Dora-Dora Drive

Good evening, this is Komaro. 😺

Today, I had what you might call a "farewell treatment" from my chiropractor, who is transferring next month.
I was kneaded and cracked all over, screaming and feeling exhausted, but I feel refreshed now.

W-well, as expected... 😹

*******

Anyway, today I finally installed a dashcam in my car, which I had been meaning to do for a while. (Hereinafter referred to as a dashcam.)

The first time I installed a dashcam in my car was... I believe about four years ago.
It started when I bought one on a radio shopping segment on bayfm, which I listen to every morning. It seemed like a great product, and at an affordable price of around 6,000 yen, I thought I'd start by trying that one out.

Despite the price, it came with three cameras—two in the front (forward-facing and interior) and one in the back—and it recorded on a continuous loop.

When I played back the footage, the license plates of other cars were quite clear, and I was fully satisfied with the equipment and quality for that price.

However, about a year ago, it started making a strange, metallic-sounding noise like "clang, clang" whenever I started the engine.

Even when I turned the sound off, it kept ringing, and even if I played music at a high volume, it wasn't a sound I could drown out or ignore... so I got frustrated and unplugged the power socket. 😂

Since then, about a year has passed...
I kept thinking that I really should install the next dashcam soon, because if I were to get hit by someone else—not due to my own driving error—I wouldn't have any evidence.

Just then, the timing was perfect. When I renewed my car insurance, I opted for a dashcam rental from the insurance company (the rental fee is included in the insurance cost). If I happen to collide with something, the impact sends a 10-second video from before and after the event to the center, which speeds up the accident processing. And it's accurate, too.

It's in the past, but both my mother Terumi and my niece have been hit by other cars, but because they had no evidence, they were pressured by the other party's insurance company and ended up in a disadvantageous position. 😥
I can't tell you how frustrating that was. (For me, and I'm sure for them too.)

Because of that, a dashcam is a must, and if there's a dangerous-looking car nearby, I make it a habit to comment on it out loud.
That way, there will be a recording of me anticipating the situation and trying to avoid it.

And I do the installation myself every time.
The first installation took quite a while, but when I installed one for my mother Terumi's car, it took about 20 minutes, and this time it took about 15 minutes.

All dashcams are built similarly, so you get faster once you're used to it. 😊

What's more, I'm proud that I've become able to install it by hiding the wires so well that they are almost invisible.

For the first one, I just stuck it on with stickers, but when I asked the person in charge at a certain O-O-O-A during a vehicle inspection how to hide the wires properly, they did it for me while they were at it.

Having seen that, I got better at it starting with the one for Terumi's car. 😆👍

And then, after I went out by car this morning and came back, since the inside of the car was nice and cool, I parked it in the garage and installed it right away.

This time, I installed it on the passenger side. (To ensure my own field of vision.)
You can see the wire coming out of the camera at the red arrow, right?
And then, I pushed the wire into the ceiling part above that and ran it straight to the left.

And then, I just run the wire under this rubber seal and bring it down.
Up to this point, the wire is completely invisible. 👍

Then I removed the cover further down, ran the wire through, brought it out from the gap, and as you can see to the left of the red line, from there I ran it under the mat all the way to the power socket in the middle.

Minimal exposure all the way to the power source. 😏

It's just self-satisfaction, but it makes me happy to be able to do it as cheaply and neatly as possible. 💕

Since it only takes about 20 minutes, a silly thought crossed my mind that maybe I could make a business out of it for about 2,000 yen per car. 🤭

I'll keep safe driving in mind and increase my A-ratings. 😏