Trucks, lies and videotape (Downstream, 2015)

Published in Downstream magazine

Crash for cash scams and fraudulent insurance claims are the bane of any law-abiding motorist. Are dashcams our best defence in the courts?

On a busy stretch of a motorway in Kazakhstan, conditions are poor – rain beats down on a very slippery highway as crosswinds unsettle the vehicles precariously trying to negotiate their way through. Suddenly, a tanker full of petroleum loses control, jack-knifing into the oncoming lane - its cabin is struck by another HGV passing opposite and its engine bursts into flames, engulfing both in a blazing inferno.

This is just one of the many incidents captured by dashcams – specifically constructed video cameras for use on the road, mounted in the vehicle’s interior. Most of them are programmed to simply turn on and start recording when the engine is started, saving footage to a built-in memory on a continuous loop, so there’s no chance of accidents being missed. Prices for them range from £20 to around £200.

Thanks to their surge in popularity, footage capturing reckless driving, terrifying vehicular accidents and even some attempted fraudulent crash-staging have been caught on camera and can be found all over YouTube and the web.

Besides being a magnet for those with a taste of literal ‘car-crash television’, the devices are quickly gaining attention for their usefulness on the road and in legal cases. They have the ability to help establish the root cause of accidents and offer an unbiased witness perspective which doesn’t degrade over time and isn’t open to interpretation and suggestion, where once it was one road user’s word against another.

In particular, Russian nationals swear by dashcams – perhaps due in part to the country’s high incidence of traffic-related injuries and deaths. According to 2012 World Health Organisation statistics, 18.6 people out of every 100,000 are killed on Russian roads every year, compared to just 3.5 out of every 100,000 in the UK.

However, some countries including Austria and Germany have gone so far as to ban them entirely, citing them as an invasion of privacy, while other nations allow them but do not permit sound recording.

Crash for cash
But while privacy is a concern, the rise of ‘crash for cash scams’ in this country is a viciously rising threat. These stings usually involve drivers intentionally crashing into each other, or more worryingly, braking heavily in front of an innocent road user’s vehicle, causing them to crash into the back of them.

According to the Freight Transport Association (FTA), such ‘cash for crash’ incidents have increased by 50% over the past year, with as many as 865 dishonest motor insurance claims being submitted every week, to the tune of £10.4m. The FTA is now encouraging freight operators to take measures to protect themselves and their businesses, especially as the abundance of commercial vehicles and HGV drivers makes them ‘easy prey’ by crooks.

"Regretfully it is becoming more essential for freight operators to rely on security equipment and devices to defend their position in court, and ensure security of their drivers,” said Don Armour, FTA's Manager of Fleet Information. “These ‘crash for cash’ incidents are yet another obstacle for professional drivers to contend with in their day-to-day work, but security equipment is another tool in their armoury to combat this sort of criminality.”

Whiplash
In another motorway scene in the UK, a motorist in a MPV brakes suddenly behind heavy congested traffic on the M25 and veers across three lanes into the slip road. A HGV driver leaving the highway slams on the brake but still crashes into the back of the car. The four occupants of the MPV claimed the collision was the driver’s fault, and filed four whiplash claims totalling £75,000.

However, thanks to the vehicle’s in-cab camera system, the haulage company involved was able to show that the driver of the people carrier reacted too slowly to the congestion on the motorway, and deliberately drove into the path of the HGV. Pointing this out to the claimants, the claim was subsequently dropped without having to involve the police and the blameless truck driver’s reputation was untarnished.

It has been estimated that 70% of road accident personal injury claims are for whiplash in the UK, compared to 47% in Germany, 32% in Spain and only 3% in France, earning the UK the unwanted reputation as whiplash capital of Europe, according to the Association of British Insurers. The organisation also claims that whiplash claims alone add £90 a year to the average motor insurance premium.

"Our cameras protect against cash-for-crash, staged accidents and also protect against false or exaggerated whiplash claims,” says Nick Plowman, director of SmartWitness. "The evidence from our cameras, which is court admissible, overcomes conflicting reports of actual events and lack of witnesses.”

Lower premiums
Dashcams are an investment that is actually proving to be a no-brainer, thanks to reduced premiums (of up to 20%) from insurance companies that are offered to firms who agree to install them within their fleet.

Some dashcam systems are able to go even further by helping with the evidence submitting process. SmartWitness is a system that enables operators to submit a full report to insurers detailing exact location, vehicle speed, deceleration, road conditions, as well as video footage of the accident, all within two hours.

"Speed is of the essence when it comes to dealing with insurance claims,” says Nick Plowman. "You cannot wait a day or two to post information: insurance companies need data immediately to stop escalation of claims in the event of an accident where it’s your fault. That instantly eliminates spurious car hire, injury and repair claims.”

Eyes everywhere
Advanced dashcam systems can also look into driver behaviour – with the help of onboard sensors and accelerometers, it can determine not only global positioning and speeds, but also how harshly brakes are applied and how corners are negotiated. With the knowledge that the driver’s telematics are being monitored, they should hopefully improve their own driving etiquette and reduce the likelihood of accidents. How this interjects into driver privacy and surveillance might be an argument for another time however.

With crash for cash scams seemingly on the up and up, companies have launched a great counterattack in the form of dashcams. Not only are they easy to use and install, they are very reasonably priced and can actually lower a fleet’s insurance premiums. These systems provide an unbiased level of protection against the threat of fraudulent insurance claims, where the driver of a vehicle that shunts into the back of another is usually blamed.

Don Armour concluded: “FTA is recommending to its members that they should be aware of the ‘crash for cash’ opportunists, and that they must take all measures possible to avoid being scammed. They should inform their drivers of these sorts of crime, take measures to avoid these type of incidents and install security equipment, including forward facing cameras, where appropriate.”