Are drivers 'at-fault' obligated to provide their dash cam?

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Stoke
Stoke Posts: 3,182 Forumite
in Motoring
I witnessed an accident this morning and had to stop. The driver of the car 'at-fault' (in my opinion) had a dash cam in his car. I mentioned to one of the non-fault vehicles drivers that he should try to obtain the footage, as it will obviously clear up who's at fault. Obviously the police were called, as well as an ambulance.

However, the driver of the vehicle 'at-fault' has supposedly told the police that no dash cam was in the car and the police failed to obtain it.

Got me thinking? Do you have to incriminate yourself if you haven't declared the dash cam to your insurance? It is evidence, but we have the right the silence, do we have the right to withhold something that would incriminate us?
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  • Warwick_Hunt
    Warwick_Hunt Posts: 1,179 Forumite
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    The simple answer is yes, you have a right to silence.
  • ratrace
    ratrace Posts: 1,009 Forumite
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    Well its not a requirement yet by law so its up to the individual if they want to disclose any footage they have to the insurance company's so

    Morally = yes
    Legally = no
    “People are caught up in an egotistic artificial rat race to display a false image to society. We want the biggest house, fanciest car, and we don't mind paying the sky high mortgage to put up that show. We sacrifice our biggest assets our health and time, We feel happy when we see people look up to us and see how successful we are”

    Rat Race
  • wgl2014
    wgl2014 Posts: 1,144 Forumite
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    As above, however I would add that if Police were in attendance and suspected a criminal offence (due care etc) they could seize the dash cam to retrieve the footage.
  • Stoke
    Stoke Posts: 3,182 Forumite
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    wgl2014 wrote: »
    As above, however I would add that if Police were in attendance and suspected a criminal offence (due care etc) they could seize the dash cam to retrieve the footage.

    I think the police were concerned due to the nature of the accident and the injuries to one of the guys involved so were a bit distracted. I mentioned to the police officer that there was a dash cam in the car, but he's clearly not had a chance to seize it and then once the vehicles were recovered, the dash cam has been taken out.

    I don't blame the bloke for removing the camera. I think he has a hard time proving he wasn't at fault, but a dash cam with footage isn't going to help his case is it?
  • n217970
    n217970 Posts: 338 Forumite
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    I have a dash cam in my car and have to admit that if thought I was at fault the SD card would disappear very quickly.
  • Ebe_Scrooge
    Ebe_Scrooge Posts: 7,320 Forumite
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    It's an interesting question, for sure.


    My take on it would be that, since a dash-cam is not a legally-required piece of kit, then you can't be forced to hand it over. It would be different if it were a legal requirement, and was factory-installed into all new cars. But since it's purely optional, I can't see how the police could ( legally ) insist you hand it over. Indeed, if you put it out of sight before they arrive, how can they even prove you have one ? I may, of course, be totally wrong - but that's just my view.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    If a murderer doesn't hand over the gun, the police can seize it. I would have thought the same applies here, except that the amount of resource the police are willing to expend on a traffic offence will be different.
  • Nobbie1967
    Nobbie1967 Posts: 1,474 Forumite
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    Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »
    It's an interesting question, for sure.


    My take on it would be that, since a dash-cam is not a legally-required piece of kit, then you can't be forced to hand it over. It would be different if it were a legal requirement, and was factory-installed into all new cars. But since it's purely optional, I can't see how the police could ( legally ) insist you hand it over. Indeed, if you put it out of sight before they arrive, how can they even prove you have one ? I may, of course, be totally wrong - but that's just my view.

    As said earlier, if the police suspect an offence has been committed and the owner of the dash cam wiped the footage. Then this may be construed as disposing of evidence under the offence of Perverting the course of justice.
  • debtdebt
    debtdebt Posts: 949 Forumite
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    n217970 wrote: »
    I have a dash cam in my car and have to admit that if thought I was at fault the SD card would disappear very quickly.

    So you'd provide a version of events which is inconsistent with what was recorded and try to shift blame to the other driver?
  • Warwick_Hunt
    Warwick_Hunt Posts: 1,179 Forumite
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    debtdebt wrote: »
    So you'd provide a version of events which is inconsistent with what was recorded and try to shift blame to the other driver?

    Or to put it another way, his guilty is clear so why give the police any more evidence.

    Any decent defence solicitor would give the same advice prior to interview.
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