Roads Policing Review Announced to Improve Safety
The Department for Transport (Dft) has announced a ground-breaking, two-year review of roads policing and traffic enforcement, in a bid to improve road safety. The review will consider how roads policing currently works, its effectiveness, and where improvements could be made or gaps bridged.
A pilot programme based on the review and consultation feedback, which could trial new initiatives and methods of working to see what works best in reducing road casualties, could begin as early as next year.
Road Safety Minister Michael Ellis 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.”
The review will also look at how the police and different agencies work together, the information they share and how improvements may increase capability and capacity. It will also consider how best to police roads in rural and urban areas, and the strategic road network.
To establish what currently works well, a call for evidence will launch this autumn, with findings and recommendations ready in 2020.
The DfT is confident that review will not increase the burden on police forces and in order to help free up police time, a new version of the Collision Reporting and Sharing software; a smartphone app to work on existing police mobile devices and funding to buy tablet computers will roll out.