North Wales Police says there is ‘nowhere for careless and dangerous drivers to hide’ following the launch of Operation Snap across the country.
Operation Snap, which was first piloted by North Wales Police in October 2016, enables members of the public to submit footage and images showing traffic offences being committed.
South Wales Police followed suit in April 2017, saying that the initiative provides a ‘safe alternative way’ to share footage of offences.
Now, all four Welsh police forces are participating in Operation Snap – in conjunction with GoSafe (the Wales Road Safety Casualty Reduction Partnership) – giving members of the public ‘the power to assist forces in taking action against those who put other road users at risk’.
Operation Snap was the subject of a presentation at the 2017 National Road Safety Conference – click here to watch the presentation which provides full details of the initiative.
A similar initiative, called Extra Eyes, was launched last month by the Safer Essex Roads Partnership.
Assistant chief constable Jeremy Vaughan, South Wales Police, said: “Operation Snap enables people to submit footage of motoring offences to all Welsh police forces, allowing us take action, change attitudes and deal with those who compromise all our safety on our roads.
“Following a trial phase, a number of improvements were made including the way in which footage can now be submitted. This is now a very simple and streamlined process.
“This provides us with the ability target those who drive dangerously and reduce the number of fatal or serious road related accidents that occur on our roads.
“Operation Snap is for all roads users – from pedestrians to cyclists, motorcyclists, horse riders and drivers of all vehicles.
Teresa Healy, partnership manager at GoSafe, said: “Operation Snap is the culmination of partners working together to respond to community needs; to deliver a solution which allows road users and the wider community to actively contribute to road safety.
“This operation also allows us to protect vulnerable road users, who would not otherwise have a means to submit their footage easily to the police.”
To see how the process for submitting video footage works, visit the Operation Snap website.
Its great that now we have a channel to submit careless driving where something can be done to confront the offenders. This site is still a bit clunky and needs improvement. For example my camera is fixed to the bicycle but there is no option for that.
Also I would like to be able to follow up submissions that may not be considered sufficient for a possible prosecution. If they are not sufficient then please give feedback as to why.
However its good that action can be taken on close pass drivers who seem to think that endangering a cyclist through driving too close is ok.
Chris Wilby, Conwy
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