The use of helmet-mounted cameras by cyclists to report dangerous driving has been endorsed by a senior roads police officer. Andy Cox, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)’s national lead on road crime reporting, said the police can't be everywhere, but the public can.
He said cyclists wearing such cameras can act as a deterrent to motorists and a tool for evidence gathering. He told the Telegraph he was "hugely supportive of the practice."
And while he didn't say all cyclists should have the cameras, he said: “It’s an individual choice and it’s a choice to report any footage that they may capture.
"But the feedback I have from cyclists and drivers, who find some of the driving standards unacceptable and are deeply frustrated by it, is that they welcome the opportunity to provide footage for us.”
He said there are on average five road deaths every day in Britain and these are preventable deaths. The Telegraph also reported that a spokesman for NextBase, which sells dashboard cameras for cars and has a portal for footage used by police, said there has been a rise in video submissions since an update to the Highway Code in January.
The changes outlined a new “hierarchy of road users”, which ensured that quicker or heavier modes of transport have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others on the road.
Motorists must now give cyclists at least 1.5 metres (4ft 9in) of space when overtaking them, a change that he said had caused "a lot of confusion".
Roger Geffen, of Cycling UK, said he was ambivalent about recommending helmet cameras for all cyclists. But he said: "I wish cyclists didn't feel the need to have helmet cameras. The world would be a better place if they didn't feel the need to do so."
The NPCC has recommended all police forces in England and Wales set up systems so the public can send footage to police, but the Government has no plans to make camera equipment mandatory.
The Department for Transport was quoted in the Telegraph as saying: “Road users are free to use dash cams and other camera equipment to record incidents on public roads as long as it doesn’t impede the control of their vehicle.”
