With dash cams becoming more and more popular, these handy in-car gadgets are capturing more incidents on our roads. While the majority of this footage goes unseen, every now and then a road user will capture an incident of dangerous driving, whether involving themselves or not, that warrants reporting to the police.
To address the issue of road users struggling to get this footage in front of the relevant forces, our friends at Nextbase built a universal means of submitting video directly to the police.
Called the National Dash Cam Safety Portal, it aims to improve the safety of our roads by targeting the culprits of the worst incidents of dangerous driving. Road users can submit video footage captured on a dash cam – or any other recording device – of serious incidents directly to the relevant police force.
To help you get a better understanding, we’ve put everything you need to know below.
What are the benefits of the National Dash Cam Safety Portal?
The National Dash Cam Safety Portal drastically streamlines the process of submitting video footage to the police by providing a central system that makes uploading quick and easy.
It also significantly reduces the amount of time it takes for the police to process clips, from a minimum of 14 hours on average to just a few minutes. And as incidents have to be of sufficient severity for the uploader to be willing to go to court, there’s little risk that ‘small transgressions’ will be reported and waste precious police time.
Director of Campaigns at road safety charity Brake, Joshua Harris, said: “This portal is an elegant solution, which enables the police to process this vital data without wasting their scarce resources”.
While it remains in the hands of the police to decide whether to prosecute, the portal can help speed up the process of justice. But, rather than being about increasing prosecutions, Richard Browning, Director of Nextbase, highlights that “this is about road safety and saving lives, it’s about being preventative and stopping dangerous drivers causing injury or death before that scenario occurs.”
Simply put, Nextbase’s Dash Cam Safety Portal offers road users peace of mind by combining technology and convenience, whilst improving road safety for all.
Do you need a dash cam?
A dash cam can help give you an extra set of eyes on the road. While some may not fancy buying another accessory for their cars, the cost of being caught in an insurance claim where liability can’t be determined without video evidence can come at a much bigger price in the long-run.
According to a 2017 YouGov study, 32% of drivers feel safer on the roads when they have a car dash cam, with 29% admitting to buying one to keep insurance costs down. Further research also revealed that 17% of drivers who own a dash cam would consciously drive more carefully.
Here at Halfords, we stock a wide range of dash cams to suit all budgets and needs. We even have a handy guide to help make picking your perfect one a piece of cake!
