Three-quarters (72%) of drivers have had ‘near-miss’ road accidents – but most have never reported illegal driving.
New research conducted by Nextbase for National Dash Cam Day finds that motorists see many incidents of illegal driving every week; on average 14 separate instances. These are most commonly speeding, which 67% of drivers surveyed said they saw on a weekly basis, followed by failing to indicate (60%), tailgating (52%), and dangerous overtaking (52%).
Over a third (36%) of the near-misses reported by drivers were potentially life-threatening, with half (49%) believing they would have been the victim if the accident had taken place.
But 75% of drivers have never reported a road traffic incident to police, with 41% saying they lacked evidence or the knowledge of how to do so.
Nextbase is calling for the public to make use of its National Dash Cam Safety Portal reporting system, which it says offers an easy way to submit evidence to police online. Now used by all but three UK police forces, it’s has already seen over 57,000 submissions from the public, saving 458,000 hours of police time – or 52 full years, according to Nextbase.
A total of 70% of these reports led to further action from the police – including fines, warning letters and court cases.
The survey data shows the portal is sorely needed. Of the quarter of drivers who have reported incidents to the police via traditional methods, the majority said the process was “complicated”.
Bryn Brooker, head of road safety at Nextbase, said: “We created the portal to make roads safer. Road users can send in video from any device and help to get dangerous drivers off the road. Police aren’t just sitting on these videos – they are using them. Almost every force in the country is now signed up, with the remaining handful intending to do so soon.
“The system we built four years ago is not only helping police, it’s also removing dangerous drivers from the road.”
