My motorway journeys are generally along the northern or western areas of the M25, M1 to M6 route and the western end of the M4. These few hundred miles comprise some of the busiest motorways in England and also many miles of smart motorways. In past years I have experienced a complete electrical failure whilst driving in the "fast" lane necessitating navigating to the hard shoulder with no power steering or brakes. It was awkward. I have had my windscreen splintered by an air rifle shot from a bridge. I have flagged down a police car to report a drunk or ill driver having overtaken me in a frighteningly erratic manner and known the sorrow when my wife`s best friend`s daughter was killed by a drunk, disqualified driver on the M6. I have experienced the frustrations when apparently every couple of miles or so on a perfectly clear day when traffic is moving normally at or around 70MPH and no roadside construction going on, overhead warning signs indicate a limit of 60 or 50 MPH for no apparent reason. I have also been very aware of the few if any motorway patrol cars in view on or at the side of the motorway. Perhaps that is why I have been unable to find statistics on the numbers of traffic police officers or patrols currently operating.
Government data shows 1,750 people died on UK roads in 2019 – a figure that’s more or less unchanged since 2010. Of course the pandemic reduced road volumes in 2020. But with safer vehicles, enhanced driving tests and arguably safer roads it is disturbing that deaths haven`t reduced. It is a simple effort to find out everything to do with road and/or motorway policing except the numbers of cars and officers on the road. What we do know is that c150 offenders were guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.
It is difficult to explain the differences in these two statistics over the last few years. Many unresearched explanations come to mind: vagaries in definitions, jurors` sympathies eg "it could have been me driving", CPS unusually pressing for the more serious charge. An interesting additional fact is that between 2016 and 2020 only c41 offenders in total were sentenced for causing death by driving unlicensed or uninsured. In that same span 21 were sentenced for causing serious injury whilst disqualified. In 2019-2020 just under 600 lives were lost or damaged through deaths or serious injuries caused by dangerous driving. The offence of causing serious injury by careless driving implemented in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will add to the CPS`s choice of charge and give lawyers more clients to represent but suspected offenders must firstly be arrested and for that to happen they must be observed or be the subject of substantial suspicion.
It seems to me that a reliance on cameras recording so many aspects of our daily lives has been used by government to attempt remote policing in our cities and on the roads in compensation for the drastic reduction in police officers since 2010. Mass recruitment as we are experiencing now will take years for these new officers to gain the experience needed to function to their and our satisfaction. Perhaps in future individuals will rely on dash cams to reduce their insurance premiums and in dire circumstances to prove their innocence in a traffic incident. That`s a position arguably similar to Americans keeping their guns under jackets and in their cars. We follow them with some delay in so many aspects of our society and behaviour; why not on the roads to protect ourselves from suffering unwarranted legal accusations of dangerous or careless driving unless of course we prefer less rather than more evidence of bad driving............
No comments:
Post a Comment