Oh how I've thought about that. With the tiny size of camcorders these days it would be so easy to pick it up and record the lunatics. Unfortunately, working a recorder would be distracting and could potentially make me just as dangerous. But it would be fun to anonomously mail tapes or DVDs to the police.
Its not just people in a Prius they bother... I resolved long ago to drive in a more sane manner (after driving like a maniac all the time in a sportscar) I dont have my Prius yet and people constantly tailgate and trucks have almost run me off the road. I honestly do not think people are out to target Prius drivers they just dont care about anyone but themselves. I try to ingnore them, avoid them and move on with my day... I have enough to worry about without them pushing their lack of driving ability or common sense on to my shoulders as well.
As long as we're coming up with new stuff, why does it need to be something where the driver has to "work a recorder"? How about DVR-based device that records continuously like a surveillance system, with cameras looking fore and aft. It only needs capacity for maybe 30 minutes at the most, after which it just overwrites the oldest material. When something happens that you need to document, you just punch the "Gotcha, dumbass" button to capture the previous x-minutes of video (which you've already set from the various increments selectable from the options menu). Now, the DVD burner built into audio system head unit can produce a disc right on the spot showing front view, rear view, or both simultaneously in split-screen. All in less time than it takes to drive to the nearest police station. I would certainly be more interested in an option like this than I would a $1995 "Dual Headrest DVD Entertainment System". NOTE: I will not be taking advance orders for this fabulous new Prius-enhancing product.
You could install a computer in your cand mount a mini camera in the back and front. Even using windows you can have the computer automatically start video capture when it is turned on (when the vehicle is turned on). Using a relatively cheap 80GB hard drive you could capture days or even weeks of video before having to overwrite, which the program can do automatically. You could box up a mini-ATX motherboard Pentium III 600Mhz, 192mb RAM, 80GB USB hard drive, Windows XP, 802.11b wifi for transmitting data, and 2 mini x-10 cameras for under $250. LCD wouldn't even be necessary. With wifi you could remote desktop to the machine every now and then to make sure it is functioning. If all the computer does is run one program and capture video it would be set it and forget it. Then one day you get in a wreck and there is a conflicting story just unhook the USB hard drive and hook up to a laptop or turn over to your insurance company and let them watch the show. Keep in mind most cars have "little black boxes" now. They record your speed, accleration, braking, etc; ranging from a 5 second to 15 second time frame. Many police departments have the capability to hook a laptop up to the vehicle and extract that data. It is usually done in serious accidents to see if the driver was speeding, accelerating too fast, braked, and other fun facts.
