Road casualties in significant rise
CRIME: The number of people killed or badly injured on South Yorkshire’s roads has risen significantly, as police officers admit motorists are continuing to drive while using phones or under the influence of drugs.
We continue to see people using their mobile phones while driving. Chief Inspector Russell Hughes, of South Yorkshire Police.
THE NUMBER of people killed or badly injured on South Yorkshire’s roads has risen significantly, new figures show, as police officers admit motorists are continuing to drive while using phones or under the influence of drugs despite tough sanctions being imposed.
There were 822 people killed or seriously injured in road accidents across South Yorkshire last year, a rise of 33 per cent from the year before. It comes despite the introduction of harsher penalties for using a mobile phone while driving in March last year, as well as the continuing use of tougher drug-driving laws which came into force in 2012.
Chief Inspector Russell Hughes, who heads up South Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, said: “When serious collisions occur my team are always on scene, and there are certain contributing factors, often illegal behaviours, that we see time and time again.
“The police have always had powers to enforce road traffic laws but a recent change in legislation around drug driving and increases to penalties for the use of a mobile phone whilst driving has highlighted the dangers of these behaviours.
“In spite of this, we continue to see people using their mobile phones while driving and my officers have also been using their roadside testing kits on drivers they suspect are under the influence of drugs.
“We cannot stress enough how dangerous these driving behaviours are. Being involved in a crash because you are distracted, or in an unfit state to drive, will have lasting, maybe even fatal, consequences for you, your family and the others involved.”
The provisional figures for road casualties show a mixed picture, with the number of people killed or seriously injured on the rise, but the number suffering minor injuries falling by a fifth in a year.
The overall number of casualties has fallen to a 10-year low of 3,858.
The rise in the number of serious casualties is thought to be linked to a recently-adopted recording system – CRASH – used by South Yorkshire Police which standardised the way in which serious injuries are categorised.
Superintendent Simon Wanless, who chairs the county’s Safer Roads Partnership, said: “We are still waiting for national casualty statistics to be released, but early indicators suggest that other police forces who have started using CRASH have seen an increase in their own KSI (killed or seriously injured) figures.
“It is possible that casualty statistics have been artificially low in previous years, as before now it was at the discretion of the officer attending a collision to assess the level of injury. While we are concerned about the increase in these numbers, we are confident that the figures are more reflective of the reality in South Yorkshire, and give us better information to help target and improve the effectiveness of our education and enforcement activities.”
Joanne Wehrle, the partnership’s Safer Roads Manager, said road users could do a lot to protect themselves by abiding by key safety rules.
She said: “Our road safety team works countywide to educate people and give them the skills to become safer road users. The data and anecdotal feedback from the police and the community makes it clear that we still have a great deal of work to do.”