We've a new dashcam!

I ordered a new dashcam for our anniversary. It is an inexpensive one, and, in hindsight, I should have upped it a bit. You get what you pay for. The old one (Garmin) had many more bells and whistles. This one doesn't have an app that process images. Ah well. 

I went online to figure out how and where to attach it to the dash. It plugs into the lighter, and has a nice, long cord. You tuck it up in between the frame and the panels. 

 

I wasn't happy with where it was hanging and it slipped out. Back to the drawing board. You can buy packages of proper hanger thingies. Instead, I had one of these left over, plus the Handi-tak. I sent JB into town to get some more of the hooks. 

It's hard to see, but I put another here. A job done, checked off the list.

Now that's the first part done. The next part is accessing the videos. Garmin has a nice app that lets one play around with raw videos(in .AVI), it shows speed and a map. You can see the red dot on the bar, below, this marks an old incident, which it saves, and doesn't erase over. This is a screen capture of the old dashcam footage, as the car was passing. It automatically downloads the footage. 

 

The app doesn't work with the new dashcam video footage. It simply doesn't recognize it. I looked around, and iMovie works with the raw footage. What a relief. The colours are much brighter, even in the pouring rain! new dashcam  

In the meantime, the bear were up to having some fun. It was a sing song, apparently.

Summer is winding down. Such is the cycle of the seasons. 

That said, the horse chestnuts are growing. 

And, it was a trick photographing my anniversary cards! JB went all out.

Autumn, here we come!

92% of all road deaths are preventable

Operation Impact traffic safety initiative, which kicks off Friday and runs over the Thanksgiving long weekend. Police will be out in full-force on both roadways and waterways targeting the “Big Four” factors.

An OPP report says about 92% of the 1,507 deaths on provincial police-patrolled roads in the last five years were preventable. This came out just as I had to travel 328 km to Toronto, returning on Friday of the long weekend.

city driving from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Before I left Toronto, I checked Google and there were 7 traffic incidents across the 401 highway. It was stop and go everywhere.


I made a bad mistake coming home. First, the 401 was bumper-to-bumper to Oshawa.  Then, I used the toll road, 407. It isn't complete, but it was very busy. Where it ends, EVERYONE was driving on CR 3, which had stop signs. There must have been 100 cars in front and behind. In hindsight, I'd use highway #7.


Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend. We do a lot of daycation driving. We see many incidents of aggressive drivers, as well as those who would risk our lives to hurry to their next destination. Life is too short. The attitudes of these cavalier drivers shocks me.

On one highway, I think 401, or perhaps 115, I had just passed a slower truck. A guy pulls up behind me, passes me on the right, just as I was about to go back into that lane. He passed me, passed another car on the right an then pulled in front of him with little room. I couldn't find the dashcam video of him, though.

I was driving 80 km/hr, the speed limit, here, highway #7.

being passed from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The Don Valley Parking Lot, as people call it! It wasn't bad on Friday afternoon on my journey home!
Don Valley Friday Aft from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Hubby drove into town last month. A woman behind him passed two cars behind him, on the 5 km to town limits, and then passed him. He pulled up behind her at the stop light. This is dangerous, stupid and puts us all at risk.




What can civilians do?

• Tell your family, refuse to drive with those who would risk you or your loved ones. 
• Slow down, someone out there loves you or your victim.
• Call dangerous drivers out. 
• Report dangerous driving.

Between 2011 and 2015, 1400 deaths (92%) were caused by the big four:
distracted driving, impaired driving, aggressive driving, and lack of seatbelt use.

• inattentive driving was a factor in 408 deaths
• speeding in 336 deaths
• failure to wear a seat belt in 335 deaths
• alcohol and drugs contributed to 321 deaths.

Highway 401...it never stops. #DriveSafe pic.twitter.com/eRTeJROCQL

— Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) October 3, 2016

Press release

Dashcam, purple finch, cats and deer

A few photos!
Yes, I was doing the speed limit. No, he thought I wasn't going fast enough!


Perth, a rare sighting: a letter carrier!


Don't you love them?! The chickadee photo bombed the purple finch!


Daisy was reluctant to go walkies. It was wet, and warmish (for Feb.), and she loathes that on her toes. She is much happier in the subzero temperatures! Annabelle is content to birdwatch from the bench on the front deck.


Hubby isn't feeling well. He had 3 buddies. For a brief moment in time, everyone was at peace for his sake.


We had quite a crowd. The males have lost their antlers, elsewhere, sadly, and we had quite a herd.

What a time for incidents: fire, vehicular!

"Glad to see she's doing ok. 
Kudos again to the gentlemen
who jumped in the icy waters to help her."
 https://t.co/aWhTXtz84W

What a story! Two uQueen's student were jogging by and helped her out of the water. This was in Kingston.

"Mary Schoonhoven was trying to park her car outside her apartment building on King Street West when her foot slipped off the brake pedal, hitting the gas instead."

Now, I'm just saying...if this was me, I would want my family to take my car keys away!

Right, Caitlin, Jesse??!!

Woman whose car went into Lake Ontario 
recalls freightening experience 
http://bit.ly/1X6b5fd 

INCIDENT: FIRE and Explosion

Firstly, a fire/explosion at Law and Orders restaurant. They were infamous for the large bucket of fake fries on the roof. Hubby has stopped there. They were on highway #7.

What is sad is that a restaurant in nearby Carleton Place also burned down in January, Moose McGuire's. [What a few days journey! We drove by as they were picking up the debris in early January. ]

Before - from our dashcam

Law and Orders restaurant destroyed by explosion, fire – say owners

Comments on Lake 88 (5 photos) say that local residents heard the blast 5km away. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

AFTER

Explosion levels popular Carleton Place burger joint

INCIDENT Driving

Secondly, another fatal truck/car incident on Highway #7. It is NOT a surprise.

A passenger vehicle and a tractor trailer collided head on when the passenger vehicle crossed the centre line. The 49-year-old male driver of the passenger car, from Orleans, ON, died at scene.
A truck driver rammed into a young mother's car a month ago, along the same stretch. 
It's 60km/hour driving up the hill to the stop lights.

Trucks and truckers are driving awfully fast. We are always passed on highway #7 on our way into the city. We often see unsafe driving incidents. People are impatient, passing on the shoulder in haste.

INCIDENT in Perth

 Last week a woman crossed the intersection (vimeo video), running a red in front of me. Thankfully I was watching her, in anticipation of her turning right. Instead, she went through the red light. Self-defence is very important. 

The dashcam has been capturing these incidents. I'm starting to wonder how frequent they are in general. I'm always happy to see hubby arrive home from his trips to town. He often has stories about dangerous driving while on deliveries. People are complacent and doing silly things.

Last Tuesday, when hubby was beginning his Meals on Wheels deliveries, this woman ran a red light.

In motion...

Redlight #2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

And a crazy story in Toronto.

Woman, 88, dead after striking vehicle and driving into home

CBC.ca‎ - 3 days ago

An 88-year-old woman is dead after she struck a vehicle, hit a curb and drove into a house in west Toronto this morning.