Serious injury collision investigation in London

London Assembly Police and Crime Committee inquiry AVZ briefing

Dec 2023

Key points

• Over 10 people a day are reported to be seriously injured in road crashes in London.
• Different police units are involved in the investigation of serious injury collisions with little transparency over who does what or the level of evidence required for a criminal charge.
• The most common investigation is by borough police collecting evidence at the scene before transferring the case to a desk based civilian unit (i.e. no police powers to obtain evidence).
• The most likely scenario is a pedestrian or a cyclist seriously injured (and uninsured) in a collision with a motor vehicle where the driver is uninjured and insured. 
• There is no way of knowing how thorough serious injury collision investigation is, but cyclists and pedestrians are even more dependent on the police investigation as liability must be proven.
• The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee inquiry into serious injury collision investigation provides a rare opportunity to review its effectiveness.

AVZ comment:  Collision investigation impacts criminal and civil justice, as well as road danger reduction efforts. Ways to improve evidence gathering, charging decisions, and communications with victims/solicitors should be identified by this inquiry. Action Vision Zero (AVZ) has established a working group of solicitors, victims and campaigners, to advocate for better investigation, including fairer compensation for victims.  

London reported road casualties (2022)

• 3,873 people were seriously injured, with a further 101 killed and 23,287 slightly injured.
• Seriously injured included 1194 pedestrians, 1020 cyclists, 874 motorcyclists, 504 car occupants, 141 bus passengers, 24 goods vehicle occupants, 23 taxi occupants and 88 other vehicle users.
• Hit and run drivers seriously injured 806, including 294 pedestrians and 286 cyclists.
• Self-reported collisions, i.e. those reported online and where police did not attend the scene accounted for 16% of seriously injured. But this rose to 32% of cyclists seriously injured.
• Pedestrians and cyclists accounted for 56% of those seriously injured, 72% seriously injured in hit and run collisions and 79% of the seriously injured who reported online.

Collision investigation—who does what

• Collision investigation involves different units within the Metropolitan Police Service: 
• Borough Command Units will be the first on the scene and key to evidence preservation. Cases involving criminality identified early on, such as drink-driving, remain with borough police.
• The Road Transport Policing Command (RTPC) includes the Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) which investigates fatal and life threatening collisions (less than 5% of serious injury collisions). Forensic collision investigators are located in a separate unit but now only investigate fatal collisions. The RTPC can be called out to collisions by the borough police but how often this happens is not reported.
• Met Prosecutions Traffic, based in Sidcup, are responsible for follow-up investigation in the vast majority of injury collisions, including self-reported (online) reported collisions. A new unit has been established to investigate potential cases of Causing Serious Injury by Careless Driving.

Collision investigation and detection of criminal offending

• It is not known how often or how quickly the police are able to arrive at collision scenes to collect evidence. This may be a key reason so many crashes are reported afterwards online.
• Nor is it known how, or how often, criminality, i.e. speeding, mobile phone use, careless driving,  is detected. The procedures for collision investigation are not published.
• The same questionnaire is sent to those seriously injured in crashes, as is to drivers and witnesses. Police reports can be based on the uninjured driver’s account, with the injured victim unable to provide a statement or not contacted to do so.
• The police can decide there is not enough evidence for a criminal charge. They do not require approval from the CPS. This policy holds for fatal and injury collisions.
• The outcomes of collision investigation are unreported, apart from a few cases in the media. It is not reported how many injury collisions result in a prosecution or how this varies by road user mode. Nor are the reasons for no prosecution known, e.g. victim causation, vehicle or road defect, or inconclusive investigation. Most serious injury collisions are thought to result in No Further Action.

Collision investigation and delivery of civil justice

• Civil justice can be more important to the seriously injured than criminal justice, with the latter often resulting in no more than a fine. Civil compensation can make much more of a difference to victims, and cover lost work and/or increased medical costs. It can spare the injured from financial devastation and expedite rehabilitation.
• Timeliness is a problem as it can take a long time to get contact details to start a civil claim.
• Cost is a barrier to justice. Victims and/or solicitors have to pay to access basic information, before they even know if they have a chance at compensation.
• Insufficient evidence is a key concern as civil claims need more information than criminal charges, in order to determine liability fairly.
• Hit and run victims encounter additional difficulties with civil claims, and thorough police investigations by the police are even more important.

Collision investigation and treatment of victims

• There is no investigation guide for those seriously injured, except for those with life threatening injuries, i.e. where the SCIU is involved.
• The level of satisfaction with the police investigation is unknown as surveys are not conducted.
• MOPAC/TfL are funding a pilot project to provide emotional support to families of those killed or with life threatening injuries (the worst 3% of serious injured).

Collision investigation and road danger reduction

• Based on the Safe System, the London Vision Zero Action Plan, aims to design out fatal and seriously injured collisions caused by human error. This requires understanding which collisions were due to error, as opposed to risk taking.  
• Contributory factors are collected at the time of reporting a serious injury collision, unlike fatal crashes where they are reported at the end of the investigation and are much more accurate.
• TfL have introduced the “Go, Look and See” scheme where road engineers visit crash sites within days of a fatal/life threatening collision, to identify any possible road engineering factors.

Collision investigation–London Assembly Police and Crime inquiry and AVZ

• This inquiry is the first time a Police and crime committee has reviewed collision investigation. It is a rare opportunity to improve evidence gathering and decision making, as well as communication with families and solicitors.
• AVZ campaigns for thorough investigation so that the injured have a better chance at compensation, offenders more likely to be sanctioned, and countermeasures based on accurate understanding.  AVZ has organised a working group of solicitors, investigation consultants, campaigners and victims, to share information and agree key calls, and we gave evidence at the first session of the inquiry.  
• Whilst the inquiry’s call for evidence closes on 22 Dec, AVZ will continue its campaign for thorough investigation, including with closer collaboration between the police and our working group. AVZ will also work to share lessons from this inquiry outside London as the need for thorough investigations is not limited to London.

Notes:

London Vision Zero Action Plan

Launched in July 2018, London Vision Zero Action Plan, launched in July 2018, was jointly published by the Mayor and Met Police. Its actions in Post Collision Learning and Criminal Justice included:

• Action 12 Enhance and drive excellence in collision investigation and learning by:

a. The MPS providing enhanced scene management and evidence gathering training and equipment to MPS Roads and Transport Policing Command first responders

b. TfL working with the police and other delivery partners such as bus operators, to embed a new framework for improved, systematic information sharing and post-collision learning

• Action 13 TfL, the police and other partners will work to improve justice and care for the victims of traffic collisions by:

a. Publishing through TfL media channels the criminal justice outcomes of fatal and life-changing or life-threatening collisions that proceed to prosecution

The London Vision Zero Action Plan progress report (2021) reported that

• MPS provided training courses to 72 RTP officers during 2020/21 and 42 officers at the start of 2021, with more courses being run during the remainder of 2021
• Together with the MPS, we publicise the criminal justice outcomes of fatal and life-changing or life-threatening collisions that proceed to prosecution through different media and communication channels. With the MPS, we are also looking at options to incorporate criminal justice outcomes in its regular reporting and expect this to be in place by the end of 2021/22.