Dashcam reporting to the police?
Discussion
With police now encouraging people to submit dashcam footage how many prosecutions are likely to result?
Of course very dangerous driving that is reported we would want the police to deal with.
How about some do gooder sending footage of someone overtaking one of the 38mph brigade on a NSL with no solid white lines? They may exceed the 60mph limit doing so but is it really in the public interest and an effective use of scarce resources to prosecute lots of drivers?
Of course very dangerous driving that is reported we would want the police to deal with.
How about some do gooder sending footage of someone overtaking one of the 38mph brigade on a NSL with no solid white lines? They may exceed the 60mph limit doing so but is it really in the public interest and an effective use of scarce resources to prosecute lots of drivers?
I think in all but the most serious cases (resulting in crashes, or spectacular failures) passing footage to them will be counter productive. There will be many of the flat cap brigade with nothing better to do sending in videos of the slightest infringement that doesn't warrant any police attention - yet someone has to sift through all that footage and decide on what to follow up on or not.
Then, even if their is an infringement worth following up on, every detail of the events that lead to up to that would need looked at - and I would bet that most are started by the driver where the dashcam footage originated from!
Then, even if their is an infringement worth following up on, every detail of the events that lead to up to that would need looked at - and I would bet that most are started by the driver where the dashcam footage originated from!
Technically they can form an opinion from the video and corroborate it from time over a known distance.
However that's a lot of work not least locating objects for the known distance measurements. So in reality, it is incredibly unlikely to happen unless there is some serious aggravating or public issue factor.
However that's a lot of work not least locating objects for the known distance measurements. So in reality, it is incredibly unlikely to happen unless there is some serious aggravating or public issue factor.
I think where an incident results from poor driving or a near miss as a result of something reckless it is reasonable that the police pursue the driver.
But I imagine there will thousands of videos from dashcams being submitted and it's always on my mind, every time I'm stuck behind someone doing 40 in an NSL "will they have a dashcam and rat me out for stepping on it to get past them.
So what are the police looking for by promoting the submission of dashcam footage?
Running red lights? Crossing solid white lines? Mobile phone use?
I would have thought there has to be some clear cut offence rather than the complainant just not liking your driving?
But I imagine there will thousands of videos from dashcams being submitted and it's always on my mind, every time I'm stuck behind someone doing 40 in an NSL "will they have a dashcam and rat me out for stepping on it to get past them.
So what are the police looking for by promoting the submission of dashcam footage?
Running red lights? Crossing solid white lines? Mobile phone use?
I would have thought there has to be some clear cut offence rather than the complainant just not liking your driving?
Of course we could use this to our advantage, all those do gooders who do 40 in a 60/50/40 and a 30, submit the video.
Every MLM, submit the video.
Every idiot who doesn’t indicate, (which seems to be a high proportion of the members of public in Swindon), submit the video.
Actually question, is not keeping up with the flow of traffic, ie 40 in a 60 (good roads, weather etc) some kind of offence, it certainly wasn’t allowed in my driving test, submit those videos too.
Perhaps we can change the mindset of these people who have developed strange driving habits!
Every MLM, submit the video.
Every idiot who doesn’t indicate, (which seems to be a high proportion of the members of public in Swindon), submit the video.
Actually question, is not keeping up with the flow of traffic, ie 40 in a 60 (good roads, weather etc) some kind of offence, it certainly wasn’t allowed in my driving test, submit those videos too.
Perhaps we can change the mindset of these people who have developed strange driving habits!
I expect that would usually be the case unless it was a very serious offence. I don't like the idea of dashcam reporting. Fair enough if someone is in an accident and has footage proving it's not their fault, that's fine. But ratting someone out to the police when you're not in any way affected is just low. I think it just proves what a horrible, sour and miserable nation we've become.
RP64 said:
I expect that would usually be the case unless it was a very serious offence. I don't like the idea of dashcam reporting. Fair enough if someone is in an accident and has footage proving it's not their fault, that's fine. But ratting someone out to the police when you're not in any way affected is just low. I think it just proves what a horrible, sour and miserable nation we've become.
I tend to agree however I think its just a minority of miserable f
kers that enjoy sneering at everyone and being holier than tho etc. Quite often I suspect they have other personality disorders too including some kind of inferiority complex. DCWs are seldom to be seen in a form of transport with any kind of dynamic capability for example. I differentiate between users of the tech and the 'warrior' type here. Personally I think filming everything is a bit creepy and don't want one of those cameras in any of my cars. Or a black box. We have enough snooping going on in our lives already.
The emerging reality of our Brave New World sounds like crap to me - glad I had my youth b4 tech was so prevalent, cheap and in the hands of our glorious leaders - or 'model' citizens - as it is now.
one_eighty said:
ghe13rte said:
Ha ha ha hee hee hee
They don’t have to be.
Oh well, I was reported for exceeding the speed limit once through the means of dashcam footage. They don’t have to be.
Result = no further action. Ha ha ha hee hee hee indeed.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2018/08/...
My point is that the calibration issue is simply not an issue and speeding offences can be prosecuted with dashcam footage.
ghe13rte said:
one_eighty said:
ghe13rte said:
Ha ha ha hee hee hee
They don’t have to be.
Oh well, I was reported for exceeding the speed limit once through the means of dashcam footage. They don’t have to be.
Result = no further action. Ha ha ha hee hee hee indeed.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2018/08/...
My point is that the calibration issue is simply not an issue and speeding offences can be prosecuted with dashcam footage.
What you’ve posted was far from that. No mention of them being prosecuted for speeding.
RP64 said:
Fair enough if someone is in an accident and has footage proving it's not their fault, that's fine. But ratting someone out to the police when you're not in any way affected is just low.
My OH was driving on a motorway in L1, clear dry daylight conditions, when a car was coming down the next sliproad. To be courteous, as there was nothing else on the road OH moved into L2 (of 2). Sliproad car swerved out from slip to L2 so closely that the only reason there wasn't a collision was my OH braked hard and put 2 wheels on the central reservation. Very scary, I was in the passenger seat and thought we'd actually had a glancing blow.When we caught up with that car, they were all over the road. If they weren't drunk or on drugs, there was a very real medical issue.
When we got home we rang the Police to explain there was a dangerous/intoxicated/sick driver who had run us onto the central reservation. First copper was very interested and asked if we had cam footage, including 3 minutes either side of the incident (I guess to weed out DCW roadragers). When his colleague rang back she wasn't interested in it unless we wanted to press charges ourselves, even though there was no damage to our car (at least none we knew of then... Although the offside tyres did both acquire slow punctures after the jaunt on the CR)
So... Were we "ratting", or were we genuinely concerned that we had avoided a collision by the narrowest of margins that was completely avoidable had the other person not been incompetent or incapable?
All we expected was for the Police to put a marker against it and breathalyse the driver if they saw her. They do that after anonymous phonecalls, surely they can if they've seen video evidence.
civicduty said:
Of course we could use this to our advantage, all those do gooders who do 40 in a 60/50/40 and a 30, submit the video.
Every MLM, submit the video.
Every idiot who doesn’t indicate, (which seems to be a high proportion of the members of public in Swindon), submit the video.
Actually question, is not keeping up with the flow of traffic, ie 40 in a 60 (good roads, weather etc) some kind of offence, it certainly wasn’t allowed in my driving test, submit those videos too.
Perhaps we can change the mindset of these people who have developed strange driving habits!
Or we could just accept others drive differently and get on with our lives Every MLM, submit the video.
Every idiot who doesn’t indicate, (which seems to be a high proportion of the members of public in Swindon), submit the video.
Actually question, is not keeping up with the flow of traffic, ie 40 in a 60 (good roads, weather etc) some kind of offence, it certainly wasn’t allowed in my driving test, submit those videos too.
Perhaps we can change the mindset of these people who have developed strange driving habits!
REALIST123 said:
ghe13rte said:
one_eighty said:
ghe13rte said:
Ha ha ha hee hee hee
They don’t have to be.
Oh well, I was reported for exceeding the speed limit once through the means of dashcam footage. They don’t have to be.
Result = no further action. Ha ha ha hee hee hee indeed.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2018/08/...
My point is that the calibration issue is simply not an issue and speeding offences can be prosecuted with dashcam footage.
What you’ve posted was far from that. No mention of them being prosecuted for speeding.
ghe13rte said:
REALIST123 said:
ghe13rte said:
one_eighty said:
ghe13rte said:
Ha ha ha hee hee hee
They don’t have to be.
Oh well, I was reported for exceeding the speed limit once through the means of dashcam footage. They don’t have to be.
Result = no further action. Ha ha ha hee hee hee indeed.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2018/08/...
My point is that the calibration issue is simply not an issue and speeding offences can be prosecuted with dashcam footage.
What you’ve posted was far from that. No mention of them being prosecuted for speeding.
REALIST123 said:
ghe13rte said:
REALIST123 said:
ghe13rte said:
one_eighty said:
ghe13rte said:
Ha ha ha hee hee hee
They don’t have to be.
Oh well, I was reported for exceeding the speed limit once through the means of dashcam footage. They don’t have to be.
Result = no further action. Ha ha ha hee hee hee indeed.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2018/08/...
My point is that the calibration issue is simply not an issue and speeding offences can be prosecuted with dashcam footage.
What you’ve posted was far from that. No mention of them being prosecuted for speeding.
RP64 said:
I expect that would usually be the case unless it was a very serious offence. I don't like the idea of dashcam reporting. Fair enough if someone is in an accident and has footage proving it's not their fault, that's fine. But ratting someone out to the police when you're not in any way affected is just low. I think it just proves what a horrible, sour and miserable nation we've become.
I must admit it doesn't sit well with me either, which is probably hypocritical of me and it's largely about viewpoint. All motoring offences are still a crime, just some are more socially acceptable than most. The most serious offences, most of us would probably think, should be reported; just because they are not affected others may be.
It's enshrined in legislation that it "All citizens have a civic to assist the police to prevent crime and identify offenders." By submitting the dashcam footage, which the police have asked them to do, they are only doing what they are supposed to do.
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