POLICE CHIEF’S CRUSADE TO TRAP DRIVERS

Shock pledge to target ‘tens of thousands’ of Scottish motorists

SCOTLAND’S t op poli c e officer yesterday signalled an escalation in the war on drivers which threatens to target ‘tens of thousands’ of motorists. Chief Constable Sir Stephen House said he did not accept collisions were ‘accidents’, as they were preventable.

Another senior Police Scotland officer said there was ‘no such thing as a low-level motoring offence’, paving the way for an even tougher crackdown on drivers.

The moves come after it emerged motoring convictions have soared, including a 17 per cent increase in speeding cases in Scottish courts in the space of a year.

But despite nearly 5,000 more convictions i n 2013- 14, the number of deaths on

Scottish roads has risen. A total of 127 have died, an increase of 14 per cent, since Police Scotland came into operation.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) has warned of a target culture within Police Scotland – which Sir Stephen yesterday rejected.

But l ast night Scottish Tory transport spokesman Alex Johnstone said: ‘There is clearly a scale of offending when it comes to motoring, anyone can see that.

‘Our preference is that resources are focused on the serious end of this scale, where lives are lost and ruined. Instead, it seems police are cracking down on the easy targets who will be compliant when it comes to procedure and won’t cause a problem. That’s the wrong agenda and punishes the wrong people.’

Sir Stephen spoke at a Scottish Police Authority board meeting in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, at which he disclosed that 127 people had already died on Scotland’s roads since April, a figure which, he said, could soon top 200.

He said police were focusing on improving road safety and added: ‘If that means stopping tens of thousands of motorists each year and either warning them or prosecuting them, that’s what we will have to do.’

Sir Stephen said police preferred to refer to a traffic ‘collision’ rather than an ‘accident’, as the term ‘accident’ implied it could not be helped.

He insisted: ‘A high proportion of the fatalities and serious injuries are down to driver behaviour.’

In a statement, Chief Superintendent Iain Murray, head of road policing, said: ‘Enforcement will always remain the primary means by which we seek to change behaviour.

‘However, when it comes to risktaking, there is no such thing as a low-level motoring offence, and the consequences of speeding, drink/ drug- driving, not wearing a seatbelt or using your mobile phone while driving can be catastrophic.’

But solicitor advocate Richard Freeman, a leading road traffic spe- cialist, criticised police for pursuing motorists as ‘easy targets’.

He said they were ‘investing a disproportionate and unnecessary amount of time and resources in dealing with minor motoring offences which could be better placed dealing with more serious crime’.

Nearly one in four motorists north of the Border has been hit with a speeding fine, together totalling more than £50million.

HMICS has called for a new approach by Police Scotland, switching the focus back to officer ‘discretion’, following an admission by some senior officers earlier this year that fining speeding motorists was like ‘shooting fish in a barrel’.

Yesterday Sir Stephen said this approach – re-focusing on officer discretion, driver education and warning motorists as well as prosecution where needed – was already taking place and described the huge rise in motoring convictions as a ‘spike’ in the statistics.

COVER even a modest mileage on Scotland’s roads and you will see alarming sights: reckless overtaking; utter ignorance of lane discipline; vehicles apparently not fitted with indicators; drivers so filled with rage they will flash lights and obscene gestures with abandon.

It is the sort of behaviour all drivers want to see cracked down on and most motorists, confronted with some or all of the above, will admit to having muttered ruefully that the police are never around when you need them.

But we know the police are pursuing drivers with evangelical zeal – speeding cases are up 17 per cent in a year – and no one can try to absolve speeders and drink-drivers of their responsibilities.

A minor mistake by a driver can have devastating consequences, so even a quick glance at a mobile phone can – as police point out – be a lethal error.

But where police and public differ is over a perceived fish-in-a-barrel targeting of drivers to generate revenue or tick target-figure boxes.

Sir Stephen House, all-powerful head of the monolithic Police Scotland, is clear where he stands. Traffic accidents are ‘avoidable collisions’ and he is prepared to target ‘tens of thousands’ of drivers to improve behaviour on the roads.

How can that be squared with solicitor advocate Richard Freeman, a leading road traffic specialist? He charges: ‘The police are investing a disproportionate and unnecessary amount of time and resources in dealing with minor motoring offences which could be better placed dealing with more serious crime.’

Drivers who spot the nose of a Police Scotland i nterceptor tucked by an overpass where the speed limit drops abruptly from 70mph to 50mph might well agree that there is more than a grain of truth in that.

Yes, there must be robust enforcement of the law. But it should be tempered by a degree of discretion from traffic officers as well as a sense that police are looking out for the seriously bad drivers as well as those guilty of more modest transgressions.