Welsh Police Road Safety 'Speed Costs'

Welsh Police Road Safety 'Speed Costs'

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catso

Original Poster:

14,796 posts

268 months

Monday 26th September 2005
quotequote all
Strange that a force so obsessed with 'Road Safety' (£££'s) have so many crashes themselves... :rolleyes:


http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=16171590&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=crusading-cops-come-a-cropper-name_page.html

"Crusading cops come a cropper Sep 25 2005

Matt Withers, Wales on Sunday

THE Welsh police force most obsessed with road safety pays out compensation on average once a week to people involved in cop car crashes, we can reveal.

North Wales Police - led by anti-speeding king Richard Brunstrom - has been successfully sued for compensation 150 times in the past three years.

The smashes have left the force with a compensation bill of more than £170,000. Police made the cash payments to victims of crashes for personal injuries and damage to their vehicles.

The figures, released to Wales on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act, show the force was made to pay out £33,798 last year following 49 compensation claims. In 2003/4 it paid out £60,347 and the year before £76,786. The biggest single payout was £22,050 in June 2002.

The largest number of accidents - 24 - took place on intersections. They have also had to pay up after cop cars backed into vehicles 23 times and struck parked cars the same number of times.

They have hit "animals or objects" five times and pedestrians and cyclists twice.

Cars have also had head-on collisions with other vehicles leading to compensation claims seven times.

North Wales Police refused to discuss the high number of accidents involving their cars.

A spokesman said: "We have no comment or observation to make on these figures."

Caroline Chisholm, of the road safety campaign group Brake, said she was surprised a force with such a reputation for road policing was having so many accidents.

"The police are there to be setting a good example to the rest of the public and obviously they have to drive within the same laws as everyone else," she said.

"But generally, in most cases they are there protecting the public and doing a good job actually catching dangerous drivers and not causing accidents themselves."

In contrast to North Wales, neighbouring Dyfed Powys Police has not paid out anything in compensation in the past three years.

Gwent and South Wales forces do not keep such information.

Home Office figures earlier this summer revealed the number of people killed or injured in collisions with police cars had risen by 60 per cent in Wales and England.

The Association of Chief Police Officers' spokesman on driver training Ian Shannon - who is also North Wales' Assistant Chief Constable - said he was "very conscious" of the rising number.

His Chief Constable Mr Brunstrom, famously dubbed an "enemy of the state" by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, performed a surprise U-turn last week when he announced he did not want more cameras on the region's roads.

He instead outlined a raft of new measures, including driving lessons for convicted motorists."

viggen114

259 posts

254 months

Monday 26th September 2005
quotequote all
above post said:
Gwent and South Wales forces do not keep such information.


that is a very convenient answer

gh0st

4,693 posts

259 months

Monday 26th September 2005
quotequote all
Well speed does kill.... tossers!

cptsideways

13,564 posts

253 months

Monday 26th September 2005
quotequote all
Are those crashed included in the KSI stats they use to extract £'s from us?

kenp

654 posts

249 months

Monday 26th September 2005
quotequote all
viggen114 said:

above post said:
Gwent and South Wales forces do not keep such information.



that is a very convenient answer

Not only confinient but probably false as well. Compensation payments are monies and all monies must be accounted for, even if they come from an insurance company.
Ask them to look in their 'Insurance claims' folder.

WildCat

8,369 posts

244 months

Tuesday 27th September 2005
quotequote all
Reversing into cars?

Colliding with parked cars?

Colliding head on?

Knocking down people und cyclists?

Probably counting these in their stats and raising revenues as result. Must be as they do say average Joe ist not having the accidents at these revenue sites but getting fined as just overs all the same.

But then...cutting traffic cop training probably...they are out of practice of a decent blat! und art of overtaking properly. They need to go on DIS course!

Peter Ward

2,097 posts

257 months

Tuesday 27th September 2005
quotequote all
Ah, but the figures are coming down year on year! That's alright then. Either they're getting safer or their lawyers are getting better....

I wonder how much on top of the £170k the lawyers are costing? Will that be funded from scameras?