National Road Safety Week 2024: How dashcams can help reduce hit-and-run incidents

Under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) that replaces the Indian Penal Code (IPC), it was announced by Ministry of Home Affairs on December 28, 2023 that drivers who cause a serious road accident by negligent driving and run away without informing the police or any official from the administration could face punishment of up to 10 years and a fine of Rs 7 lakh. However, the provisions in the law were later put on hold after a nation-wide truck drivers' strike.
One gadget that can help reduce such hit-and-run incidents is a dashboard camera, commonly referred to as 'dashcam'.A dashcam is an onboard camera that records the view through a vehicle's front windscreen and sometimes rear or other windows. Some dashcams also include an interior 360-degree camera to record the vehicle's cabin. A dashcam is usually powered through the car's auxiliary port, and most models would record automatically when turned on, thereby overwriting old footage once storage is full.
On the occasion of the ongoing National Road Safety Week 2024, let's take a look at some of the benefits of dashcams and how they can actually help bring down the rising number of hit-and-run cases in India -

"However vigilant you are as a driver, accidents often happen because of someone else's mistake on the road. And almost all of us who've ever driven on Indian roads have witnessed or been a part of endless arguments to prove who's mistake it was in reality. Furthermore, over the past few years there has been a dangerous rise in hit & run cases as well. Dashcams prove their worth in not just identifying the offenders in such cases but the presence of these devices also acts as a solid deterrent in preventing such incidents in the future," Nikhil Rajpal, CEO, Hero Electronix (makers of Qubo dashcams).

A host of mass-market cars are now offered with a factory-fit dashcam including the likes of Hyundai Exter, Venue, Alcazar and Skoda Slavia. We expect other manufacturers to jump on this growing trend soon too.
Do you think dashcams should be made mandatory for new cars sold in India, and would you purchase it for your existing vehicle? Let us know your views in the comments down below.