• New National Dash Cam Safety Portal gives all road users the power to report incidents of dangerous driving.
• Not-for-profit platform, developed by Nextbase, allows motorists to safely and securely upload video footage directly to the right police force.
• Portal drastically streamlines the process of providing such footage to police forces and reduces the processing time from over 14 hours to minutes.
• Hosted by Egress to ensure sensitive information is kept fully secure.
• Supported by Brake, the road safety charity, and Cycling UK, the national cycling charity.
• Portal available at: https://www.nextbase.com/dashcamportal.

Nextbase has pioneered a nationwide platform that links road users directly with police forces in a bid to improve safety on UK roads.

Nextbase, the UK’s leading and multi award-winning Dash Cam manufacturer, has launched the National Dash Cam Safety Portal to make roads safer by targeting dangerous driving. The platform comes in light of growing public demand for a streamlined means of reporting serious road incidents and will give road users the power to assist police forces across the country in reducing behaviour that puts others at risk. The Portal builds on the successes of Operation Snap, which, after an initial launch by the North Wales Police, was rolled out to offer coverage throughout Wales in December.

A recent surge in the prevalence of Dash Cams has made them the UK’s fastest growing consumer technology, with an estimated 2.6 million units now on UK roads. The National Dash Cam Safety Portal has therefore been developed to address public frustration at the lack of a uniform process for submitting videos captured on the roads to the police. The not-for-profit platform has been built to make this process easier for road users as well as drastically reducing the amount of time it takes for forces to process clips from a minimum of 14 hours on average to just a few minutes.

All 39 English forces currently use different means of accepting and logging video and processes can vary from submission via social media or correspondence by email to having to provide hard copies of video clips, even burning these to DVD and sending them via post in extreme cases. This confused array of methods often results in clips being ignored and ultimately unprocessed. Multiple police forces around the country have therefore welcomed the initiative.

Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police are two of the pioneering forces that have been quick to adopt the Portal. Superintendent Paul Moxley said,

“While the benefits to motorists of this groundbreaking Portal are clear, this convenience extends to police forces, since a process which previously took hours can now be reduced to a matter of minutes. The key in making this work for us has been determining a way of providing footage in an accessible format, whilst the creation of a witness statement is also integral to ensuring the process is as efficient as possible. In embracing this new technology, it enables the concerned road user to help us positively influence driver behaviour to make our roads a safer place for all users.”

West Midlands Police is among other forces signed up to the Portal and the map will also link to those forces who have their own system in place, including Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Cheshire Constabulary, Essex Police, Hampshire Constabulary, the Metropolitan Police Force, Norfolk Constabulary, North Yorkshire Police, Suffolk Constabulary, Surrey Police, Sussex Police, Thames Valley Police and Operation Snap in Wales.

The Portal has been built to accommodate all footage and formats, available to owners of all devices – not limited to Nextbase Dash Cams – that are employed in recording video and photo content on our roads. Those that are using a Nextbase Dash Cam, however, will have the added benefit of being able to upload to the Portal directly via the manufacturer’s App.

To submit a video, users need only visit https://www.nextbase.com/dashcamportal. From here they can find and click through to the police force area where the incident occurred. The National Dash Cam Safety Portal guides the user through a questionnaire that automatically generates a detailed witness statement upon conclusion of the submission, removing the need for police to visit a witness to take such a statement. If that force already has a process which allows you to complete a witness statement online and upload your video, you will be redirected to the relevant website to do so. In the case of a force not yet being signed up to the platform, the system will generate a witness statement and reference a code which can be taken directly to the relevant force for processing, where your footage can be viewed securely.

This comprehensive detail has been achieved through months of working closely with former Police Sergeant John Roberts, whose contribution to Operation Snap in Wales won him various road safety awards and commendations. It was his frustrations at archaic processes that led him to launch Operation Snap and Nextbase has tapped into this intricate knowledge to develop the National Dash Cam Safety Portal. Roberts has also helped Nextbase develop a ‘gold standard’ of evidence submission in keeping with official police standards.

Once uploaded to a secure server, video footage is hosted by Egress Software Technologies, which boasts high-profile aerospace & defence and government clients, as well as the police themselves, amongst the organisations it supports. Access to the platform is directly via Egress’s infrastructure, which is fully encrypted, and accredited to ISO certification 27001/9001. The Portal therefore guarantees absolute safety and security of footage through a system that only allows the relevant police force to view individual files.

Richard Browning, Director of Nextbase, commented,

“The surge in Dash Cam usage in recent years is beneficial to motorists looking to protect themselves in the event of incidents on the roads, but it has meant an increase in the amount of footage sent to police forces. Until now forces have not had the means to process this footage, so the National Dash Cam Safety Portal has been developed with this in mind. The Portal allows all road users to submit footage captured on devices, such as Dash Cams, which will enable the police to reduce such offences, ultimately making the roads safe for all users.”

The initiative is further supported by BRAKE, the nation’s leading road safety charity that is working with communities and organisations across the UK to stop the tragedy of road deaths and injuries, and Cycling UK, the nationwide cycling charity. Also on board is the British Horse Society.

Joshua Harris, Director of Campaigns at BRAKE, said,

“This is a fantastic initiative which couldn’t be more timely. The increasing popularity of Dash Cams 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."

Cycling UK’s Head of Campaigns and Advocacy, Duncan Dollimore, said:

“Public cuts have led to road police numbers plummeting in recent years by nearly 50%, whilst casualties have increased among all road users. Given that reduction in resources, it’s crucial that efficient and standardised online reporting systems are introduced to facilitate the submission of dash, bike and helmet-cam footage of irresponsible road use. Our police cannot be everywhere at once, but with Nextbase’s Portal we have the next best thing – a one-stop shop for the collation of evidence our forces can rely upon. It can only lead to safer roads for everyone.”