Video Vigilantes Chasing Down Dangerous Drivers

Dangerous drivers should be keeping their eyes peeled not just for police after it emerged that tens of thousands of motorists and cyclists are recording every journey they make.

That footage is then being used to help settle insurance claims but also to help stretched police forces pursue cases of bad driving.

Cyclist Dave Sherry has recorded 400 incidents in the past two years that have resulted in dozens of convictions and cautions.

"A couple of years ago I had an incident involving a bad driver. I called the police and they said it's your word against his and I decided on video evidence," he said.

"It's indisputable and it basically fits on the bike to show the bad drivers for who they are."

The consequences can be extremely serious.

One bus driver lost his job last year after being videoed by Mr Sherry looking down at a handset while driving along the road with passengers on board.

It means his actions are not popular with everyone.

A van driver in Leyton, east London, described such behaviour as "nosy".

"I don't like it. I don't even like the CCTV cameras about if I'm honest," he said. "It's people spying on each other."

Some police forces are more than happy to use footage from the public but others say they simply do not have the resources to deal with it except in the most serious cases.

Now the Home office is leading a project to come up with "common standards" on how such video should be used by the police and criminal justice service.

The Association of Chief Police Officers encourages the public to provide evidence to police.

Chief Constable Giles York, of the National Policing Lead for Digital Evidence, said: "With motoring offences, videos filmed from dashboard mounted cameras are admissible as evidence, and assuming that the quality is good and the evidence can be corroborated the police will record, report and consider the circumstances of each case on its merits."

One company, Policewitness.com, is making it easier for the drivers and cyclists to get their footage to the right force.

Chairman Matt Stockdale, a former senior police officer, said they receive hundreds of clips some weeks.

"Now that we have a stretched force, no matter where you are in the country the result is very few people are proactively pulled over and given advice for their driving, so it falls back to us the public.

"The public have demonstrated time and time again, now with tens of thousands of motorists and cyclists recording their journeys every day, it's shown me they are not going to stand by and be a victim."