Police

RhiaWeston's picture

PCCs respond to the 'Prioritise this' campaign

By RhiaWeston on 15 April 2013
In February CTC set up the ‘Prioritise this!’ campaign, which asked cyclists to email their newly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and call on them to prioritise road safety in their imminent Police and Crime Plans for 2013-2016. Thank you to all 521 of you who took action.
Cyclists' safety should be prioritised by police

Common themes emerged from the PCCs’ responses such as:

Cherry Allan's picture

Traffic police and other enforcement agencies

By Cherry Allan on 3 April 2013
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...
Cyclist and police car
Headline Messages: 
  • In the interests of road safety and traffic law enforcement, there should be more traffic police, well designed incident reporting systems and the commitment to investigate all collisions thoroughly, particularly those involving non-motorised users.
  • The Health and Safety Executive and other enforcement agencies with road safety responsibilities should prioritise these more highly and be adequately resourced to do so.
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.
Download full campaigns briefing: 
application/pdf iconTraffic policing and other enforcement agencies
Publication Date: 
April 2013
Richard Monk's picture

Essex Police call CTC’s cycling officer in for questioning

By Richard Monk on 16 November 2012
Essex Police called unexpectedly on me this week. Thinking that they must have taken a dislike to my rather shall we say assertive style of cycling to all my meetings and activities, I awaited in trepidation for the expected words of advice.
Essex Police modelling their new Smith and Wesson

Thankfully, Sergeant Ian Banks was proactively looking for CTC to complement an Essex Police Road Safety Day of Action on 29th November.

So, CTC and Essex Police will be at Colchester Railway Station, extolling the virtues of being seen and keeping the bike in trim over the winter months.

Chris Peck's picture

Which police force has seen the biggest drop in traffic policing?

By Chris Peck on 31 October 2012
Despite overall policing levels remaining constant, traffic police numbers fell by 29% over the last ten years. Using the Freedom of Information Act, CTC can reveal the force by force data, showing which policing area has seen the biggest decrease in traffic policing.
London maintains a squad of traffic police who use bikes

Last month CTC revealed data on traffic police levels in England and Wales requested on our behalf by Dr Julian Huppert MP, the joint chair of the All Party Cycling Group.

Now those national figures can be supplemented by local data, showing where the decline in road traffic policing has been greatest. 

Chris Peck's picture

Traffic police numbers fall 29% in 10 years

By Chris Peck on 7 September 2012
7 September 2012
Traffic police are crucial to ensuring that road traffic law is enforced and illegal driving is minimised. Unfortunately figures obtained by the chair of the All Party Cycling Group, Julian Huppert MP, reveal that the number of police has collapsed in the last decade.
Traffic police have become a rare sight on Britain's roads

Having heard from various sources about the collapse in traffic police levels in various police forces, CTC asked Julian Huppert MP whether he would investigate through a Parliamentary Question.

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