MYTH DISPELED FOR JUSTICE ON THE ROAD

There’s a widely held belief in Britain that when a truck driver is involved in a fatal collision, they are routinely arrested. But Inspector Wenham is keen to dispel this myth.

“We now treat the majority of drivers as critical witnesses, and other than what we have to do by law, which is to confirm their name and address and driving status, we won’t ask them any questions for at least two days. We let them go home and get their heads sorted,” he explains.

But there are exceptions, like when the driver tests positive for alcohol or drugs at the scene.

He continues: “We’ll get in touch with the transport manager, and if they’re local, we’ll get them down while the lorry is still in situ. If there is a camera fitted, and it uploads to Cloud storage, then we will ask the transport manager to email footage of the incident to us. If it has a hard drive, we will take it out there and then to prevent it from overwriting. In the case of a fatality, we will generally seize the vehicle for a forensic mechanical examination.”

Inspector Wenham is a massive advocate of cameras, both external and in-cab. He says they help collision investigators immensely and can save drivers a lot of angst. He says there’s historically been a lack of aftercare for drivers involved in fatalities.

Because of the size of the vehicles involved, the aftermath of a collision between an HGV and a vulnerable road user is often incredibly traumatic for the emergency services who attend the scene.

“Your first fatality definitely sticks with you,” he admits. “My first one with the unit was a 19-year-old under a cement lorry. When I’m recruiting, I tell them they will see horrendous things and that they need to be prepared.”

However, he says that unlike 20 years ago, when officers were told to “dust themselves down, put their big boy pants on and get on with it”, there has been a culture change, and welfare is available to help officers who might be traumatised by what they’ve witnessed.