The Automotive Blog

Crash for Cash Incidents Increasing By 50% Over The Past Year

With reports of crash for cash incidents increasing by 50% over the past year, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) is warning at-work drivers to watch out for crash for cash scammers.

Don Armour, FTA manager of fleet information, said: “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.

“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.”

The Freight Transport Association has warned professional drivers to be on the lookout for ‘crash for cash’ fraud – in which accidents are deliberately caused in order to file compensation for whiplash – following recent press reports that incidents have increased by almost half over the past year.

FTA highlights motor insurer reports which suggested that 865 dishonest claims are being made every week, worth £10.4 million – but says the impact of ‘crash for cash’ is likely to be lessened by the proliferation of in-vehicle cameras.

In Cab Driver Recorder

Truck Camera Defends Against Road Rage

On Board camera technology is becoming an tool for road using companies to combat many circumstances that happen on UK roads every day.

Truck operating companies are often seen to be to the guilty party, with no evidence the blame is usually laid with the truck, but with a witness camera the blame can esaily be proved.

A recent incident caught on a witness camera is as follows, a motorist swerves into the path of a lorry in a bizarre road rage incident. The Ford Fiesta driver almost causes a pile-up on a busy dual carriage after driving right in front of the HGV and opening his door just before the two vehicles collide. He then jumps from his car and starts remonstrating with the innocent lorry driver while standing on the fast lane of the dual carriageway.

Thousands of these road rage incidents happen every day in Britain – often resulting in disputed insurance claims where each driver blames the other.

Without an On Board Camera, it would be just be a case of one driver’s word against another – with a messy insurance claim dragging on for months with no clear blame established.With the Witness Camera, it is clear from outset that the Fiesta driver is clearly to blame.

Having a Dash Incident Camera installed in a vehicle would tell the story of a road traffic accident. Continually recording forward views a on board camera will be date and time stamped. “Seeing is Believing” is aide automotive’s moto!!
Contact aide automotive to review camera options for your truck fleet. Call 0115 8456471 or click on Incident Camera.

Incident Camera for Trucks & Vans

Here What Camera Users Say about Witness Cameras!

aide automotive offer a variety of incident or Driver Incident Cameras for commercial vehicles.

In a recent feature on the Commercial Motor website, read what some users said.

Case study: Massey Wilcox
Massey Wilcox has installed Driver Incident cameras across its 60-vehicle fleet over the past nine months, costing £180 each. “It’s solely to have evidence if there’s an accident, helping us prove innocence or guilt,” explains MD Robert Wilcox. He believes most sensible hauliers will eventually install them because of insurance considerations.

His company recently avoided a potentially expensive whiplash claim after one of its cameras showed how a motorist cut across the front of the driver on a roundabout. He says cameras also help highlight when drivers are in the wrong, so they can learn from their mistakes.

Case study: DHL Supply Chain

Tim Slater, MD, Transport UK and Ireland at DHL Supply Chain, says the company has more than 4,000 forward-facing cameras installed across its fleet, which is one of the key elements of its transport strategy.

He says: “By installing cameras, we aim to make our vehicles the safest and most efficient on the road. The cameras protect our drivers and assets by allowing us to understand the circumstances of an incident, and have had a positive effect on driver behaviour both behind the wheel and as a training tool. We believe that all collisions and incidents are preventable and using initiatives such as forward-facing cameras helps us to reduce these significantly.”

To review how a MI Witness Camera can help your fleet, contact aide automotive on 0115 8456471 or email shoponline@aideautomotive.com

In Cab Driver Recorder

Crash Camera

aide automotive are now an official distributor of the Smart Witness Camera product range.

In a recent press release the effectiveness of a camera is explained below.

When two cars collided in a city centre resulting in a £5,000 insurance claim being easily settled.

A silver Skoda Fabia drives straight into a Volkswagen Tiguan – shunting it 90 degrees to the side at a junction in Glasgow.

Police arrived at the accident scene and when told about the SmartWitness in-car camera requested that a copy of the video recording be produced as evidence.

When they saw the vehicle CCTV they used it as evidence to prove the Skoda driver was at-fault.

The Skoda driver, a Russian national who was fully insured, was subsequently prosecuted for driving without due care and attention.

John Brown, a former IT business analyst, was thankful he had invested in the On Board Camera – and had irrefutable proof of who was to blame.

He said: “Obviously I knew that I had done nothing wrong but it was good to view the footage later and see that I had been driving responsibly, within the speed limit and could be seen clearly going through a green light.”

“The other driver hit me at between 20mph and 25mph miles an hour. It was a quite a big impact because my VW was shunted around by 90-degrees.”

The damage to John’s car was extensive and cost an estimated £5,000 to repair.

The wheel arch, sill and a rear door were badly damaged and one of the tyres needed to be replaced.

There was further damage to the rear suspension and tracking, taking the car was off the road for four weeks.

He said: “I was driving up Hope Street in central Glasgow, one of the main routes through the city centre. I went through a green light where Hope Street meets Cowcaddens Road (a T-junction) when the Skoda came from nowhere and crashed straight into me.

“Thankfully the other driver was co-operative and admitted at the scene that he had been at fault.

“A taxi driver following the Skoda saw what had happened and agreed to be a witness.

“Nevertheless, the police were called and when I told them I had a Incident Camera they immediately requested a copy of the footage so that it could be added as evidence to the charges they would be bringing against the other driver.

“A few days later, when they reviewed the footage they said it was clearly proof of careless driving.”

Brown said that he was relieved he had invested in the SmartWitness camera.

He said: “The footage caught on the camera was excellent. The images were clear and showed exactly who was to blame.”

“It gives you real peace of mind as a motorist to know it is there and if there is an accident you will have clear proof of exactly what happened.”

“Ironically, accident cameras are very popular in Russia where the other driver was from. I can see them becoming increasingly popular here, too, after my experience.”

Crash cameras have been used by hauliers and fleet managers to cut insurance premiums and guard against bogus insurance claims.

Tristar Worldwide, a chauffeuring company based in Middlesex, saved £60,000 a year on its insurance after fitting SmartWitness cameras in its 460-strong fleet.

Matthew Burke commented “admitting liability isn’t usually a common aspect at a road collision, but that doesn’t matter when you have a camera.”

“Motorists will often try to blame the other driver even when they are at fault, and if there are no witness to the accident you never end up with a satisfactory solution.

“It’s why more motorists are investing in vehicle cameras – it removes all the worry and doubt in the event of an accident.

“Insurance is so expensive and even minor claims can add thousands to motorists’ premiums.”

 

In Cab Driver Recorder

Incident Camera Footage Of Bike Collision

Truck Camera Footage Shows The Importance of On Board Cameras

aide automotive market On Board Incident Cameras for commercial vehicles.

On Board recording cameras are becoming an essential tool in vehicle incident evidence for vehicle operating companies.

Recent footage from an In Cab Camera filmed through the windscreen of a truck you see an apparently quiet country lane. Then a motorbike travelling in the opposite direction comes around the corner ahead and drifts into the path of the HGV.

The biker, who survived with just a broken shoulder, swore blind that the truck was on the wrong side of the road and speeding. The lorry driver denied both. Backing that up, he had the camera that took the footage in his cab, The biker’s claims were instantly discounted.

If you’re the victim of an insurance scam, a Incident Camera will show it. The latest ‘flash for cash’ trick in which drivers invite you to proceed when it’s their right of way before crashing into you and claiming it was your fault is one example. Another is where drivers tamper with their brake lights so you can’t see when they’re stopping and collide with them. Again, a On Board Camera system will reveal the crime.

Contact aide automotive to review camera options for your truck fleet. Call 0115 8456471 or click on Incident Camera.

Dashboard Camera "Seeing is Believing"

Truck Cameras for Haigh Transport

Haigh Transport Fit On Board Cameras From Supplier aide automotive ltd

Haigh Transport Ltd, based in Ellerton, near York, have fitted the MI Witness Forward Facing camera following a trial system supplied by aide automotive ltd.

Road incidents and cash for crash a concern for the road haulage industry. Haigh Transport have moved forward with installing Incident Cameras to protect against road criminals and also to help improve insurance claim evidence.

Tony, of Haigh Transport, said “I think on board camera systems will be a must for haulage operators in the coming years. We had an incident in Nottingham which I believe was a cash for crash, but without any evidence it is hard to prove. I first looked at low cost flip down cameras about a year ago, and following testing concluded the camera to be of low quality in hard & software. aide automotive presented a range of cameras suitable for our needs and progressed with a trial of the MI Witness camera. Once the footage was reviewed I had no hesitation in placing an order to cover the fleet. Camera technology is an ideal way for me, as the director of our company, to see what exactly happened within a road incident. I would recommend the MI Witness camera to any vehicle operator.”

aide automotive specialise in cameras for Trucks, Buses, Coaches and government vehicles. The MI Witness Driver Recorder is a high quality camera with the option of a second channel camera for side or fuel tank view.

Contact aide automotive to see how incident cameras can help your fleet!

On Board Driver Camera for Trucks, Buses, Vans, Cars Or Coaches

RH Logistics in Northamptonshire recently installed the MI Witness Incident Camera.

RH Logistics looked at 6 cameras on the market ranging from DVR systems to standalone systems, MI Witness Incident Camera was chosen due to picture quality, ease of removal from vehicle and the software package that it runs on.

Richard Hindle owner said “ We wanted to improve our driver behavior and our analytics report across the whole fleet has lowered from a 350 score to a 230 score since using the MI Witness Incident Camera, which is just brilliant ”

To read more about Incident Camera’s or Forward facing Camera click on aide automotive Incident Driver Camera.

Mi Witness Truck Incident Camera