Dangerous Driving Footage Captured on Dashcams Breaks Record
A record-breaking number of video reports via the National Dash Cam Safety Portal (NDCSP) have been made so far in 2024.
The figures come as reports of dangerous driving increase overall, with the number of road users also increasing.
With more and more drivers having dashcams fitted instead of just fleet drivers and commercial drivers, footage has become crucial for police and insurance companies during incidents.
Dangerous driving is an issue that affects all road users and with the government, police and National Highways looking for ways to reduce fatal incidents and dangerous driving offences, it remains to be seen what impact the NDCSP will have in the coming years.
Is Dangerous Driving On The Rise?
One issue that appears to keep cropping up in the last couple of years is an increase in the number of dangerous driving incidents on the road.
With the number of road users decreasing during 2020 and 2021 to record low levels in the last 20 years due to the pandemic, there was inevitably going to be an increase in figures as people returned to the office and the world opened again.
However, a combination of poor driving habits developing and more people than ever being on the road has resulted in more dangerous driving incidents than ever.
In the first half of 2024 (to the end of June 2024), there have been 24,000 submissions on the NDSCP and if that trend continues in the second half of the year, there will be a 31% increase on last year’s figures.
Five regions are responsible for 75% of the total uploads of dangerous driving incidents so far this year, with the West Midlands, West Mercia, Surrey, South Yorkshire and Northumberland processing the most uploads.
The idea behind the dashcam portal is to safe the police time by processing video data and identifying the most serious offences for police to deal with. Estimates say that the programme has saved more than 123 years in police time since its inception in 2019 – a figure which is hard to comprehend given that more than 135,000 clips have been received!
Are Poor Driving Habits Increasing?
Aggressive driving is an issue that a lot of road users are concerned about, with poor driving habits at the heart of that concern – so, are they really on the rise?
Well, part of the issue is in the reporting of offences, as well as how they’re monitored.
Many offences rely on a physical police presence to catch and penalise motorists, which means drivers might offend multiple times before being caught. But a decrease in police numbers means that administering those offences can be a difficult undertaking.
Automated technology could be a genuine solution in the future but for now, the future of road safety is still uncertain.
Do you think dangerous driving is a serious concern on the roads? Do you think more needs to be done to improve road safety? Would you welcome AI cameras to help police catch offending motorists? Let us know in the comments below.
