Dash cam revolution
● EXCLUSIVE New portal will allow motorists to send recordings to police
New online portal allows drivers to upload footage to police
DASH cam owners could soon be able to send footage of dangerous and illegal driving to police across England and Wales thanks to a revolutionary new online portal, Auto Express can reveal.
Forces in the two countries are preparing to modernise the way they accept dash cam footage from drivers, following the creation of a universal online platform to receive recordings.
The Nextbase National Dash Cam Safety Portal will allow owners of any brand of dash cam to upload footage of dangerous driving.
Together with a witness statement and details of where the offence took place, the footage would be sent to the relevant police force, with the officers then determining whether the driver in question should be sent a fine. Those issued with a penalty can either accept the charge or refute it and go to court.
Several forces currently accept dash cam footage as evidence, but there is no universal system in place at the moment.
North Wales Police previously told Auto Express it takes on average 14 hours of police time to process dash cam footage before a penalty can be issued. The new online portal will reduce this to a “matter of minutes”, according to Nextbase.
The platform follows on from the success of Operation Snap, an initiative launched by North Wales Police and road safety initiative Gosafe. Since the introduction of Operation Snap in October 2016, the force has prosecuted hundreds of drivers based on dash cam footage, with the scheme extended to cover the rest of Wales in 2017.
By expanding the project across the English constabularies, police could make better use of the 2.6 million dash cams on UK roads, creating a one-stop shop for drivers to send footage.
While the National Dash Cam Safety Portal is still some weeks away from its official launch, it was presented to delegates at the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.
Senior figures from several police forces, Highways England, the Transport Select Committee and various road safety charities were given a demonstration of how the system would work in practice, with forces showingowing interest.
Bryn Brooker, Nextbase’s head of marketing,keting, said the portal would be freeee to use, adding: “We understandstand the restrictions in terms of cost and time of the police developing a platform themselves,lves, so it was an easy decision for us to take the initiative.” e.”
He stressed sed the portal was about creating ng safer roads and not increasing ng convictions or dash cam sales. es.
“We knoknow the restrictions in terms oof cost and time of the polipolice developing a platform, so it was easy for us to taktake the initiative” BRYN BROOKER Nextbase