Police to blame for hundreds of crashes every year

POLICE officers in Yorkshire were to blame for more than 700 collisions on the region’s roads last year, costing their forces hundreds of thousands of pounds in repairs to their vehicles.
The wreckage of a police traffic car in Leeds city centreThe wreckage of a police traffic car in Leeds city centre
The wreckage of a police traffic car in Leeds city centre

West Yorkshire Police alone spent £240,000 in 2012/13 on repairs relating to the 400 incidents where damage was caused to police vehicles and officers were judged to be at fault.

The force, which has spent £1,219,246 on “blameworthy repairs” in the past four years, says it has cut the number of collisions by installing data recorders in cars and increasing the number of driver reviews it carries out.

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In the last financial year North Yorkshire officers were to blame for 171 crashes, while Humberside Police saw 129 “blameworthy collisions” and South Yorkshire Police 49.

Responses received by the Yorkshire Post under the Freedom of Information Act show the region’s police officers were involved in 3,339 blameworthy crashes between 2009/10 and 2012/13.

The total is likely to be higher as North Yorkshire Police only provided data for three years and the figures do not include crashes involving British Transport Police and the now-defunct Yorkshire and the Humber regional force.

Police bosses have managed to reduce the number of such crashes in recent years but said it was “inevitable but unfortunate” that collisions will occur.

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South Yorkshire Police’s response reveals one incident in Sheffield in January 2011 where two officers in unmarked police vehicles were in a collision involving six vehicles which left several members of the public injured.

The officers involved were fined £400 and £500 respectively and disqualified from driving for eight months. One was given a written warning but the other left the force before disciplinary proceedings could start.

In North Yorkshire, the 171 blameworthy collisions last year was a reduction from the total of 173 in 2011/12 and 197 in 2010/11. But during the same period the overall number of collisions climbed from 391 in a year to 456.

The force spent £259,585 last year repairing its vehicles as a result of all collisions and recovered £44,670.

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Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick, said: “Our road network varies from motorways to remote single track lanes, therefore it is inevitable, although unfortunate, that some collisions will occur. The very nature of proactive and responsive policing can result in a collision, as we saw yesterday with the apprehension of three burglary suspects following a police pursuit on the A1.

“The force regularly benchmarks its performance against other police forces and has recently set up a working group to look into how blameworthy collisions can be reduced even further.”

Mark Botham of North Yorkshire’s Police Federation said: “It is regrettable any blameworthy accidents occur involving our members on duty. But it needs contextualising as we police the largest single county in England and Wales with over 6,000 miles of road. Many of our roads are not A class roads and we have seen a steady reduction in officer numbers and the size of our vehicle fleet.”

West Yorkshire Police said its 400 blameworthy incidents last year, and total of 1,918 over four years, were “not necessarily all collisions”.

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It said: “The total therefore includes incidents such as slow speed reversing into bollards in police stations/damage caused whilst manoeuvring or reversing on private premises etc.”

Ned Liddemore of West Yorkshire’s Police Federation said: “These incidents have been coming down for the last four years or so and quite significantly, the amount of money it costs has been reducing.

“They have purchased a data recovery system for use in police vehicles, that has been rolled out steadily, it records all the data, such as speed, braking, everything else. Our officers have nothing to hide and they are trying to do a difficult job.”

West Yorkshire Police said training had been improved in the last two years and that every incident was “recorded and scrutinised by senior managers”. The frequency of driving reviews for officers has also increased.

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A spokesman said: “By regularly assessing our processes and practices, we aim to further reduce these figures and the subsequent costs of repairs.”

Humberside Police officers were responsible for 681 blameworthy collisions in the last four years, though numbers have been falling. The total cost of repairing its vehicles damaged in all collisions in this period was £703,520, and the force recovered £175,000.