Nearly three quarters of drivers have almost had a car crash

Nearly three-quarters of drivers in the UK claim they have had a near-miss where they came close to having a car accident.

Dash cam manufacturer Nextbase surveyed 2,000 drivers, with 72 per cent reporting a near-miss. Of these, 36 per cent believe their near-miss accident would have been fatal to someone involved.

Drivers estimate that they see around 14 separate incidents of illegal driving on the road every week, with 67 per cent seeing other drivers speeding on a weekly basis, 52 per cent witnessing tailgating and another 52 per cent seeing dangerous overtaking.

In spite of this, 75 per cent of respondents said they have never reported a road traffic incident to the police, with 41 per cent saying they didn’t have the necessary evidence or knowledge of how to do so.

All but three of the UK’s 45 police forces are signed up to Nextbase’s National Dash Cam Safety Portal, which allows members of the public to submit footage of dangerous driving for review. More than 57,000 submissions have been made so far, saving an estimated 458,000 hours (or 52 years) of police time.

Some 70 per cent of submissions to the portal lead to a form of action, including court cases, awareness courses, fixed penalty notices and warning letters.

Bryn Brooker, head of road safety at Nextbase, said: “We created the portal to make roads safer. Road users can send in video from any device and help to get dangerous drivers off the road.

“Police aren’t just sitting on these videos - they are using them. Almost every force in the country is now signed up, with the remaining handful intending to do so soon. The system we built four years ago is not only helping police, it is removing dangerous drivers from the road.”

Have you had a near miss? Let us know about your experience in the comments section...