ever since then I take the cam out of the car and connect it to the computer.
Did I read somewhere that dashcam footage is not acceptable in France or am I dreaming?
Edit:
I was dreaming!
In general, using a Dashcam is perfectly legal in France. We have the right to film journeys in private places, and even in public places. For road safety, use is fully authorized by the State but it is also regulated.
I don’t know, but with my Eriba caravan I was often flashed by the double height cameras mistaking me for a lorry when doing 100 in a 110 zone. I always in such cases kept the relevant files just in case which showed speed, location and time. Never needed because obviously their computers knew my reg number was not an HGV.
My husband recently recorded an accident that happened in front of us - very obvious who the culprit was. He gave his details to the lorry that got hit and was asked for the dashcam footage by the insurers. Possibly saved the lorry driver his job.
France or UK?
Apparantly there is a grey area here, I am told, that the dashcam use is perfectly ok in France to record the general situation ahead of the dashcam, but it is not acceptable for someone to record an individual inside the car without permission, unless authorised or the individual is warned beforehand.
This came about on a discussion where someone ran into the back of a car with a dashcam who was clearly looking at his/her telephone at the time. The clear picture of the person texting on the phone apparantly made the whole recording useless to the police to prosecute, because the recording was made in private car. Had the recording have been made from a police car, it would be ok!
France
Seems a bit of a strange excuse on the part of the law. Would a witness sitting in another private car with a clear view of the offender be barred from giving evidence? I suspect some really slick and very expensive lawyer defended that case, the cost possibly far in excess of a fine.
Of course if the defendant was a serial offender then the loss of licence might have made this action worth it.
That’s encouraging.
And a good deed done 
actually, there is some quite complex law involved… re photographing in public, drones etc and dashcams comes within that lot as far as I am aware…
so not a case of a slick lawyer 
no matter what the fee 
As an aside, we seem to have a double user situation again don’t we? I’m assuming @Wendy_Cooper-Wolfe and @Wendy_Cooper-Wolfe are the same person, no?
Oh, yes please, I think i may have first joined looong before I moved here, and again when I did move!
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Hi, I’ve merged your old account in to this new one. 
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Thank you very much, Wendy
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