AVZ Roads Policing campaign

AVZ campaigns to reduce road danger. This includes campaigning around traffic law enforcement and the wider justice system.

Our Roads Policing campaign calls for:

  • Reducing harm posed to those who more vulnerable on our roads.
  • Careless and Dangerous Driving to be included as priority offences.
  • Greater enforcement of speeding (already a police priority) especially on roads with lower speed limits (20mph/30mph).
  • Greater transparency and accountability with traffic law enforcement.
  • Increased community engagement, including with detection (Operation Snap and Community Speedwatch) and consultation.
  • Quality assurance with collision investigation.

Our campaign builds on the calls in our May 2021 Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) election manifesto, Commit to Act on Road Danger. Developed with 20s Plenty for Us and RoadPeace, the manifesto was supported by British Cycling, Cycling UK, Living Streets, Road Danger Reduction Forum and Sustrans.

Our manifesto had five key areas which we will work across:

1. Road danger reduction – the right priority

With limited resources, police must prioritise. It is time to update the “fatal four”. Enforcement should focus on reducing harm posed to others, especially those walking and cycling. This means Careless and Dangerous Driving should be priority offences.

We campaign for road crime to be treated as crime. This includes tougher sanctions with increased fines, greater use of driving bans and vehicle confiscation.

2. Tackling speeding—an offence like no other

No other offence causes as much harm as does speeding. This includes injury, intimidation and the harm caused by CO2 emissions and air pollution both of which are exacerbated by speeding. No other motoring offence is as common.

We need more speed enforcement, especially on 20mph and 30mph roads. Minor increases in speed can have devastating impacts on people walking and cycling in terms of the seriousness of the injuries they cause and the intimidation and threat they pose.. 

3. Transparency and accountability

At present data on traffic law enforcement is published by the Home Office once a year. Police may share stats on recent operations on Twitter or in press releases. But these are inconsistent and do not allow comparison.

AVZ is calling for data on road traffic crime (motoring offences) to be published quarterly, at the local level and by speed limit. We want to know how much enforcement is being undertaken, which offences and on what sort of roads (20mph/30mph limits etc).

We also want roads policing strategies to clarify the objectives, actions and performance indicators used to guide enforcement efforts. Progress should be reported.

4. Working with the community

The community is key to delivering Community SpeedWatch (CSW) and Operation Snap (third party reporting). Careless driving detection can be greatly increased by third party reporting. Much of the speed enforcement that occurs on lower speed roads is done by CSW volunteers.

We are calling for proper resourcing of these schemes and better engagement with the community, including reporting regularly on the offences detected.

5. Improving the post-crash response

Thorough collision investigation is required to detect criminal culpability. Careless driving and speeding are the offences most likely to be detected.

AVZ calls for quality assurance with injury collision investigation. Best practice standards should be agreed and met. People walking and cycling should be able to trust that any harm posed to them will be investigated and responded appropriately.

So how is AVZ campaigning?

  • Analysing the statistics and making the evidence-based case for better enforcement.
  • Producing briefings, summaries, and comparisons of police services.
  • Working with local campaigners and national campaign groups.
  • Responding to consultations on police and crime plans and road safety strategies.
  • Liaising with Police and Crime Commissioners, police and other policy makers and practitioners.
  • Identifying and promoting good practice in traffic law enforcement.

Outputs include:

Roads policing (general)

Speeding

Careless driving

Criminal justice and court prosecutions

London

Also

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