Britain’s roads are becoming more dangerous due to a lack of traffic police says one of the country’s leading police chief constables.
Speaking at the Police Federation Roads Policing Conference, Chief Constable Anthony Banham admitted that while cameras were good at catching those who speed, the lack of human intervention is making roads less safe.
“It is not police officers going out there intelligently using their powers,” said Banham. “Some forces haven't issued a single speeding ticket from a police officer – it is always cameras.
"'It makes our roads less safe – we need to acknowledge that police officers enforcing the fatal four offences (speeding, drink-driving, not wearing a seatbelt and using a mobile at the wheel) will make our roads safer."
While traffic police officer numbers have dropped since 2012, the number of speeding offences has risen by 400 per cent, but amazing there are some police forces who haven’t issued a ticket since 2017.
Chief Constable Banham said:"When cameras were introduced there was a lot of literature to say it should never be seen as a replacement for police officers, but it has.
"We have got to get back now that right balance because of course there are many other things that speeding motorists, if we engage with them ... we might find that a camera would never find."