Both the police and the public have expressed concern about road traffic incidents (RTIs) involving the police. RTIs occur when the police are driving in a variety of capacities such as responding to an emergency call, pursuing a vehicle which has failed to stop or are simply on patrol. These incidents can have a detrimental effect on public confidence in the police, can take up a significant amount of public resources in their investigation and cause suffering and pain for those involved. While specific high profile cases can create much media attention, there remains very little robust evidence available to inform public debate and policy development. This study seeks to provide a better evidence base for this area by examining in detail a range of the most serious RTIs that occur. The research has examined serious and fatal injury police RTIs, over a two and a half year period from April 2004 to September 2006. It analyses the trends in the data and looks at the nature and circumstances of RTIs in more depth. In addition, it aims to highlight any lessons that can be learnt for policy and practice to help prevent future incidents. (Author/publisher)
Abstract