ROADS
POLICING STRATEGY
This is a statement agreed jointly by the Association of Chief Police
Officers, the
Department for Transport and the Home Office. Its purpose is to set
roads policing
in the context of overall police work, establish the issues which
are a continuing
priority for road policing, and identify the principles which should
underpin
operational practice and the development of policy.
Virtually
everyone in the country uses roads every day, as drivers or as pedestrians.
With 30 million vehicles in Great Britain, the roads are busy and hazardous.
Their
unlawful and anti-social use affects people’s safety and sense of security.
Bad road use
also contributes to the 3,500 people killed and 35,000 people seriously
injured each year
on the roads.
Roads policing seeks to ensure that people can all use the roads, go
about their daily life
and get round their towns safely and without being harmed or intimidated
by unlawful and
anti-social behaviour on the road. This is particularly important for
the elderly, for
children, and also for the economically and socially disadvantaged,
whose children, as
noted in the Government’s Road Safety Strategy1, are five times more
likely to be killed
than those of the most fortunate.
Roads policing also seeks to deny criminals the use of roads for carrying
out crime.
Road policing is therefore an important and visible element in the police’s
commitment to
protect the public, to help maintain safe communities and civil society,
and to support lawabiding
citizens’ confidence in the law.
The maintenance and development of proactive road policing, in partnership
with the
other authorities and agencies involved, will contribute to and support
the rest of the
policing function.
Road policing will focus on the following actions
· Denying criminals use of the roads by enforcing the law;
· Reducing road casualties;
· Tackling the threat of terrorism;
· Reducing anti-social use of the roads;
· Enhancing public confidence and reassurance by patrolling the roads.
Proactive road policing, in partnership with the other authorities and
agencies involved –
local councils, local highway authorities and the Highways Agency, voluntary
and
community bodies – will contribute to and support the rest of the policing
function. It will
form part of the police’s work in local Crime and Disorder Partnerships
and in the
development of Local Policing Plans.
Adherence
to this Roads Policing Strategy is part of the delivery of the National
Policing Plan
1. The five key priorities of the National Policing Plan 2005-082
include ’reducing
people’s concerns about anti-social behaviour’, and addressing road
crime is part of that task. This strategy is based on the intelligence-led
analysis contained in ACPO’s National Strategic Assessment on Roads
Policing3. The assessment was carried out in accordance with the National
Intelligence Model (NIM), and the strategy will be implemented through
a ’Control Strategy’ - also in line with the principles of the NIM
- which ACPO is developing. ACPO have also established a Road Policing
Intelligence Forum to support the implementation of the strategy.
Casualty reduction features specifically in the Policing Performance
Assessment Framework, together with a performance indicator, namely
the number of people killed or seriously injured in a police force
area relative to the number of vehicle kilometres travelled.
Roads and how they are used matter to everyone
2. Roads are part of everyday life. Nearly everyone uses them
every day, as a river, vehicle passenger, cyclist or pedestrian. Roads
are the arteries of our communities - linking homes, businesses, the
shops, the library, the bus stop, schools.
Road crime affects people’s well-being and safety
3. Roads and vehicles need to be used with respect for other
people and road sers. Every year, some 3,500 people are killed and
over 35,000 are seriously injured in road collisions. Together with
less serious casualties, there are over 200,000 personal Injury Collisions’
every year. 95% of collisions are due to drivers’ behaviour; unlawful
or antisocial
driving is a factor in a high proportion.
4. There is a financial cost to the economy, and to the individuals
concerned. The
cost of all road accidents in 2002 to the UK is estimated at just
under £18,000 million - including lost output, human, medical and
police costs, as well as physical damage. The wider impact on personal
and family life goes far beyond the money involved.
5. Bad driving, even where not leading to a collision, is threatening
and intimidating to other drivers. The most serious transgressions
are dangerous driving, driving under the influence of drink or drugs,
and excessive speeding. But other bad driving - such as ’tailgating’,
aggressive overtaking, undisciplined lane behaviour and verbal abuse
- also make other road users feel threatened.
6. Bad driving also affects pedestrian road users, through
careless driving, speeding,
failure to respect road crossings and traffic lights and in other
ways. This amounts to significant anti-social behaviour.
7. The factors contributing to accidents are varied and numerous.
The police have
however identified the four key behaviours which contribute to avoidable
deaths and injury by making collisions more likely, and by making
the resultant injuries worse. These are excessive and inappropriate
speeding, failure to wear seat belts, drink and drug driving, and
careless, dangerous and generally threatening driving and riding.
The police will deal with these behaviours by:
· continued operation of the National Safety Camera Programme, dealing
with
road sites and traffic light junctions with a known history of collisions
and
casualties;
· a national police Drink and Drug Driving campaign, to ensure that
people are
deterred from this activity by significantly increased risk of detection;
· a national police Seat Belt campaign, to increase the level of seat
belt wearing,
especially by rear-seat passengers and children;
· a highly visible police presence on the roads.
Road behaviour is a social issue
8. Vulnerable and disadvantaged people particularly need proactive
road policing.
For example, children in Socio-economic Class V are five times more
likely to be killed on the road than those in Class I. A high proportion
of pedestrians injured are children or older people, reflecting both
their greater vulnerability and their greater dependence on getting
around on foot.
9. Abandoned vehicles, wherever they are left, are unsightly
and hazardous - but they are a particular problem in housing estates,
disfiguring residents’ surroundings,
undermining confidence in the community, and challenging efforts to
establish a crimefree environment.
Vehicle fraud and crime have wider consequences
10. Other crime directly relates to the use of vehicles. Driving
vehicles without a tax disk or without an MOT certificate are criminal
offences. Moreover, the vehicles
concerned are also more likely to be in a dangerous condition and
a risk to others. They are also more likely to be uninsured, a problem
which adds an estimated £30 to the premiums paid by law-abiding motorists.
11. Honest vehicle owners expect the law to be upheld and offenders
punished.
Road policing supports wider policing
12. Research shows significant links between involvement in
other criminal activity
such as theft and burglary and the commission of motoring offences.
This is reflected in police experience that active road policing contributes
to wider policing, including the detection and arrest of criminal
suspects.
Criminals must be denied unchallenged use of roads
13. Criminals use roads to carry out a great deal of their
activity - ranging from burglary and theft to drug dealing and terrorism.
Proactive road policing can deny criminals the unchallenged use of
the roads, and is an effective measure for ontaining and deterring
crime.
Road policing combats the threat of terrorism
14. The threat of terrorist activity in the UK remains high,
and is likely to do so for the foreseeable future. Terrorist networks
need to use roads, and can be detected in doing so by pro-active road
policing. Terrorist networks are also involved in organised crime
including smuggling, which also involves use of the roads, and is
thereby vulnerable to police activity.
15. The police will use the Roads Policing Intelligence Forum
to enhance the gathering and use of intelligence.
Important new technology is being deployed
16. The pilot ’Operation Laser’ project demonstrated the value
of ANPR (automatic
number plate recognition) technology, and the Government has put in
place funding from fixed penalty revenue, to allow the further roll-out
of the technology. This will enable officers in equipped vehicles
to identify any vehicles of interest, whether for breaches of road
traffic law or general criminal matters. This tool is being backed
by the continuing improvements made by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency to the vehicle and driver databases, and the data links between
them and the Police National Computer. This approach is wholly consistent
with use of the National Intelligence Model. The UK police are world
leaders in use of ANPR, and the intention is to retain this lead.
17. Other technological advances mean more scope in future
for managing traffic -
varying speed limits, warning of problems, signing diversions, and
experimenting with
hard shoulder running. Tackling road congestion is a key Government
priority. Doing so safely, with the full involvement of the police,
is paramount. Adopting the best and most efficient incident management
and investigation techniques will help maintain safe and smooth traffic
flow.
Technology complements the role of police officers
18. But technology cannot wholly replace the police: an adequate
police presence on the road is also vital. For example, safety camera
technology is successfully reducing speeding, collisions, deaths and
casualties at the 5,000 or so fixed and mobile camera sites in Great
Britain. An independent review of the first three years of the national
safety camera programme4 found that there was a 32% reduction in the
number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit at camera sites; the
number of personal injury collisions was cut by 33%; and the number
of people killed or seriously injured by 40%, over and above the UK’s
overall general downward trend in numbers killed or seriously injured.
But physical police presence is needed to deal with speeding elsewhere
on the road network, including the motorways, - and there are other
significant problems which camera and other technology cannot yet
detect, including drink and drug driving, careless and dangerous driving,
and failure to use safety belts. The police will enhance public confidence
and reassurance by
patrolling the roads
19. The roads are part of our public space. Unlawful and unruly
behaviour on the
roads and in vehicles needs to be challenged and lawful standards
need to be asserted, as they are on the streets and in other public
places. ’Road rage’ is a serious and unacceptable problem.
20. Effective policing of the roads is therefore an important
and visible element in the police’s commitment to protect the public,
maintain safe communities, maintain and strengthen civil society,
and support law-abiding citizens’ confidence that the law is being
upheld.
21. The police will constantly maintain proactive road policing,
They will also seek to understand better the problems road policing
must address and to develop the best solutions to them. They will
develop and implement a strategy for tackling anti-social behaviour
on the roads.
22. The volume of traffic on the road is increasing and the
free flow of traffic needs to be maintained and enhanced. ACPO has
agreed a division of roles and responsibilities with the Highways
Agency, whereby the police will continue to be responsible for law
enforcement but, on the strategic road network, will be able to cease
a range of non-core tasks and so release resources for core road policing
priorities. A Road Patrol Strategy will clarify issues and responsibilities.
Performance monitoring
23. The number of people killed and seriously injured (’KSIs’)
relative to traffic
(measured as vehicle kilometres) will continue to be the Best Value
Performance
Indicator for road policing in the Policing Performance Assessment
Framework. This provides an important and meaningful measure of outcome,
rather than activity or input, since it is outcomes which represent
bottom line success to the public.
24. The four most significant dimensions of unlawful, disorderly
and dangerous road
and vehicle use are:
· Drink and drug driving;
· Speeding;
· Failure to use seat belts;
· Driving which is dangerous, careless or threatening to other road
users.
25. It is not appropriate for the high-level Policing Performance
Assessment
Framework to include Best Value Performance Indicators at this level
of detail. But, as part of this strategy, the police will develop
simple and practical indicators of success which police forces locally
can use and report to their Police Authorities.
26. Information on police activity in relation to these issues
(e.g. number of arrests for drink driving, speeding, or careless driving)
will be of interest, though this eflects resource input as opposed
to success in challenging the problem.
27. The objective will therefore be to develop indicators of
outcome. These could for example include:
- the proportion of breath tests following collisions which show positive,
providing an
indicator of the prevalence of drink driving, which can be monitored
over time;
- data from speeding monitoring devices such as those at safety camera
sites, which
provide an indicator of the prevalence of speeding;
- data on levels of observed compliance with seat belt use;
- and local opinion polling to monitor how safe and secure people
feel on the roads.
Working in partnership locally
28. The KSI measure is one over which the police do not have
full control, underlining he degree to which roads and how they are
used is a shared responsibility, involving the police, local highway
authorities and the Highways Agency, and also voluntary and community
agencies. The police will maintain and develop their working together
with all these agencies, including through local Crime and Disorder
Reduction Partnerships. Through the development of their Local Policing
Plans, individual forces will seek to discuss and establish with all
the relevant stakeholders appropriate indicators, objectives and monitoring
arrangements and will report on the evidence obtained.
The national partnership
29. No aspect of police work should be considered in isolation.
Each force needs to
deploy resources in response to local circumstances and priorities
within a national
framework. This statement, jointly developed and issued by Home Office
and Transport Ministers and by the Association of Chief Police Officers,
recognises the role of road policing in addressing wider priorities
- such as promoting a greater sense of safety and security in the
community - as well as headline objectives - such as reducing the
toll of deaths and injuries on our roads.
30. All the parties to the statement look forward to working
together and with other interested agencies to the continuing development
and implementation of an effective road policing strategy.
Richard
Brunstrom,
Head,
ACPO Road Policing
Business Area |
David
Jamieson,
Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State,
Department for Transport |
Caroline
Flint,
Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State,
Home Office |
