Dashcam company defends scheme to catch offenders
New website sends road users’ footage straight to the police
A British dashcam firm have launched a website with the power to turn a nation of motorists into volunteer traffic officers out to get bikers. The Orwellian nightmare is the brainchild of Nextbase, who have said the National Dash Cam Safety Portal gives ‘all road users the power to report incidents of dangerous driving’. Anyone with a dashcam can upload footage to the website but Nextbase owners can also use an app. From there, the process takes you through an automated questionnaire that produces a witness statement and bang, it disappears down the pipe to PC Plod who investigates further. As vulnerable road users, us bikers have a keener sense than most for what constitutes dangerous driving, and a world where dangerous drivers get caught sooner rather than later sounds great. But we’re not sure that a private company passing on information from 2.6 million members of pubic armed with dashcams is the right way to go about it. With drivers more distracted than ever, it’s common for a driver to first realise you’re there when you’ve overtaken them, presumably when you ‘came out of nowhere at great speed’.
This software now gives simple access for easily-spooked drivers to upload videos of bikers and encourages a peevish attitude to driving, where you can hand information to the police to get even. Needless to say, Nextbase disagree. “It is important to note that we are not asking drivers to go out and
‘Safe riders have nothing to worry about’ NEXTBASE’S RICHARD BROWNING
‘shop’ other road users for small transgressions,” says Richard Browning, Director at Nextbase. “The Portal is designed so a driver or rider who sees a serious incident of dangerous driving that puts other lives at risk can act upon it.
“To ensure that this doesn’t result in needless submission of videos, the first thing a user must do is commit to testifying in court if required. “Since those who drive safely have nothing to worry about, we do hope that the Portal can act as a deterrent for the most dangerous of the nation’s drivers, which, in turn, will make UK roads safer.”