59 per cent say they would support an online system that would allow people to upload and report footage of dangerous driving to Police, reveals a survey by YouGov.
Jim Densham, Cycling UK’s campaigns and policy manager for Scotland, said the results of the poll show the evidence in favour of bringing in such a system is overwhelming.
Just 17 per cent of those questioned were against the idea.
“The Scottish public want to see this life-saving measure brought in. The evidence shows it will save police time and hold dangerous drivers to account,” he said.
“The decision is a no-brainer and we hope the government will work with Police Scotland to make our roads safer as soon as possible.”
The polling follows a joint letter from a coalition of 33 organisations representing all of Scotland’s road users – including the AA, Cycling UK, road safety charity Brake, British Motorcyclists Federation and British Horse Society Scotland – calling on Police Scotland to introduce a nationwide camera footage submission system to make the roads safer, sent in March 2021.
A Vision Zero target for eliminating road deaths and serious injuries by 2050 was recently announced by the Scottish government. Yet Police Scotland is one of only five UK police forces not using an online video reporting system – with the other 40 forces already having a system in place.
This month, new data was released which shows that reports to the National Dash Cam Safety Portal (NDCSP), which is currently used by 37 UK forces, result in some form of action being taken against drivers in over 80 per cent of cases.
Over the past three years the portal has saved 263,240 police hours – the equivalent of over 29 years of police time.
“Introducing this new system would be a signal of intent from both the government and Police Scotland on making good on the Vision Zero target,” Jim Densham added.
“”Road crime is real crime – the submission of video evidence will help ensure it is dealt with appropriately, while also freeing up valuable police time to deal with other serious crimes.”
4 thoughts on “Survey shows demand for Police to allow uploads of dangerous driving videos”
I agree, as a driving instructor in Boston lincolnshire my customers and other road users are menaced and verbally abused while trying to carry out our lawful lessons. I appreciate most drivers are cooperative when they realise that the vehicle has L plates.
I would support the action of uploading unsafe / dangerous acts of any road user to the Police. Reporting these actions in turn could save lives and the unnecessary pain and suffering of innocent victims if the actions are addressed in a timely manner by the Police.
I personally believe that this system is a money saving exercise. Although when you look at it it does appear to be a good way forward saving money because of police man hours saved. What I believe needs to happen is to employ more traffic patrol police officers out patrol our very busy roads who can be employed to enforce traffic law effectively and not rely on members of the public to do their role.
I believe if this gets to be the norm we could witness an increase of assaults and other more serious offences as a result of offenders trying to prevent the innocent motorists handing recordings to the police.
There are other aspects which should be considered such as the seizure by police of cameras and or SD cards for evidence retention purposes. Also appearance at court to give evidence about the recording that you have supplied. The defence would then have details of your home address which could be problematic.
The seizure of equipment and court appearances will result in a personal financial loss because of the loss of earnings and possible purchase of new equipment.
Something needs to be done and that is simply more traffic police not innocent motorists.
I do not want to sound negative just highlighting the issues that could occur.
I am really worried about the way in which we are developing in this direction. What is seen as dangerous to an observer might well be an action taken by another driver to avoid something which is a developing or actual hazard. The actions of a so called perpetrator can so easily be seen as negative and yet done to avoid something quite worse. Yes it might not have been text book driving but we are all making dynamic decisions about what we see and perceive whilst driving.
So I would say to all supporters of such a development be very careful what you wish for as things are not always what they seem and there but for the grace of God go I.