More effective traffic policing is crucial for cyclists, and also helps tackle one of the biggest fears that many others have about taking up cycling in the first place - namely, bad driving...
CTC View (formal statement of CTC's policy):
- Investing in roads policing is highly effective, not only for promoting road safety, but also in tackling other forms of crime. It should be prioritised by national government and included in all overarching policing strategies and plans (e.g. the Strategic Priority Requirement in England and Wales). This would strengthen the case for individual police forces throughout the UK and Police and Crime Commissioners (England and Wales) to give it the priority it deserves.
- Police and Crime Commissioners and local authority crime reduction/safety partnerships must prioritise speeding, dangerous driving and other road traffic offences as key issues to address.
- The police should always refer serious injury collisions up to the prosecution service for a charging decision, not just those that result in a fatality. If they do not charge or decide not to refer the case, the police should be required to explain their decision systematically.
- The police should be trained so that they understand the practical and legal issues facing cyclists and other non-motorised users.
- Wherever possible, the police should respond to any reported collision involving a cyclist or pedestrian by:
- Attending the scene, taking statements and gathering evidence from witnesses
- Investigating incidents that result in severe injury as thoroughly as those that result in death - ACPO’s Road Death Investigation Manual should cover serious as well as fatal injuries and be renamed The Road Crash Investigation Manual.
- Investigating reports of seriously bad or aggressive driving even when no injury occurs and allocating sufficient resources to do so – after all, such drivers are often involved in other criminal activity
- Investigating and where possible charging motorists who fail to stop with ‘leaving the scene of the accident’.
- The police should facilitate collision and ‘near miss’ reporting (e.g. via online systems).
- The victims of road crashes involving unlawful driving should be entitled to the same support services that other victims of crime receive.
- The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should take a more proactive line over work-related road safety and should receive adequate funds to do so.
