Since 2017, road users have sent more than 50,000 dashcam recordings of potential traffic offences to police, with one-third resulting in action.
According to a freedom of information request sent to every UK constabulary by What Car? police forces across the UK receive more than 35 pieces of footage every day.
Just over 10% of the incidents captured were severe enough to warrant a court prosecution and 9.6% resulted in the issuing of 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.
Since 2017, the use of dashcams by drivers and other road users has increased by an impressive 850%. This is partly because in 2017 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, having taken action over 81.3% of the videos it’s received.
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 at nearly 25,000 videos over four years. It 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 What Car? report comes just one month after another by Fleet News that showed 3,805 videos were uploaded to the National Dash Cam Safety Portal in just 90 days.
The National Dash Cam Safety Portal is now being used by 33 forces. It allows motorists to quickly and securely upload footage of dangerous driving to the relevant police authority.
Fleet operators and their drivers are being urged to share dashcam footage with police to help prosecute dangerous drivers and improve road safety.
