Drivers can now send dashcam footage directly to police via the internet
Online service launched by dashcam manufacturer Nextbase and linked to 19 police forces in England and Wales is backed by road safety charity
Dashcam manufacturer Nextbase has launched a website to make it easier to submit accident footage to police.
The National Dashcam Safety Portal (NDSP), which is up and running with English and Welsh forces, has the backing of Nextbase along with Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands Police. A further 16 forces are signed up to receive data from the service.
It comes after the success of Operation Snap – a similar system set up by North Wales Police before being adopted by the rest of Wales’s police forces. All four are now signed up to the NDSP.
The not-for-profit portal lets drivers submit incriminating dashcam footage alongside a witness statement.
Camera owners head to the NDSP’s website, where submitted footage is held on a secure server. Police can then view it instantly, which is a vast improvement over the current time it takes to process video clips – as much as 14 hours in some cases.
At the moment, though, some police forces still need to be contacted as well by email or by phoning 101.
Richard Browning, director of Nextbase, said: “The surge in dashcam usage in recent years is testament to the number of motorists looking to protect themselves and their families out on the roads. Naturally, this has led to an increase in footage submitted to police forces.
“Until now, most forces have not had the means to receive or process this footage efficiently, so the National Dashcam Safety Portal has been developed with this in mind.”
It has been welcomed by road safety charity Brake, with director of campaigns Joshua Harris saying: “This is a fantastic initiative which couldn’t be more timely. The increasing popularity of dashcams is a huge positive for road safety. However, with more drivers than ever seeking to report illegal behaviour the burden on the police has increased.
“This portal is an elegant solution which enables the police to process this vital data without wasting their scarce resources. We fully support this initiative and urge its swift adoption across the UK.”
Nextbase is currently the largest provider of dashcams in the UK. Usage of the devices has soared, with sales increasing by more than 600 per cent in the past three years. Dashcams can help prevent crash-for-cash fraud as well as prove blame in cases where accidents are deemed as shared fault.
