WoW! Here's a precedent! A cyclist with a head camera records a motorist going well in excess of the 30 mph speed limit & sends the recording into the police.
They calculated his speed in excess of 90 mph & brought about a conviction in court with only that evidence even though It wasn't recorded on a calibrated device like a speed camera or witnessed by a police officer.

The man in question was was disqualified from driving for six months and fined £592 by magistrates and was ordered to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £59, and costs of £620.

https://www.northants.police.uk/news/northants/news/news/2019/december-19/first-conviction-for-operation-snap-northamptonshire/?fbclid=IwAR2xiYwYhHCyIkGdqPvGadWVwUNJaOPTbP0pGS6h_dXoHFxx_9dtk7NDwgI

In the good old days you only had to keep a good look out for the police with their cameras - not any more it seems!

1 hour ago, lancpudn said:

WoW! Here's a precedent! A cyclist with a head camera records a motorist going well in excess of the 30 mph speed limit & sends the recording into the police.
They calculated his speed in excess of 90 mph & brought about a conviction in court with only that evidence even though It wasn't recorded on a calibrated device like a speed camera or witnessed by a police officer.

The man in question was was disqualified from driving for six months and fined £592 by magistrates and was ordered to pay a surcharge to fund victim services of £59, and costs of £620.

https://www.northants.police.uk/news/northants/news/news/2019/december-19/first-conviction-for-operation-snap-northamptonshire/?fbclid=IwAR2xiYwYhHCyIkGdqPvGadWVwUNJaOPTbP0pGS6h_dXoHFxx_9dtk7NDwgI

There's a point at which the few percent uncertainty from an uncalibrated device cease to matter. Even if the police estimate of speed was out by 20 %, that'd still be a long way above the posted limit, and it'd take a lot to convince a judge otherwise.

I would this as being no different to the current position whereby if you are prepared to make an official statement, and attend court you can have a dangerous driver you report convicted on the strength of your evidence.

I was a tad skeptical tbh until i watched the video in the link.. speed is clearly ridiculous,so fair play to the guy for making an official report and sticking it through.

Most people, myself included on occassions i have rung traffic watch to tip the squad off to dangerous/dodgy dealings, call it off when the first question is "will you make a statement, and go to court?"

My response is usually "no, but if you keep your eye out you'll spot them being a dumbass, or you can give them a warning that theyve been reported.."

The police will have gone to the road and measured a fixed distance and then timed the car across that distance, just the same as using VASCAR so actually very accurate. Could have had him for overtaking leading vehicle on zig-zags too.

Looks like that "operation snap" has been a huge hit & you're more likely to be caught speeding by other motorist with dashcams than speed cameras. 😲  https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/local-news/speeding-drivers-m1-smart-motorway-2410360

Whilst this has been used to good effect in this case ,and a dangerous driver taken off the road I wonder how far things will go with everybody recording everybody driving on the road with cameras?

The road has markings. You can easily calculate speed based on the distance covered over the time taken.

On 11/01/2020 at 10:38, Sad555 said:

Whilst this has been used to good effect in this case ,and a dangerous driver taken off the road I wonder how far things will go with everybody recording everybody driving on the road with cameras?

I think for the most part people won't want to go to the effort of downloading the footage from their camera and visiting a police station with it. I've seen some pretty stupid stuff from other drivers and caught it on the dashcam, but I've yet to report anyone because it's just enough of a pain in the arse to do it.

 

I also suspect if someone was constantly turning up with dashcam footage at the same police station that the police might start getting annoyed.

2 hours ago, chimaera said:

I think for the most part people won't want to go to the effort of downloading the footage from their camera and visiting a police station with it. I've seen some pretty stupid stuff from other drivers and caught it on the dashcam, but I've yet to report anyone because it's just enough of a pain in the arse to do it.

 

I also suspect if someone was constantly turning up with dashcam footage at the same police station that the police might start getting annoyed.

 

 

I don't know if any other dashcam makers are the same as mine 'Nextbase'  There is a section on the software called a portal hub or something like that where you just type in your police area & it automatically uploads the video evidence to the correct police dept. 😲

 

Edit just found it. https://www.nextbase.com/en-gb/national-dash-cam-safety-portal/

Edited 13 January, 20206 yr by lancpudn

Perhaps retired police constables have shares in it!