More police on roads is key to fewer deaths, says county's chief constable
Getting more police officers on the roads is key to reducing the number of people killed in crashes, the county's chief constable has said.
Anthony Bangham, chief comstable of West Mercia, made the comments in his role as roads policing lead for the National Police Chiefs Council.
He was speaking at the National Roads Policing Conference, where he set out an ambition for the UK having the “safest roads in the world”.
He said that there are five preventable deaths on the nation’s roads every day.
The number of people has reduced from 2,946 in 2007 to 1,793 a decade later.
However, since 2011 they have started to plateau.
Mr Bangham said: “Working together, we want safe, secure and efficient roads. Police officers play a vital role in disrupting criminality and reducing death and serious injury on our network.
“If we look at the data, it shows a 39 per cent reduction in deaths since 2007. But from 2011 onwards, you start to see a flattening out.
"After many years of decline, you can see for yourselves that all the signs are that this is going to get worse, it is getting worse and if we don’t address the problem, we are going to see all those declines reversed.”
Mr Bangham said it was unfortunate that Transport Minister Jesse Norman had been unable to address the conference in person, instead sending a video message, as the government needed to heed his warnings if they are serious about reducing road fatalities.
Speaking about his own force the Chief Constable said there had been 53 road deaths and 15 homicides in 2018, but the latter receive more coverage.
He told delegates that his focus for 2019 will be to work towards the goal of safer roads, safer speeds, safer road users and vehicles and post-crash response.
He said he will also be seeking to encourage more forces to prioritise roads policing.
