Road traffic law enforcement (report)

This report into the enforcement of road laws concluded that the falling number of recorded crimes on Britain’s roads does not represent a reduction in offences being committed.

The report finds, instead, that motoring offences are failing to be detected due to a decline in the number of specialist traffic police officers.

It concludes that engineering and education “must be backed up by effective enforcement” with road users “knowing that infringements will be detected”.

First announced in October 2015, the Transport Committee inquiry was set up to scrutinise how effectively the Government’s policies to improve road safety, by tackling dangerous or careless driving, are being enforced.

Although the number of ‘causing death’ offences has not fallen, the total number of detected motoring offences has more than halved during the past decade, from 4.3m in 2004, to 1.62m in 2013.

The Transport Committee points out that “as the number of traffic police has fallen, so too has the number of road traffic offences detected”, and that “while the use of technology and education have grown, the number of traffic police has fallen”.

The report recommends that the Government should tackle the overall number of offences committed by “taking measures to support police forces in maintaining the number of specialist road traffic officers”, highlighting the need for “appropriate use of technology”.