Portal for uploading dashcam footage saves 'more than a century of police time'
Dashcam footage of dangerous drivers can be uploaded to police, changing the way our roads are enforced, as ITV News' Consumer Editor Chris Choi reports.
New dashcam data obtained by ITV News reveals the sheer scale of dangerous driving.
Thousands of road users have uploaded footage to a portal which allows police to use the images as evidence - but it’s brought concern about what has been called “DIY road cops”.
Around seven million vehicles now have dashcams, and our new data shows it’s changing how our roads are policed.
New figures given to ITV News show 146,560 uploads to the National Dashcam Safety Portal, which allows police to use footage as evidence. So far this year there have been 43,450 clips sent to the system.
The dashcam portal also accepts mobile phone footage or clips from any recording device, but some people have questioned whether this should all be left to the professionals.
We spoke to PC Darren Ferneyhough of the West Midlands Police, he said: "We aren't asking people to go out there and film on purpose, it is more ad-hoc and if they catch an offence on a dashcam and it is serious enough, we will prosecute and take positive action."
By uploading video clips of dangerous drivers, organisers of the dashcam portal estimate that the equivalent of more than a century of police time has been saved.
But with so much footage now being uploaded, is there a risk of swamping police? Bryn Brooker is a dashcam expert from the Nextbase tech company.
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He said: "The great thing about the National Dashcam Safety Portal is it is helping police process evidence faster. They can process ten pieces of evidence in less than 30 minutes.
"At the moment, around 70% of all uploads are actioned. So that action can range from anywhere up to a warning letter, right the way through to prosecution in court."
To upload video, road users can search online for the National Dashcam Safety Portal. Scotland isn’t yet part of the system but there are plans to change that, as millions of dashcams give police an unprecedented view of what’s going wrong on our roads.
To upload dashcam or other footage of road incidents, visit the portal here.
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