Fit SmartWitness to your vehicles
Dramatic SmartWitness footage shows the moment three vehicles just avoided a head-on collision due to the reckless overtaking of one driver.
The video shows the dangerous driving on our roads, and why vehicle cameras are a vital safeguard for workshops, recovery firms, fleet managers and private motorists.
A white car is caught on camera attempting to overtake a lorry on a quiet country road.
The driver fails to spot an oncoming vehicle and a horrific three-way smash was only narrowly avoided.
The driver of the car did at least pull over after the incident. He could have been prosecuted for dangerous driving.
Such near misses are captured by SmartWitness incident cameras daily.
It’s why SmartWitness incident cameras are increasingly used to improve safety and cut insurance premiums.
SmartWitness MD Simon Marsh said the video shows the importance of driver behaviour in road safety.
He said: “It’s a miracle there wasn’t a three-way collision, I’ve never seen a closer head-on near-miss caught on our cameras. The actions of the white car driver were crazy. Such footage is vital to improve driver safety.
“We encourage and train our clients to use our cameras to educate their drivers and guard against the recklessness and sometimes false allegations of other drivers.
“The HGV driver was blameless but it’s amazing how effective footage is in improving driver behaviour.
“We find clients are more using video to train drivers and improve road safety.”
SmartWitness has introduced a new innovation to their products, Enhanced Driver Report (EDR) which can gauge the competence of driver over a month’s worth of driving.
Mr Marsh said: “They are graded from A to E, based on a month’s driving. Fleet managers know who their best drivers are but it will help find drivers needing retraining.
“The cameras ensure drivers are constantly vigilant.”
Mr Marsh previously owned a transport company with 200 vehicles and tragically lost two of his employees in separate incidents in 2005/6.
It is one of the reasons he so passionate about road safety and improving driver behaviour.
He said: “I’ve always been keen to be the first to trial and use any products which improve safety. When I was running my own fleet I spent tens of thousands on new developments including at the time, Lane Departure Warning, Proximity and Active Braking.
“But the key message to all drivers is to avoid events that lead to incidents in the first place. The best way to do this is to modify driver behaviour.
“SmartWitness cameras provide Vehicle Journey Records (VJR) and Event Journey Records (EJR).
“The cameras capture everything that happens once the ignition’s switched on and can show drivers and fleet managers where mistakes are made.”
Haulier Wrings Transport, based in Hallen, South Gloucestershire, saved £20,000 on its insurance after fitting SmartWitness cameras in its fleet.
Its accident rate was cut by 50%.
SmartWitness won this year the prestigious Best Fleet Safety Product awarded by Road Safety Charity BRAKE. Its cameras are approved by Transport For London. For details visit www.smartwitness.co.uk.