“It’s really encouraging to see the public taking responsibility for road safety”: Police force praises cyclists and other road users for reporting mobile phone-using drivers

Warwickshire Police has applauded cyclists and other road users, such as horse riders and pedestrians for submitting video footage of motorists using a handheld device while driving, also saying that it’s an encouraging sign that people are taking charge in standing up for road safety and helping the police enforce it.

Through its Operation Snap, the police force encourages members of the public to report  and submit digital footage showing potential moving traffic offences, including mobile phone driving. In the last year, Warwickshire police received 152 dashcam, headcam or phone videos of drivers suspected of illegally using a mobile phone.

However, the offences are not just limited to mobile phone driving, people can also report dangerous or careless driving such as overtaking on solid white lines, or ignoring traffic lights or dangerous driving around other road users, such as horse riders and cyclists.

> Should dealing with third-party camera reports from cyclists be outsourced? Close pass op pioneer Mark Hodson on the road.cc Podcast

Sergeant Chris McSharry said “It is really encouraging to see the public taking responsibility for road safety by submitting moving footage of these dangerous drivers to us via Op Snap.

“Let’s be clear. Good drivers are good because they are completely focused on the road.  If you are on your phone whether handsfree or not, you are far less likely to notice unexpected things like a child stepping off the pavement. 

“This is why officers are always on the lookout for dangerous drivers and in 2023, 479 drivers received fixed penalty notices for using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving in Warwickshire.”

This driver was caught on camera on the A5 at Long Shoot, Nuneaton on 11 July 2023 and was fined £200 and their driving licence endorsed with 6 points

Research by The Open University and Roads Policing Academic Network, funded by the Road Safety Trust, has found that a driver using a handheld or a handsfree phone is four times more likely to be involved in a collision than an undistracted driver, can look at hazards but fail to actually see them, can take up to a second longer to react to hazards, and is far less likely to notice hazards even if they happen right in front of them.

The force also shared a number of instances of the offences on its website, with the drivers receiving a £200 fine and a 6-point penalty on their driving licence.

This isn’t the first time that the police have encouraged third-party reporting from cyclists and other road users. Discussing the matter on Channel 5 News, West Mercia Police’s PC Jim Roberts claimed that the police is rather keen on more people reporting traffic offences.

“By the general public submitting dashcam footage to us and then those drivers being dealt with, it's sending a message and it is making our roads safer,” he said.

> Third-party reporting of drivers discussed on Channel 5, with CyclingMikey urging more cyclists to do it and the police claiming it’s “making roads safer”

Figures shared with Channel 5 showed that over 33,000 videos were submitted to police in England and Wales last year, up by 21 per cent on 2022, and an increase by almost 300 per cent over 2020. 70 per cent of these reports have led to police action, the broadcast said.

Figures shared with Channel 5 showed that over 33,000 videos were submitted to police in England and Wales last year, up by 21 per cent on 2022, and an increase by almost 300 per cent over 2020. 70 per cent of these reports have led to police action, the broadcast said.

However, there have been a few cases when capturing footage of mobile phone-using drivers has gone wrong. The most obvious examples that come to mind are those from CyclingMikey’s catalogue, with the Dutch cycling activist having been admonished many times by enraged drivers for filming them on the roads of London.

Besides being called a snitch, he’s also been threatened with having his teeth broken, rained with abuse — both physical and online, and even been invited by a driver inside his car to “w*** him off”. He’s also been accused of supporting Chelsea football club, although we’re not too sure if that deserves to be on the list.

> “People need to see justice being done”: CyclingMikey says camera cyclists suffer online abuse because some motorists “feel they have the right to drive how they want”

Speaking to road.cc after targeted harassment online, the cyclist, real name Mike van Erp, shared a couple of reasons why camera cyclists face abuse. “In the UK cyclists are considered by society to be ‘cockroaches of the road’, unworthy scum who freeload on the public highway and are terrible lawbreakers,” he said. “For such a person to challenge a driver for lawbreaking is a massive affront to the social order, and people don’t like this.

“Many of those throwing abuse also feel that they have the right to drive how they want, and that nobody can tell them what to do. They see the prosecutions, and they are afraid of the consequences, and they are angry that someone dares to do this to them.”

But such cases are not just limited to Mikey, nor does the harassment just come from drivers and the anti-cycling brigade.

> Cyclist to be prosecuted for “riding in the middle of the road” after filming a driver using mobile phone

Just a couple of months ago, a cyclist was accused of “riding without due care and attention” and was set to be prosecuted by the Metropolitan Police, after he rode in the “middle of the road” to capture footage of a driver using her phone. The driver, meanwhile, received a police “advisory letter” but faced no criminal case.

Fortunately for the cyclist, the Met ended up apologising for any “stress and inconvenience” caused a week later, with the case against him also being dropped just one day before the trial was supposed to take place.