The Police Federation of England and Wales’s (PFEW) upcoming Roads Policing Seminar is a valuable opportunity to assess the impact of new legislation on police drivers.

That’s the view of PC Sid Carr, of Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team and a Suffolk Police Federation rep.

New regulations came into effect in November 2022, which set out the prescribed training that will give trained police drivers the better protection in law afforded to them under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.

The law now takes into account the high standards of training received by police drivers, which means their driving is no longer judged to the same standard of the careful and competent driving member of public.

Any manoeuvre performed must be within the driver’s training, and officers must be up to date with their training.

 

PC Sid Carr, of Suffolk Roads and Armed Policing Team and a Suffolk
Police Federation rep.

 

The change followed years of campaigning by PFEW.

Sid said: “The most interesting thing for me is the law change around police driving. I’m looking forward to an update on that and how it is affecting drivers.

“Around 90 per cent of my job is done inside a car. I am at higher risk than other police officers of collisions happening, so it will be nice to know where they are with the law changes and how other police officers have been affected.

“Have there been other law developments through the courts?

“It’s nice to get an update on where we’re going with things, and it will be nice for other members to know if it is working.”

The Roads Policing Seminar takes place online on 30 January and registration is now open.

Supported by Slater and Gordon Solicitors, it is a chance to engage with those in the roads policing sector, share experiences, discuss best practice, and steer the direction of roads policing for the future.

As well as covering new driving legislation - does it deliver better protection for officers? Topics will include forensic collision investigation, electric vehicles - health and safety, and the future of roads policing.

Sid said: “We don’t often get the chance to talk about roads policing.

“Budgets have been cut across the country because of other pressing matters, such as domestic abuse, hate crimes, fraud, sexual assaults, which require a lot of investigating and money.

“But do we need to look at how many roads police officers there are and whether people are taking risks on the road and disqualified drivers are thinking that they won’t be be caught?

“Maybe it will change in the future. Things might turn round and the Government might say it needs to be a priority inside each county, because not every driver is a criminal but pretty much all criminals will use vehicles.”

And he encouraged members who are police drivers to engage with the seminar, if they can.

“If you have time it will be great to have a big uptake,” he said.

“I know people are on rest days and they should enjoy them and not think about work, or are under pressure at work, so I appreciate it’s not high on everyone’s priorities, but if they have the time it will be nice to have them along.”

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