Police car and ambulance attending road traffic accident (Photo by National Motor Museum/Heritage … [+]
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) has told the U.K. government that lives could be saved if there was greater enforcement of road laws.
A report published on June 4 also called for the reversal of cuts suffered by U.K. police forces and for there to be more traffic police on the roads.
“The government should be guided by the science and prioritize roads policing to save lives and combat wider criminality,” said PACTS ahead of the publication of Roads policing and its implications for road safety.
PACTS’ report criticizes successive years of cutbacks in roads policing despite “clear evidence that it is effective and that road users want to see more police on the roads.”
The charity also highlighted that drivers who drive dangerously are often engaged in other crimes. Police numbers were cut by 22% in 2010-14 and by a further 18% in 2015-19.
Roads policing report from PACTS.
“There is a widespread belief that the government’s failure to reduce road deaths over the past decade is partly due to a downgrading of roads policing,” said David Davies, executive director of PACTS.
“The coronavirus lockdown has highlighted the importance of roads policing, with traffic speeds increasing on empty roads and worrying incidences of extreme speeding,” added Davies.
“Breaches of road traffic laws are the biggest single cause of road deaths,” he said.
“This needs to be recognized in the government’s priorities and resources for policing.”
Fatal 4
An analysis by PACTS of the “fatal 4” offenses—speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, driving under the influence of drink or drugs, and driving while using a handheld cellphone—shows that, since 2010, where enforcement has been increased, compliance has improved and casualties have dropped.
Still, where cutbacks have affected enforcement, there has been little or no improvement.
“The public support more enforcement,” said Davies.
“Roads policing provides double value: tackling those who drive dangerously often disrupts wider criminality. For example, Essex police found that almost half the drug-drive offenders had previous arrest records for serious crimes such as burglary, drug dealing, and violent crime.”
The point about wider criminality is often made on social media by Detective Superintendent Andy Cox of the Metropolitan Police.
“Our key strategy is eliminating road death and serious injury collisions, but roads policing officers also tackle other forms of crime through traffic stops and winning public confidence,” said Cox.
“We have a clear strategy of targeting the riskiest drivers,” he stressed.
“We do so statistically as these are the most likely offenses to result in serious and fatal crashes.”
A vehicle covered in a tarpaulin is removed from a crash scene in Bradford following a road traffic … [+]
Cox, who is lead for Transport for London’s Vision Zero campaign, which aims to eradicate deaths and serious injuries from London’s roads, added that “roads policing is an absolute priority for the Metropolitan Police and working with Transport for London we ensure a vast number of officers are patrolling roads across London every single day and night.”
During lockdown, Cox’s road crime team enforced 345 cases of drivers speeding at 100+mph on 60mph roads, with the highest speed enforced being 163mph.
Cox welcomed PACTS’ call for the police to make greater use of “dashcam” footage supplied by drivers, and “helmetcam” footage supplied by motorcyclists and cyclists.
PACTS’ charitable objective is “to protect human life through the promotion of transport safety for the public benefit.” It has an annual income of £200,000 per year derived from membership subscriptions, sponsorship, event income, and research funding. It supports the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety but receives no funding from Parliament.
