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news
GoPro Hero HDWest Midlands: helmet cam cyclist shops 325 drivers in a year
Helmet camera evidence from cyclists and motorcyclists has helped prosecute 600 drivers for road offences in just three months on the West Midlands Police force beat – and they're expecting to clock up 3,000 camera evidence submissions by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, one cyclist has reported 325 mobile phone offences in a year on his daily commute, including catching two drivers twice, resulting in disqualifications in both cases. The man, who police say wants to remain anonymous, has been shortlisted for an active citizen award for helping to bring bad driving to police attention.
West Midlands Police’s third-party reporting website was launched last year for members of the public to submit video evidence of driver offences online. Officers say it has helped improve driver behaviour by creating a "constant threat of prosecution" – at a low cost.
West Midlands Police officers, Mark Hodson and Steve Hudson, came up with operation close pass in 2016, using a plain clothed officer on a bike to catch close passing drivers. Third party camera reporting came later - and has become popular among vulnerable road users. Hodson said: “We had 600 prosecutions January to March, and we’re expecting 3,000 [submissions] in 2019. We get more in the summer because you get more cyclists and more motorcyclists, and they have more cameras than drivers.”
“It’s absolutely brilliant for us. Considering none of those [prosecutions] involved a police officer and they are all community driven. From our point of view, it’s cost-effective.”
Hodson says one cyclist, who wants to remain anonymous, reported 325 drivers for mobile phone offences in a year – and the majority have resulted in prosecution, thanks to the quality of the evidence he submits. The man has been shortlisted for an active citizen award.
“He has caught two drivers on the same journey twice in the same fashion, they got six points each time - they have both been disqualified.”
“He has been to more crown court appeals than most police officers,” said Hodson. “He’s a family man, who rides the same way each day, there and back. He wants to make it safer for the community on the roads."
If the video evidence is good enough, and submitted in time, a driver caught using a mobile phone at the wheel faces a minimum of six points and a £200 fine. If the registered vehicle owner doesn’t respond to police letters the six points and fine apply for failure to disclose driver details. If they deny the charges, and end up in court, it could cost them more than £1000, plus the points.
It’s effective, says Hodson. “Drivers give [cyclists and motorcyclists] a massive amount of room now, not because they have more respect, it’s because there is a credible threat of prosecution, and that’s what changes behaviour.”
He says citizen evidence has greater impact than police evidence, for a number of reasons.
“In terms of convincing the offending public on changing their behaviour, no-one wants to be labelled as part of an offending group. When members of the community start reporting you, the 'hard-pressed motorist' narrative goes straight out the window.”
Then there’s the optics in court. “Magistrates see a cyclist as a victim because they are standing there saying ‘all I’m trying to do is get home to my family’.
“We get higher sentencing," he says. "Magistrates respond better if it is a normal person doing a normal journey on a normal day, than a police officer presenting evidence. Most are utility cyclists, normal cyclists, they are standing in a box saying ‘I do this journey every day and I feel threatened by this’.”
“Third party reporting is now an integral part of our road safety strategy,” said Hodson.
Although many police forces now process third party camera evidence, a recent report by the University of Leicester found a high degree of variation researchers described as a ‘postcode lottery of justice’.
The report, titled Promoting Safety for Vulnerable Road Users: Assessing the Investigation and Enforcement of Endangerment Offences, looked at enforcement of dangerous and careless driving offences and using a mobile phone while driving.
They found of 1010 reports from camera evidence submitted to West Midlands Police, almost a third of which related to mobile phone offences, 25 per cent were cancelled (no further action taken, or NFA) because of insufficient footage quality, or footage that was received too late. By contrast, of 1583 complaints filed to Surrey police’s web portal, 1283 were NFA. Of 434 submissions to Dyfed Powys in Wales, 192 were NFA, while in Gwent, 122 of 194 submissions were NFA.
This article was updated on 13 June 2019 to clarify West Midlands Police expect 3000 submissions in 2019. It previously said 3000 prosecutions
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
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62 comments
Sort of off-topic, but if I was to film a car speeding through our village, then could I submit this to the Police for action, or at least a warning letter to the driver?
The speed of the car could be precisely calculated from how long it took to pass two known fixed points, eg signposts or road markings.
Probably not as there's no speed calibration of video cameras and I can't see that the police are going to be doing video analysis for a possible speeding case.
The subject of this thread, filming traffic offences for the purpose of starting a prosecution, is illegal in Germany. The use of a dash cam is illegal except for personal use though the BGH in Karlsruhe has stated that video evidence of an accident can be evaluated by a court.
My point is, basically, the German authorities value the right to privacy higher than the right to safety as a road user.
they seem to be confused if they think a public space such as a road is also a private place.
I was shocked that Texas has 10 deaths a day on it's roads, I occasionally dip into SteetsBlogUSA, that's double the UKs, looked up the population, less than 1/2 of the UKs. So worse than 4 times as dangerous. Freedom!
I applaud those recording and reporting those breaking the law and making our streets more dangerous.
Meanwhile, back at the turn of the year, there was a flurry of news stories about "new" legislation, and the inclusion in the Highway Code, of a "minimum passing distance".
This'll do, to represent the many ... https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/8065873/road-law-changes-mot-2019/. Note - "The Highway Code states drivers should leave at least 1.5m (4.9ft) between the car and a cyclist - which is roughly the width of a standard car door."
Hot air. Shit-stirring by the Sun.
As of June 2019, the Highway Code states no such thing. No change. Not one.
It is a worrying trend that Policing the Public Highway is being shouldered by ordinary road users with cameras.
But I predict that some time in the near future all "video evidence"from unofficial sources will be deemed unadmissable in all courts.
As CGI software becomes more accessible and usable on home PCs, video evidence will become considered unreliable and treated as "edited".
Xenophon 2
Crime in the UK is used to describe an action that breaks the law, so driving whilst using a hand held phone is crime. Minor crimes may be prosecuted in a magistrates court without a jury, but they are all referred to as crimes. The vast majority of driving offenses have the potential to result in injury or death and having lost family members to road violence I really dont have a problem with people reporting poor driving, police and the prosecuting authorities always have the option not take it further. Road policing has been cut in the UK, sometimes by up to 80% and there is evidence of deaths and injuries increasing. Do you stand by and let more people die?
Comparing the reporting of potentially fatal actions carried out in public spaces to the police with the actions of the internal security services of the DDR is a pretty long stretch
Good on this rider. I've zero sympathy for any motorists who have been caught out.
You are correct about post codes being a difference. Unfortunately with limited spend the local PCC's are having to prioritise the areas to focus on. So whilst every regional force will have the same essential departments (traffic, Response, Community, etc.) how much they spend for each area will be different.
Luckily for us in WM, one of the traffic team who happened to be a cyclist managed to convince the higher ups on a "better" way and got funding and branding of Road Harm Reduction Team to tackle helping protect more vulnerable road users like Peds and Cyclists. So operation close pass, park safe and others were born.
As Legs and others have mentioned, alot of those caught are probably sent on Training which the some Police get money from, so the department is probably "making a profit" but that just means more money spent to tackle crime either for the RHRT or other places.
Looking at this report and comments on the page it appears alot of prosecution has to do with Police attitude. West Midlands were the first to see offences against cyclists to be an offence, where as other Police authorities are reluctant to do so. When is the Home Office going to learn from West Midlands Police and ensure the same attitude is conceyed in all Police authorities?
Police Forces are probably pretty much tied by the CPS who will decide if prosecution is warranted. You are then relying on that force to either have a chat and issue a caution based on the footage or invite the motorist to a driver awareness course. More often than not other offences come to light as well. Here in Scotland unless you are injured the Fiscal isn’t interested and it looks like the CPS has issued similar guideline.
That sums it up perfectly.
A bit of a postcode lottery you would say.
There needs to be some form of registation system for cars, maybe with a numberplate on display, then drivers will stop breaking the law.
Given the numbers of police informants/wannabe cops as evidenced here, I'm surprised there's any crime at all in the UK.....
"Police informants"? Piss off, you feeble troll.
Well, if not that, what do you want to call it? Concerned citizens? But hey, whatever floats your boat, I'll donate a plastic badge if you post your address
/
So Xenophon2 do you have a list of crimes that Citizens should report and those they shouldn't or do you think that people shouldn't report any crimes to the police?
I'm not sure about common law jurisdictions such as the UK nor about whether you use 'crime' colloquially or in a legal sense, but in civil law jurisdictions the terme 'crime' is only used for the most serious offences such as murder etc. Lower gradations are infractions and felonies where I am, don't know about the UK.
For 'crimes' in the legal sense it can be argued that there's a moral obligation to report. If that holds for 'less serious' cases is debatable. Also, there's -at least to me- a huge difference between reporting behaviour that constitutes a breach of the law and where an individual is harmed as a consequence and going out decked out with cameras, hunting for persons infringeing such as in the case of the 325 mobile phone users. If you fall in the latter category, turn a hobby into a profession, hope you can convince the screening board that you're psychologically fit and join a law enforcement agency.
At least strictly legally, where I am, apart from a few exceptions such as officials who are required by law to notify the public prosecutor of any criminal activity that they become aware of, doctors who encounter child abuse and cases where not reporting means that you're not assisting a person in grave danger where you could have done so without incurring any personal risk there's no legal obligation for a citizen to report anything.
I actually work in law enforcement (nothing to do with road traffic, mind) and from personal experience -which admittedly is not representative- I can tell you that in my field out of every 10 'helpful' reports that come in, 5 are either totally bogus, come frome someone who has a personal motive for denouncing and who at least significantly embellishes things, from a person of whom it transpires that they have severe psychological issues and who mention things that are objectively impossible, about 3 come from well meaning people who think they've seen something illegal but where it turns out that they misinterpreted a situation and the remaining 2 *may* turn out to be useful. I'm not even counting the anonymous tips that are mostly useless, unless they come from criminals ratting on the competition. Admittedly, cases where samaritans show up on my doorstep bearing recordings and irrefutable material evidence are few and far between.
My 2cents is that a society of snitches is not one where I'd personally like to live, reminds me of the DDR.
Best not to comment then on an country you lack knowledge of.
Like I say 'Best not to comment then on an country you lack knowledge of''.
For example, last night I captured one driver deliberately driving the wrong way down a one way street suitable for only one car and driving on the pavement to avoid a collision. 10 seconds later, another driver driving over the pavement to use a pedestrian only zone and I heard pedestrians complaining they had to get out of the way.
About 10 minutes later, I was passed by a driver doing around 50 in a 30 approaching a roundabout where they knew they would have to give way or slow right down.
There is absolutely no need to go 'hunting'.
Facepalm - utterly clueless of what it is like to cycle in built up areas of the UK.
Sounds like you may be in the wrong profession. Particularly given your suggestion that 'only' 20% of reports leading to cases to be investigated means that it not worth having any of them.
Maybe the Germans should have more snitches......
Der Spiegel reported at the end of 2017 that, since 1950, there had been 780,000 deaths and 31 million injured on the roads. The Germans like the freedom to kill people on the roads so much that the use of video cameras (dash cams) is forbidden by law.
It's a bit more complex than that in Germany. They have strict privacy laws and don't like continuous filming of public places (e.g. roads), but they have allowed dash cam footage to be accepted as evidence. They also specify that publicly shared footage must have faces and license plates blurred but presumably that wouldn't apply if you're just submitting it as evidence (not on YouTube).
https://www.dw.com/en/dashcams-in-germany-permissible-in-court-court-rules/a-43788494
As is common for a very conservative kind of person (which you seem to be) you fail to grasp the fact that there are power-differences in society and that some groups have to look after their self-interest when threatened by groups with more power. They can either do that the legal way, by notifying the authorities about the more powerful groups habitual abuse of power, or they can try and take it into their own hands with violence or vigilante actions.
Are you seriously saying 'as someone who works in law enforcement' (an oddly vague descriptor) you think the latter option is preferable?
If not - what do you suggest people do?
I'd call it people objecting to others threatening their lives and attempting to follow the correct procedure for addressing it. It's why we _have_ police. If you'd prefer to abolish them and have everyone fight it out between each other with individual violence, have a go putting that to the electorate as a policy
I gather you disaprove of people trying to involve the law and prefer people knifing each other as a means of settling gripes?
Even under "Driving without due care and attention" three points is the minimum penalty. Typically lenient sentence.
Where I am (Lancashire) the local plod don't seem to give 2 hoots about close passes so wondering if I'm wasting my time with a camera anyway as even if I do report something nothing will get done so what's the point?
Is it me or is 3 points a bit ridiculous for the offence in the video above? The driver has made 2 obvious attempts to basically knock the cyclist off...how is that careless driving?!?!??! Should be attempt assault or something
You beat me too it. I think its BTBS who always says that "assault" includes "causing someone to fear for their safety"...
I don't think he's tried to knock the cyclist off, otherwise he would have done quite easily - I think it would have been easier to knock him off than to do what he did. It strikes me as extremely careful driving, paying a great deal of attention. At the very least though I'd have thought it was threatening behaviour, and dangerous driving.
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