New smartphone app allows pedestrians to report speeding drivers

Following news that New Yorkers can now earn a generous bounty if they submit camera footage of illegal idling lorries, comes a British-designed app that can identify and help report speeding drivers.

With speeding on British roads commonplace and for the most part unchallenged due to an underfunded police force and a government unwilling to fully expand a network of speed cameras, there's bound to be an appetite for the Speedcam Anywhere app.

Speedcam Anywhere is able to use a video clip to calculate the speed of a vehicle as well as its location. It generates a link which is automatically emailed to the user for uploading to police dashcam web sites.

The app has not yet been Type Approved by the Home Office, so cannot issue speeding tickets, but evidence from the app can be presented to police forces so they can issue Anti-Social Driving Orders for Section 59 offences, where inconsiderate driving causes alarm and distress.

Rod King MBE, founder and campaign director of 20's Plenty for Us, described the system as a “game changer”.

“Speedcam Anywhere bypasses the current resource bottlenecks associated with enforcement,” said King. “We have police forces that desperately want to reduce road offences and speeding offences, but many will only prioritise minimal resources to the task.

“Speedcam Anywhere can be discreetly and safely used by pedestrians in a very similar way to drivers using dashcams. But unlike dashcam footage the ‘analysis report’ requires little police back office analysis other than deciding whether and which offence to sanction. In addition, being digital it can be connected directly to current back-office systems to process the paperwork. Hence police retain full control of the outcome.”

Developer of the app, Sam Bailey, told Local Transport Today: “The app is not critically dependent upon the angle of approach or departure of the vehicle as long as the number plate and side can be seen in the video captured. Only a two-second clip of the passing vehicle is needed."

Detective chief superintendent at Lincolnshire Police Andy Cox said the new app is “potentially very significant” as a deterrent to dangerous driving. “Sadly, five people on average die every day in a road crash within the UK,” said Cox, who is the national lead for fatal collision investigation reporting to the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

“This devastation is preventable and we need to develop innovative methods to eradicate road danger. One such method is the use of dashcam and headcam technology by the public to capture dangerous and reckless driving and report it to the police. The police cannot be everywhere all of the time but the public can be and as word spreads of this capability it is likely to act as a deterrent to bad driving.”

Cox told LTT: “Public referrals are increasing and enforcement of these referrals is high and outcomes include drivers losing their license. To further develop this important work I am keen it tackles the biggest single contributory factor in fatal crashes – ‘speed’. I am therefore keen technology providers enable dashcam and headcam devices to capture speeding offences."

It is hoped the app will act as a deterrent because any of the people you drive past could be filming and reporting your speed - very different from drivers feeling they only have to comply with the law when approaching a speed camera or when someone in a hi-vis jacket at the side of the road is pointing a speed gun at them.

The app is available to download from SpeedcamAnywhere.com or the Google Play Store.

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