50,000 dashcam recordings sent to police
01 December 2020
UK motorists have reportedly sent a total of more than 50,000 dashcam recordings of potential traffic offences to police forces since 2017 – a third of which have resulted in action. We at Marshall Leasing are keen to support and promote safe driving.
The publication What Car? sent a freedom of information request to police forces across the UK which revealed that the police receive more than 35 pieces of footage a day. According to this information, more than 10% of the events captured warranted legal action, whilst a further 9.6% led to a fixed penalty notice (FPN) being issued.
Other statistics taken from this research included 10.5% of cases resulting in the driver being asked to attend a driver awareness course and 3% of drivers caught on camera being issued a warning.
In 2017, UK courts began to accept dash cam footage as evidence for convictions and insurance companies accepted it for insurance claims. Since then, it is estimated that the use of dashcams has increased by 850%.
Drivers can upload footage of dangerous driving to their local police authority through The National Dash Cam Safety Portal, which is now being used by 33 forces. More than 10,000 videos have been uploaded to the portal since its launch last year (2019)
The Dyfed-Powys Police in South Wales were found to be the most active users of dashcam footage as evidence out of all UK police forces, having taken action over 81.3% of the videos it’s received. Of this percentage, 40.2% of offenders were issued a warning, 18.6% were prosecuted in court, 18.4% were asked to attend a driver awareness course and 4.0% were handed an FPN.
London’s Metropolitan Police received the largest volume of dashcam footage submissions. Of the almost 25,000 videos they received over four years, the Met Police issued court proceedings to 18.9% of offenders, driver awareness courses to 13.9%, FPNs to 9.6% and warnings to 2.9%.
Senior consultant at TRL (formerly the Transport Research Laboratory) Victoria Eyers has previously urged fleet operators to use the portal, saying “Fleet operators that are covering much higher mileages than a private motorist have the potential to record more instances (of dangerous driving).
“They could, potentially, be a vital source of footage as long as it can be dealt with within the 14-day limit for some offences.”
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