Cyclists in Scotland finally set to be able to submit dangerous driving footage to online police portal… by autumn 2025 – two years after road safety tool scrapped amid claims police inaction was making Scotland’s roads “less safe”

After years of complaints that delays to the introduction of a dedicated road safety reporting tool and inaction on the part of the Scottish government and Police Scotland were putting the lives of cyclists across the country “at risk” and making the roads “less safe”, it has been confirmed that following a successful pilot scheme in Dundee, a new third-party video evidence-sharing tool will be rolled out across Scotland by this time next year.

While cyclists and other road users in England and Wales have been able to submit video evidence of road traffic offences via Operation Snap and other police reporting portals for a number of years (though some forces in those countries have only recently signed up to these methods), Scotland is yet to introduce a similar, easy-to-use, third-party digital reporting tool.

Instead, Scottish cyclists currently have to make do with the Police Scotland Online Reporting Form, a method often criticised by those who have used it as time-consuming, complicated, inconsistent, and reliant on the attitudes of the officers dealing with the complaint, potentially deterring riders from submitting footage given the increased time and inconvenience of reporting incidents to the police.

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Speaking to road.cc in 2023, Scottish cyclist Deacon Thurston, known for posting videos of dangerous driving to social media, argued that “Police Scotland are simply not capable of accepting and acting on third-party video reports as effectively as most other UK police forces”.

He continued: “I can provide the clearest possible footage of a motorist using their phone while driving — irrefutable evidence of a device being used, registration plate clearly visible, driver easily identifiable.

“But, when you add up the time spent queuing to get through to 101, explaining to the call handler what’s happened, speaking to the officer who phones you back, having two officers come to your home to view the footage and take a statement — it can easily exceed two hours of my time per incident.

Thurston added that allowing third-party reporting for traffic offences would “massively improve” the system.

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With cyclists across the country and the likes of Cycling UK putting increasing pressure on authorities in Scotland to implement an Operation Snap-style portal, in March 2022 Police Scotland finally committed to piloting an online reporting tool, known as the National Dashcam Safety Portal, with support from the AA, RAC, and numerous other organisations.

However, just seven months later, in October 2022, Police Scotland announced that the project had experienced delays and was “under review” due to budget constraints.

And last November, Scotland’s Minister for Justice Angela Constance confirmed that the road safety portal had been scrapped, in favour of a ‘Digital Evidence Sharing Capability’ which will gather video evidence related to all crime-related activity in Scotland, and not just dangerous driving.

“A stand-alone portal is not the optimum route to create the capability for digital media submissions to be submitted by members of the public,” Constance argued at the time.

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The decision to scrap the National Dashcam Safety Portal was heavily criticised by Cycling UK, who said Police Scotland’s “inaction has left Scotland’s roads less safe”.

“We are extremely disappointed that Police Scotland has gone back on its commitment to develop and roll out the National Dashcam Safety Portal across Scotland as a vital road safety tool,” Jim Densham, Cycling UK’s campaigns and policy manager for Scotland, said at the time.

“The technology is there, so it’s hard to understand why Police Scotland has refused to adopt it, when the case for its introduction is overwhelming: it will save them time and money, is widely supported by the public and road user groups and is used successfully everywhere else in Great Britain.”

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But in a letter sent this month from Justice Minister Constance to Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack, concerning one of Boyack’s constituents who experienced a “worrying incident involving a motorist” while riding his bike, the SNP minister confirmed that, following a “successful pilot” in Dundee, the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) has already been expanded across Tayside and will begin a phased roll out across Scotland starting in the Forth Valley this month.

According to Police Scotland, the pilot scheme in Dundee handled “around 19,500 pieces of evidence” and freed up “almost 550 hours of police officers’ time”.

In the letter, seen by road.cc, Constance said that the roll out of the £33 million scheme is expected to be completed by autumn 2025.

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“The DESC will make it easier for a member of the public to submit digital evidence as part of an investigation following a report to the police,” Constance continued. “DESC will enable development of further capabilities where scope to further improve the service to the public is identified.

“This is a world first for Scotland – a truly transformational programme where digital evidence is managed securely from crime scene to court room, benefitting victims, police officers, prosecutors, defence lawyers, court staff, and judges.

“During the successful pilot in Dundee, DESC allowed partners across the justice system to collect, manage and share digital evidence in a streamlined and efficient way, helping cases to resolve quicker and allowing victims to move on with their lives quicker. It has also freed up a significant amount of time for police officers, bringing additional capacity for frontline policing.”

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While the DESC marks a step away from the standalone road safety portal envisioned by campaigners, in her letter to the Labour MSP, Constance nevertheless claimed that the Scottish government is “committed to making Scotland’s roads safe for all, and all motorists have a part to play in keeping our roads safe by driving responsibly and within the law.”

Nevertheless, the DESC has come under fire from cycling activists, who believe it will not be as strong or functional an option as the cancelled National Dashcam Safety Portal.

“Cancelling the NDSP and delaying until at least 2025, with a lesser replacement, puts responsible drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in Scotland at risk,” Cycling UK’s Densham said.

“Cycling UK is happy to work with the police to ensure that the people of Scotland receive the system that they were promised.”