How many times have you seen something atrocious done to you or seen on the road, and have you wished you could report it to the police on the spot and with adequate evidence?
The increasing popularity of calls dashcamsor dashboard cameras, is causing many of the videos captured by them to become viral. Google itself is taking advantage of the increasing ubiquity of dashcams to obtain, with due privacy precautions, data that can be used to complement Google Maps.
But in addition, more and more applications are emerging that allow you to use your smartphone as dashcamand one of them, also created by a more Ukrainian former student from a few years ago, Oleksiy AfoninAlex, has created a company that has developed a secure method to send anonymous complaints to the police directly, with all sufficient data so that they can be properly processed.
Alex began working in 2015 on his project with a social focus on improving road safety, and registered an NGO in Ukraine for this purpose. In 2020, it judged that mobile technology was already sufficiently developed to meet the requirements of a road safety application, and invested to develop a minimum viable product and launch a pilot project. Their application was accepted by the Ukrainian authorities, and they began to officially collaborate with the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Health and the National Parliament. However, due to the war, the company had to interrupt its activities.
Despite that, the team continued with the developmentand now they are working in the launch of the app in the UK, in Dubai and in Spain. In our country it has the support of the DGT, which apparently confirms that there are no legal barriers to the operation of the system. From the point of view of data protection, the application ensures the anonymity of users and makes the possibility of fraud or manipulation difficult.
The operation is simple: the smartphone It records continuously when you’re behind the wheel, but as long as you don’t touch the screen, the video is deleted after thirty seconds. If you witness an infringement, simply press the screen, the video is stored thirty seconds before and after that press, and you can later review it and send it with a single click directly to the local DGT delegations depending on the geolocation of the infraction taken by the app. Decidedly much, much better than simply shouting and insulting the driver of the other car: by having all the data of location, speed, time and a video, the police can make decisions about whether that complaint can be processed with the appropriate guarantees, and send it to the offender.
The idea is to offer a potential game-changer to reduce road deaths and improve law enforcement’s ability to respond quickly. Given that traffic accidents cost Spain around 26 billion euros annually (around 1-2% of GDP), a 25% reduction could save the country up to 8 billion euros each year , and contribute to avoiding the loss of thousands of lives. But above all, it allows drivers to take an active role in reducing road accidents by making it easier for those who violate the rules and endanger others to be correctly identified, instead of simply cursed. For the driver who sends the report, something almost therapeutic. And if with this we can contribute to reducing the number of potentially dangerous offenders circulating on our roads, the better for everyone.
This article is also available in English on my Medium page, آ«How a handy new app could help reduce dangerous drivingcome on