Dangerous driving reports soar 78 per cent in wake of lockdown

Reports from the public of dangerous driving have jumped by more than three-quarters since the end of the nationwide lockdown, according to new data.

Since motorists began returning to the roads the National Dash Cam Safety Portal has seen a surge in reports and footage submitted to police via its web service.

Figures released by the service show footage of nearly 4,000 incidents has been submitted by drivers since mid-July, 78 per cent higher than the average 90-day submissions rate.

The free-to-use portal was set up to simplify the process of motorists sharing footage captured on their dash cam of dangerous or illegal driving with the relevant police force.

The portal allows the public to share footage of dangerous driving directly with police (Photo: Shutterstock)

Created by dash cam firm Nextbase in collaboration with UK police forces, it has seen more than 20,000 uploads since its inception in 2018, with more than half leading to some form of prosecution.

It is estimated that by providing a central resource and standardised submission process, the portal has saved police forces eight hours per incident - equivalent to 170,000 hours of work since 2018.

Thirty-three of the UK’s forces currently use the system, with more expected to sign up before the end of 2020.

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Richard Browning, director of Nextbase, added, “Just because there are fewer vehicles on the road, doesn’t necessarily make driving safer. In fact, less busy roads can encourage motorists to bend the rules or lose some concentration.

“However, the portal was created to make our roads safer and it is encouraging to see that people have still been reporting issues where reckless motorists have thought that they can take advantage of the clear pathways – potentially endangering others.”

Kelly McCann, sales director at Egress which provides the software systems behind the portal, commented: “We were a little surprised to see uploads continue to come through during lockdown, as there was less traffic on the roads, but it just goes to show that there were motorists that remained concerned for road safety and did their part to assist the authorities.”

Motorists can submit their own footage of dangerous driving to their local police force via the portal here.