Wiltshire Police has followed the lead of a police force in Wales in saying that it will accept footage taken on drivers’ personal dashboard cameras when looking to prosecute dangerous drivers.

The move comes as a reduction in traffic officers puts the onus on finding alternative ways of safeguarding drivers, although the force does say that it will not proceed with a prosecution on the evidence of video footage alone.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “We do accept dashboard camera or GoPro footage from people where they believe an offence has been committed.

“You do not need a crime number – only allegations that are deemed as dangerous driving would warrant a crime number as these are recordable offences for national crime recording standards.

“It is important to point out that if you report an incident, you must be willing to give evidence in court and provide a statement. Police will not prosecute from the video alone, as we need to have evidence of the cause and effect of the incident.

“There are publicly available documents from the CPS which detail what would constitute dangerous driving and careless driving, and it is recommended that these documents are read before submitting videos to police.”

Footage which is sent to the police is reviewed by an officer, a process which became much simpler last year after North Wales Police started to take advantage of a loophole which was intended to apply to speed cameras.

Last year, Swindon Borough Council launched an investigation after one of its bin lorries was caught on a dashboard camera driving through a red light.

A car driver was waiting to turn right across Thamesdown Drive, a dual carriageway. When his set of traffic lights turned green, he narrowly avoided an accident with the lorry which ran a red light coming the opposite direction.

Police forces nationally have been left looking for new ways to tackle incidents on the road, after a Press Association investigation last month showed that the number of traffic officers decreased by 30 per cent in the decade to 2017.

Recently, the number of casualties from accidents on Britain’s roads has started to slowly increase, following years of decline.

In the year leading up to September 2016, the most recent year for which figures were available, the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents rose by six percent over the previous year, to a total of 25,160 nationally.

For those driving cars, the figure rose by 10%, greater than small rises for cyclists, bikers and pedestrians.

Anyone who wishes to submit dash cam footage to Wiltshire Police should put it on a dated disc, and send it to the Criminal Justice Unit at Criminal Justice Unit (Traffic), Gablecross Police Station, Shrivenham Road, Swindon, SN3 4RB, ideally within 10 days of the offence being committed.