HERE’S A STORY FROM the UK to send a shiver down your spine.
UK motorists and other road users have sent 52,174 dash cam recordings of potential traffic offences to UK police forces since 2017. More than a third have resulted in a court summons, fixed penalty notice or driver awareness course warning being issued.
According to What Car?, police forces across the UK are receiving more than 35 pieces of dash cam footage every day, with just over ten percent of incidents captured judged severe enough to warrant a court prosecution and 9.6 percent resulting in a fixed penalty notice.
Thirty-five of the UK’s 42 police forces have a system in place to process and fine drivers and motorcyclists based on dash cam evidence. And since dash cam use has increased by 850 percent in the UK since 2017 (when insurance companies began accepting dash cam footage as evidence for claims and when the courts first used footage to convict an offender), many motorists can expect a notice in the mail thanks to proactive action by their fellow motorists.
Australians, apparently, are less likely to dob in their fellow motorists, but it can only be a matter of time before similar behaviour becomes common here.
Of course, the first issue will be to define if dash cam footage can be used in an Australian prosecution (or a defence, for that matter). And then local police will need to install and use the appropriate technology.
But since such technology is certain to increase the number of motorists being detected doing the wrong thing, and therefore, increase the revenue raised by penalising them, it must be on the cards.
* The UK National Speed Awareness Scheme has been put in place by police forces across the UK to allow motorists caught speeding to complete a workshop rather than be issued with three penalty points and a £60 fine. Motorists must pay a fee (usually £80 to £100) but they avoid the points penalty and potentially avoid insurance premium increases associated with a driving offence.