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Comment by dandaka | Hacker News Reader

This is exactly what happened in Moscow after same tech was launched. It is much 'safer' on streets, since every entrance door and traffic intersection is equipped with cameras now.

But I pick Portugal's approach every time — no public cameras, no dashcams, it is forbidden to record private persons in public without permission.

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I’m in Portugal with kids right now and I can not think of a country where dashcams would be more useful.

The standard of driving and adherence to the law of the roads is some of the worst I’ve encountered in Europe.

I haven’t let go of my 9yo’s hand since we arrived in Porto a few days ago. Speeding is chronic and nobody gives a shit for the safety of you or your children here.

Recording everything has a lot of upsides. Unfortunately, downsides for privacy and democracy are very real.

Talking about speeding, not sure. I am driving around Lisbon and speed limit is 50 in city, and lots of speed cameras. Though I am driving at 55 as limit and rarely see anyone going faster than that.

You are in a new country and feel that your kid needs protection, which is perfectly human, but does mean that your opinion is a bit biased.

As sibling comments mention, countries exist with many cameras, public or private, where driving feels worse. I didn't look at road deaths, but I'd be surprised if Portugal is among the leading countries on this.

Equally, if you take a bit of distance, you can realise that Portugal has many other parents living there, yet they are not clamouring for more surveillance: it's difficult to imagine that the Portuguese dictatorial government is evilly preventing its people from accessing the benefits of surveillance.

2024 stats, road accident fatalities, per million inhabitants:

Portugal: 58 Romania (highest in EU): 78 EU overall: 44 Sweden (lowest in EU): 20

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...

So, depending on where OP is from, Portugal could seem a bit more dangerous or wildly more dangerous than their home county.

In Greece and Italy they drive at least as bad as in Portugal, if not much worse, and dashcams are perfectly legal.

I’d also suggest searching for the classic “Russian dashcam videos” on YouTube.

I always thought Russian motorists were early adopters of dashcams to combat insurance “issues” around the terrible standard of roads and driving there ?

My point still stands: dashcams are useful in a country with terrible driving, if the only effect is to eliminate doubt around whose fault an accident was.

The driving in Portugal is notoriously bad, yeah maybe not such a concern in your tourist experience in Lisbon center, because you can't really go fast. Get out on the motorways and country roads and your opinion will soon change.

Take the train instead. It's much better here in europe.

I was on foot, in Porto, in the tourist parts of town.

private citizens should be allowed to record anything. make it strictly forbidden for the government and businesses because they have the power and motivation to abuse it, but that risk doesnt really exist for an ordinary person.

Maybe they should. But I think there is a correlation between "private citizens can't record other citizens" and "almost no cameras around". Coming from a country with a lots of cameras (where people record each other as well), this is a very comforting feeling.

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