As so often happens with technology, there was an appetite for dashcams well before the technology could support it. We first started seeing the concept of a dashcam during car races. The 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Mount Panorama was the first time Australian audiences witnessed footage from within a car. With a huge studio camera adapted for a car and a three-point mounting bracket from the roll cage, it wasn't something that immediately seemed obvious and would one day translate to the modern dashcam.

As technology progressed, three significant changes occurred. Firstly, camera lenses were reducing in size but increasing in quality. Secondly, we progressed from VHS cassette onto solid state memory devices. And lastly, the entire video industry was dramatically increasing the quality of recordings. Combine small lenses, compact storage and high-quality images and you have exactly what is needed in a dashcam.

The industry still didn't take off though - until along came Russia. Insurance fraud involving vehicles was widespread in Russia in the early part of this century - to the point where the Interior Ministry permitted citizens to install in-car cameras in 2009. Within three years, over one million vehicles in Russia were fitted with dashcams.

Once 'Funniest Home Videos' started seeing so much dashcam footage that dedicated dashcam shows started, it didn't take long for the rest of the world to catch on. The worldwide market for dashcams this year will be worth over $4.5 billion. That is a lot of footage for the next episode of 'World's Worst Drivers.'

Why do people install dashcams? They may do it to protect themselves and have a reliable witness if they are involved in an accident and use the footage to prove their innocence. Parents or employers may wish to use the footage to check on their children or employees to improve their driving.

Back to my first point. When people are driving their car, they generally figure that they are behaving as if no one is watching them. Early data on dashcams has shown that a dashcam will reduce risky behaviour by teenagers by as much as 70 per cent. I am sure that data applies to a lesser extent to the rest of the population.

That sounds like a great argument for installing a dashcam but if you are involved in an incident and you use your dashcam to defend yourself, will you end up being held responsible because you were speeding when the other person went through a Give Way sign?

Who knows - one day the Police may just pull you over and ask for your dashcam so it can be analysed for illegal behaviour!

Let me know if you use a dashcam at ask@techtalk.digital