Road policing review launched to help improve safety
Study will look at how effective the current system of road policing and traffic enforcement is
A review into the way the UK’s roads are policed is being launched in a bid to improve safety.
Jointly funded by the Department for Transport (DfT) and Highways England, it will focus on how effective the process is, as well as where improvements could be made.
The DfT will work with the Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council to see how policing of the network could be helped and how casualties could be reduced.
Michael Ellis, road safety minister, said: “We have strong laws in place to ensure people are kept safe on our roads at all times.
“But roads policing is a key deterrent in stopping drivers breaking the law and risking their and other people’s lives.
“This review will not only highlight where police forces are doing good work, it will show what more can be done to improve road safety.”
It will check how police and different agencies work together, along with what information they share. It’ll also focus on how officers can best police roads in rural and urban areas.
The RAC welcomed the move, with a spokesperson also stating: “The review should look carefully at numbers but also consider new forms of technology that can help keep our roads and its users safe.”
A call for evidence will be launched in the autumn, while the findings and recommendations from the review will be ready next year.
The DfT is adamant the process won’t increase any burden on police, and has created a smartphone app for police mobile devices to help with the process. It has also rolled out a new version of the collision reporting and sharing software used by officers.
The app lets officers accurately report crash information and locations at the scene, rather than having to return to a police station to fill out the information on a computer.
