Dashcams. A term you probably hadn’t heard of 10 years ago. But now which are found in large numbers of vehicles on UK roads. From privately owned vehicles to commercial and fleet vehicles.
And now they even have their very own day! Did you know that the 5th August is National Dashcam day?
In honour of this, we look at the benefits of dashcams to your fleet and whether they can be used to improve driver and road safety.
What are the benefits of dashcams to your fleet?
Dashcams can provide a raft of direct benefits when installed properly in your commercial vehicles.
When the data and information that they provide to you is analysed and acted upon they can also offer you the ability to enhance your driver’s behaviour and therefore have a positive, indirect impact on both driver and road safety.
A reduction in fraud
Crash for cash schemes, the name given to staged car accidents, are sadly still on the rise in the UK. But installing a dashcam into your fleet vehicles can protect your drivers from falling victim to one of these schemes. Video evidence cannot be disputed and can reveal the fraudulent activity for what it is.
Fraudulent claims add additional cost to everyone’s insurance policies so any steps which can be taken to reduce fraud should be welcomed.
Providing evidence in the event of an insurance claim
Having video evidence of an accident allows insurers to view exactly what happened and where liability for the claim lies. This prevents any issues with inaccurate or unreliable witness statements or for claims to be inflated.
Establishing liability correctly is important for your claim’s history and experience and ability to obtain best value insurance going forwards.
Having this evidence can also speed up an insurance claim, reducing the amount of downtime that you may experience with a vehicle involved in an accident.
Demonstrating risk management to insurers
Use of dashcams, and the subsequent information they provide your business with, will form part of your risk management strategy. This is important in today’s market, where insurers are increasingly looking for evidence of how businesses they insure manage risk.
Driver safety
Knowing that someone cannot incorrectly accuse of you of wrongdoing can go a long way to inspiring both confidence and security in your drivers.
With the right permissions and procedures in place, you can also use dashcams to record driver behaviour. This can allow you to identify good or poor behaviour. And address training or rewards accordingly. All of which feed into improving driver behaviour and subsequent safety.
Road Safety
Being monitored could lead drivers to drive in a more safety conscious way.
But when video evidence is coupled with continual coaching and training, driver behaviour improves which means road safety improves as a result.
Theft prevention
Dashcams may signal to would be thieves that you take security seriously, and they can therefore act as a deterrent against vehicle theft.
The importance of dashcam footage continues to evolve
The benefits of dashcams are wide ranging. But probably one of the biggest areas they can assist you with is the provision of evidence in the event of an accident or claim.
There are big changes happening on the roads. The recent changes to the Highway Code see more onus being put on vehicle drivers to protect vulnerable road users. As well as giving vulnerable road users more rights. More stringent sentencing guidelines have also been introduced for drivers involved in certain serious road traffic accidents.
All of which has the potential to put more focus on a driver’s ability to prove that they were driving in a safe way if involved in an accident. In the face of this heightened accountability, having video evidence of exactly what happened in an accident could be invaluable.
At Anthony Jones we take risk management seriously. That is why we work closely with DAC Beachcroft, our legal partner to provide a legal representation in the event of an incident. And with Cardinus who are a global risk and safety partner for Fleet Risk Management services. For more information on how we can help you and your fleet if you are reviewing your commercial motor insurance at this time do get in touch with us on 020 8290 9099 or email us at commercial.motor@anthonyjones.com.
