Police chief backs cyclists using helmet cameras

A SENIOR road crime police officer has endorsed cyclists’ use of helmetmounted cameras to report dangerous driving to the police.

Andy Cox, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC’S) national lead on road crime reporting, said that he was “hugely supportive” of the practice, which he said is both a deterrent and a tool for evidence-gathering.

“I’m hugely supportive of it,” said Mr Cox of the public’s use of helmet cameras. “The way I look at it, the police can’t be everywhere all the time, but the public can be.”

The police have always asked the public to report crime, said Mr Cox, stopping short of recommending that all cyclists wear cameras. “It’s an individual

‘The feedback I have from cyclists and drivers is that they welcome the chance to provide footage for us’

choice,” he said, “and it’s an individual choice to report any footage that they may capture”.

“But the feedback I have from cyclists and drivers, who, frankly, find some of the driving standards [unacceptable], is that they welcome the opportunity to provide footage for us,” he added.

“There is an average of five road deaths in Britain a day. Those are preventable deaths,” said Mr Cox.

A representative of Nextbase, a company that sells dashboard cameras for cars and hosts a portal for road footage that is used by the police, said the company had seen a rise in submissions since the Highway Code was updated in January. Motorists must now give cyclists at least 1.5 metres of space when overtaking them.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “Road users are free to use dashcams and other camera equipment to record incidents on public roads as long as it doesn’t impede the control of their vehicle.”