Over 50,000 Video Clips Of Driving Offences Sent By Drivers To Police

Friday, 8. January 2021

Road users have sent more than 50,000 dashcam recordings of potential traffic offices to police forces since 2017, with one-third resulting in action.

Police forces across the UK receive more than 35 pieces of footage every day, according to a freedom of information request sent to every UK constabulary by What Car?

Just over 10% of the incidents captured on film were severe enough to warrant a court prosecution and 9.6% resulted in a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN).

A further 10.5% resulted in the driver being asked to attend a driver awareness course, and 3.0% of drivers were given a warning.

The use of dashcams by drivers and other road users has increased by around 850% since 2017, when insurance companies started accepting footage as evidence for claims and the courts first used footage to convict an offender.

The What Car? research found Dyfed-Powys Police in South Wales is the most active in using dash cam footage.

It has taken action over 81.3% of the videos it’s received, with 40.2% of offenders receiving a warning, 18.6% of them were prosecuted in court and 18.4% were asked to attend a driver awareness course, while just 4.0% were handed an FPN.

London’s Metropolitan Police received the largest volume of submissions – nearly 25,000 videos over four years – and acted in 45.4% of cases, issuing court proceedings to 18.9% of offenders, driver awareness courses to 13.9%, FPNs to 9.6% and warnings to 2.9%.

The report comes one month after Fleet News reported that 3,805 videos were uploaded to the National Dash Cam Safety Portal in just 90 days.

The National Dash Cam Safety Portal, which allows motorists to quickly and securely upload footage of dangerous driving to the relevant police authority, is now being used by 33 forces.

Fleet operators and their drivers are being urged to share dashcam footage with police to help prosecute dangerous drivers and improve road safety.

Police forces that have taken the highest share of actions per footage received –

Police Force	Number of dash cam videos received 2017 – 2020	Number of videos resulting in action by Police Force	Percentage of videos resulting in action by the Police Force
Dyfed-Powys Police	375	305	81.3%
Norfolk & Suffolk Constabulary	1877	966	51.5%
Northamptonshire Police	612	300	49.0%
Metropolitan Police Service	24,799	11,247	45.4%
Gwent Police	728	306	42.0%
Warwickshire Police	1875	722	38.5%
Gloucestershire Constabulary	470	180	38.3%
Humberside Police	272	94	34.6%
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary	1182	379	32.1%
North Wales Police	1857	516	27.8%