Page 1 of 1

Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 15th, 2018, 9:40 pm
by mjb666
Image

I just spotted this on an ad for a van conversion. I can see a camera to aid reversing as useful but i think this would be a distraction whilst driving, can i assume it is legal?

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 15th, 2018, 9:48 pm
by wonkywheel
Surely it's just like a rear view mirror :oops:

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 15th, 2018, 9:57 pm
by mjb666
Hi Mark

Whilst i will concede a slight amount of embarrassement to your 'stating the obvious', having driven vans/lorries & being denied a rear view mirror & using both wing mirrors, i suppose i just thought with the real time pictures , it would be a distraction.

But, of course, you are correct.

Umm, should i delete this thread?

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 15th, 2018, 10:00 pm
by zildjian
I use the camper's back-up camera sometimes on the road,
it could be a little distraction yes but certainly useful, especially for the caravan types so they can check there's a good queue building up behind them :o

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 15th, 2018, 10:09 pm
by mjb666
zildjian wrote:I use the camper's back-up camera sometimes on the road,
it could be a little distraction yes but certainly useful, especially for the caravan types so they can check there's a good queue building up behind them :o
Zildjian, it's not just them that 'take it easy' whilst driving, we don't rush and thank goodness, we don't have a rear view camera!

I always thought everyone was being friendly when they overtook us & gesticulated?

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 16th, 2018, 12:50 pm
by wonkywheel
In defense of your argument. My cameras are set with a view to towing so the rear view is rather low down so that I can just see the top of the towing ball. The road does tend to wizz by at quite a rate. You can also flip the orientation around to read the number plates easily. It is a great aid when backing up to a trailer hitch or even in a tight parking spot. It's surprising how brittle some number plates are if you tap them with a towing ball :o . They then tend to look like out of sink windscreen wipers for a while :D :roll:
Not that I would ever admit to having done that :!: :oops:

Mark

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 16th, 2018, 1:06 pm
by zildjian
I have one on camper and another facing rearward in Load liner, it was an idea to aid loading camper but in reality seldom gets used these days as bit of a weird perspective

HERE

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 19th, 2018, 10:01 am
by Silversprinter
Have a camera on back roof of van, very useful reversing aid but wish now it could be used on the road at will too
would be handy to view traffic sometimes

Out came with van but know they can be bought on auction eBay etc, to install them though,(is that a diy type job?)

Re: Rear view camera whilst driving

Posted: August 25th, 2018, 9:38 pm
by wonkywheel
Hi Silversprinter,
fitting cameras is a relatively easy job. I have mine powered from the cigar lighter, that means I can plug it in when I want it. I went for 2 cameras, one at the back and one at the front. The screen had 2 inputs and you can toggle between them. It can get interesting if you are reversing looking out the forward camera. Sometimes it's not that obvious because you can also toggle the view to straight or mirrored. Good if you want to read the car behinds number plate.

I think my ebay purchase was about £50. Fitting it was just a case of fixing the camera, running the cable through an existing hole into the cab(some take a bit of crawling about underneath). The screen I put in the sun visor. Initially I taped it on to see if I liked it. The control box just lays underneath the seat. Plug in, power up and away you go. The power feed can be connected to the reversing light power feed but then obviously it only come on when the reversing lights are on.

Hope that helps ;)