Serious injury lawyer sets out the importance of dash cams in improving road safety and how they can help with personal injury claims

This article has been prepared to mark the UK’s National Dash Cam Day, which takes place on 5 August every year. In this article I explore the benefits of owning a dash cam and why they're important for road safety.

What is a dash cam?

A dash cam is a small camera that can be mounted in the front or rear of your car, or on your helmet if you are a cyclist. 

What are the benefits of owning one?

Having a dash cam can provide you with peace of mind for a variety of reasons. For example: 

• Dash cams record footage of any incidents you're involved in, or near to, which will assist both your insurance company and any police investigations.
• They can provide extra security and may deter criminal activity.
• Having a dash cam may also help to lower your car insurance premiums. 

Dash cams have surged in popularity over the years, and it's currently estimated that almost a third of British motorists already own one. 

Why are dash cams important?

As mentioned earlier, dash cams record footage of any incidents you're either involved in, or near to. 

For example, this could be an accident involving you and your vehicle or, it could be the vital moments of a collision involving other motorists or road users which you may have been near to / driving past at the time. 

You have probably seen appeals for dash cam footage when the police are investigating a road accident. For a lot of accidents, footage can provide important evidence that cannot be provided by other means. For example, it could be footage in areas where there is no CCTV or where the CCTV didn't have a full or clear view of the accident, in situations where you may have conflicting accounts of what happened, and situations where the road users involved don't know what went wrong. 

The use of dash cam footage can extend even further, with the police often appealing for information when investigating cases of serious crime and or missing persons. 

Is dash cam footage relevant to personal injury claims?

Absolutely. Although a personal injury claim is a civil claim, and is therefore separate to any criminal proceedings, we still need to consider who was responsible for the accident in question. 

As a serious injury solicitor, I will request all of the available evidence from the police, including any dash cam footage. I will analyse that footage and if needed, I will obtain a report from an accident reconstruction expert. 

Dash cam footage can be crucial in piecing together the moments around a collision and therefore helping to secure compensation for our clients, many of whom need access to specialist treatment and rehabilitation or support to overcome a life-changing injury or bereavement. 

How can dash cam footage be sent to the police?

Dash cam owners can either independently send their footage into the police or they can use the National Dash Cam Safety portal. According to the portal’s data, there was a 30% increase in 2023 in the number of videos received and around 70% of submissions of footage led to police action of some kind - such as warnings, penalty points and prosecutions. These figures, of course, don't include any dash cam footage which has been provided to the police by other means.

Conclusion

The road safety charity, Brake, has calculated that someone is killed or seriously injured on UK roads every 16 minutes. These figures are shocking. Our roads are an incredibly dangerous place, and there's clearly more that needs to be done to improve road safety. 

While there is no immediate fix, as they continue to rise in popularity, it's hoped that dash cams may go some way to help improve driver behaviour and road safety. 

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in supporting people and families affected by road collisions at our dedicated road traffic accidents section.