A dashcam (dashboard camera) is an onboard camera fitted at the front window of a car and used to record traffic incidents. Dashcams are widespread in Russia^[1] as a form of sousveillance, because Russian courts prefer video evidence to eye witness testimony, and as a guard against police corruption and insurance fraud.^[2] They have been called "ubiquitous" and "an on-line obsession", and are so prevalent that dashcam footage was the most common footage of the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor,^[3] which was documented from a dozen angles. Thousands of videos showing automobile crashes, close calls, and attempts at insurance fraud have been uploaded,^[1] an oft-gruesome genre which has generated its own Russian lexicon^[4] such as слабоумие и отвага (slaboumiye i otvaga) – “Courage and dementia", an honorific for an especially skilled driver reacting to an emergency situation).

In many countries^[specify] usage of such devices could be outlawed, since they can be considered being secret photography devices, violating others' privacy rights.^{[citation needed]}

Dashcams are forbidden by law in Austria.^[5]

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