Stricter sentences could help cut road deaths, says Fed member

6 February 2024

A Hertfordshire roads policing officer says tougher court sentences could help reduce the numbers of deaths and serious injuries on the country's roads.

PC Brad Glover, of Hertfordshire Police’s Road Policing Unit and a Hertfordshire Police Federation rep, said the wider criminal justice system had a part to play in making roads safer.

He was commenting after the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) Roads Policing Seminar, and a discussion on A victim-led approach to roads policing.

The seminar was told that there are five deaths every day on the UK’s roads.

Each fatal collision, the seminar heard, cost the economy £2million, and then there was the emotional and psychological impact on families and friends, and on police officers attending the scene.

Brad said: “One of the interesting things that was discussed, and I hadn’t considered, was a comparison between the resources that are put into a murder investigation compared to a fatal collision on the roads.

“They’re just not comparable.

PC Brad Glover, of Hertfordshire Police’s Road Policing Unit.

“It’s also trying to ensure that our partners in the criminal justice system do their part.

“When we get people to court there are a lot more things that the criminal justice system can do, such as imposing lifetime driving bans, but we never seem to do it.

“Stiffer sentences, hopefully, will act as a deterrent.”

Brad added: “There are a lot of drivers who claim for exceptional hardship. It currently equates to 20 per cent of drivers who should be disqualified. How is 20 per cent exceptional?

“One of the quotes I took away, which is really relevant, is that driving is a privilege, it’s not a right.

“I do think it’s seen as the other way round for a lot of drivers.”

Brad said he was all too aware of the emotional impact of serious and fatal collisions on families, and on the officers who attend.

He said: “You turn someone’s life absolutely upside down when you go and knock on their door and tell them that a loved one has died or a loved one is seriously injured and potentially may still die in hospital.

“Only a couple of weeks ago I had to take a family to hospital because their son was acutely unwell having been involved in a very serious collision.

“It does take a strain on the police officers that respond to those incidents.

“It does take a strain on the specialist responders who have to go to deal with those incidents.

“It’s not just colleagues from roads policing, it will be colleagues from across policing because we will get support from other areas, such as response officers who are often some of the first officers on the scene.

“It can be absolutely harrowing.

“The long-term impact that has on you can’t be understated.”

Brad said another interesting discussion in the seminar was the New driving legislation - does it deliver better protection for officers?

Tim Rogers, secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and the national Federation’s pursuits and driver training lead, spoke about the effectiveness of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Describing it as ‘a great bit of legislation’, Tim said it had the power ‘when correctly applied’ to give police drivers much better protection in law.

However, he said that some chief officers have not familiarised themselves with the legislation and their obligations in order for it to provide drivers with the full protection.

“I’m bored of saying this but, put simply, it’s a case of comply or die,” he said.

“Some of the problems we’re seeing is that the prescribed training that is set out in the act is not being consistently applied.

The debate heard from Jo Boxall-Hunt, subject matter expert from the College of Policing, who spoke about out the licensing requirements under the new legislation.

And Brad said: “It was a good discussion. I now understand the changes that are going on to police driver training in that the College of Policing is going to be issuing licences to all forces to try to ensure there’s a standardised approach to driver training.

“It was interesting to hear the pursuits lead talking about the change in legislation, which will hopefully offer us some better support.

“There was nothing before, now there’s this, which is good.”

Some of the seminar sessions are available to watch on the PFEW YouTube by clicking here.