The cost of motoring looks set to increase further this year with news that car insurance premiums are up this year by 11 per cent on average – the biggest hike since records began.
A major factor in the soaring cost of insurance premiums has been the increasing number of fraudulent claims. The chancellor last year announced plans to remove the right to recover general damages for soft tissue injuries in an attempt to stop spurious claims for whiplash. At the time, George Osborne claimed the changes would reduce car insurance premiums by £40-£50 pounds, but brokers were sceptical that savings of this amount would be passed on to drivers. The full raft of changes proposed by the government have yet to be implemented, but they now include a ban on settlements for road traffic collision-related whiplash injuries without any medical examination.
As is so often the case, faced with the tightening of the law in a particular area, criminals simply move their focus. The video below shows in graphic details how a fraudster riding a scooter feigns a back injury after deliberately throwing himself on the bonnet of a car. Luckily for the driver, a dashboard camera captured the entire pantomime.
The use of dashboard camera and helmet cams has become more popular – it has proved particularly useful for vulnerable road users as it is notoriously difficult for cyclists to prove a motorist is at fault in the case of a collision.
There is no reason why helmet cam footage cannot be admitted as evidence like CCTV is used. It is likely that a witness statement would have to accompany the helmet cam footage and it would have to be downloaded to a CD with a certificate (preferably countersigned by a solicitor) stating that it had not been altered in any way from its original digital format.
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