Call For More Roads Policing Officers

There needs to be funding for more roads policing officers, Hampshire Police Federation has warned, as the number of people being killed and injured in road crashes hits a record high.

New Department for Transport figures show that, in 2022, 2,715 people around the country were injured or killed, compared to 944 a decade ago. A growing number of crashes were attributed to drug-driving.

Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield said: “When austerity hit, one of the first departments that was cut was our roads policing. We massively cut the numbers and I think every member of the public would say that you see less police cars on the motorways and on the roads.

“Seeing a car pulled over on the side of the road by a marked police car, you just don’t see it as much. We don’t have the resources to do road checks and to pull over every single person that’s driving badly. I think some of these people know that. They know that the chances of them getting stopped is really small, so they’re taking those risks. Unfortunately, what’s happening is, people are being killed. I think there needs to be a huge increase in a visible policing presence on all our roads.

“For many of those people who have committed offenses and killed people, it wasn’t the first time they drove under the influence. We don’t have enough numbers to be proactive. Police officers would love to be proactive. They would love to prevent these tragedies. We’re the ones who have to go round and tell these families their loved ones have been killed, so we would love not to have to do that, by catching the people before it happens.”