Skip to main content

Telematics data aids hit and run driver conviction

Evidence provided by a telematics device has resulted in a suspended prison sentence for a motorist who ploughed into a pedestrian walking home from a Christmas celebration on 12 December last year, says anti-motor fraud unit, APU. The driver admitted the incident, as well as perverting the course of justice after he failed to stop after the incident and later denied responsibility. Other charges included failing to report an accident.
October 21, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Evidence provided by a telematics device has resulted in a suspended prison sentence for a motorist who ploughed into a pedestrian walking home from a Christmas celebration on 12 December last year, says anti-motor fraud unit, APU.

The driver admitted the incident, as well as perverting the course of justice after he failed to stop after the incident and later denied responsibility. Other charges included failing to report an accident.

He told police the courtesy car involved in the crash, which caused the victim serious brain injuries, had been stolen and was not being driven by him at the time, heard Basildon Crown Court. He kept up the pretence for ten months even when strong evidence suggested he was guilty.

The police turned to the investigations team at APU which was able to review the vehicle’s telematics system.

Together, APU and the police used the advanced In-Car Cleverness telematics device installed in the vehicle to trace the exact movements and speed of the BMW before and after the incident. APU says the data provided unequivocal evidence that he was the driver at the time of the accident. He finally pleaded guilty to the charges.

Related Content

  • Bristol’s buses trial CycleEye detection system
    July 7, 2017
    Fusion Processing’s Jim Hutchinson looks at a two-year trial of the company’s cyclist detection system. Is cycling in a city dangerous? Well, that depends where you are and how you view statistics. Malmö is far more bike-friendly than Mumbai and the risk can either be perceived as small - one death per 29 million miles cycled in the UK in 2013 - or large - that equated to 109 deaths in the same year. Whatever your personal take on the data, the effect of these accidents can be felt indirectly too. News of c
  • Simplifying enforcement systems type approval
    August 1, 2012
    Martyn Harriss looks at what we can do to simplify the type approval of enforcement equipment in Europe. I doubt that there are many who can remember the days when policemen hid in the bushes with stopwatches and flags to catch speeding motorists - and I'd suggest that back then there were few who were caught who would have dared question the accuracy of those watches or those who operated them. Probably, fewer still here in Europe could have dreamt that a supranational body such as the European Union (EU)
  • EU urged to green-light revised cross-border enforcement proposal
    October 9, 2014
    Road safety campaigners and European traffic police have welcomed the agreement by EU transport ministers to back a change to rules on cross-border enforcement of traffic offences such as speeding. This comes on the heels of an Institute of Advanced Motorists report that 23,295 overseas drivers have escaped UK speeding penalties since January 2014. The European Commission published a revised cross-border enforcement law in July in response to a European Court of Justice ruling in May that said the exi
  • London launches four new road safety campaigns
    October 22, 2013
    Pedestrians, drivers and motorcyclists are being targeted in four new campaigns to improve road safety in London. Appearing from this week, the campaigns will run for the next six weeks and use various tactics to raise safety awareness among different road users. Earlier this year the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) launched a new road safety plan which set out a clear path towards helping to reduce accidents on London's roads. These new campaigns will build on the progress already made and aim to c