UK NEWS
ANGER OVER 188 PEOPLE KILLED BY 999 CALL VEHICLES
ALARMING: Police car chases have been resposible for most deaths
By Polly Buchanan
BRITISH motorists and pedestrians are being killed by the emergency services sent to protect them, shocking new statistics revealed yesterday.
Accidents involving emergency service vehicles caused almost 200 deaths in the last five years.
The alarming figures, uncovered by Liberal Democrat Transport spokesman Norman Baker, showed that “blue light” vehicles were involved in 11,295 smashes in Britain between 2002 and 2007.
These caused 1,643 serious injuries and 188 deaths – just over three deaths a month.
Crashes involving police cars were responsible for the highest number of deaths, with 148 occurring as a result of police collisions since 2002, and 30 people killed last year alone.
The revelations come two years after a Daily Express crusade to cut the number of deaths from speeding police cars.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) warned the true figure may be even higher as data was not available for every force.
Mr Baker said: “These findings are extremely concerning. While these vehicles are rightly in a hurry, we must look at what can be done to reduce the number of accidents they are involved in.
“I have written to both the Home Secretary and the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers calling for a review of procedures to see how accidents can be minimised.”
The figures show that the ambulance service has been involved in 1,511 collisions over the last five years, leading to 30 fatalities.
There were 535 fire service vehicle crashes during the same period, causing 10 deaths.
A spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake said: “It is deeply worrying that almost 2,000 people have been killed or seriously injured by emergency services in the past five years.
Brake is calling for better training for drivers. The head of Road Safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Kevin Clinton said: “High speed drives should only be undertaken if essential, and even then, safety should be the first priority to avoid turning one emergency into two.”
The figures come on the back of an IPCC campaign for police cars to be fitted with “black box” recorders which film incidents from a driver’s perspective as well as recording conversations.
They claim this could prevent officers from taking “unnecessary risks” during police chases.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) cited the huge costs involved but is considering introducing them on all new cars.
A report by the IPCC last year warned that a record number of civilians, including bystanders, are being killed or injured as a result of collisions involving police cars.
Between one and 11 police pursuits out of every 1,000 now lead to a death, it found.
The report blamed “unnecessary risk-taking” and called for guidelines to be tightened up.
The RAC backed the call for a safety review. A spokesman said: “These figures are alarming.”
Video 
INCREASED DEATHS BY 999 DRIVERS..
07.02.08, 2:00pm
"THERE IS NEVER A COPPER THERE WHEN YOU NEED ONE"
..........LESS TIME (DRIVER) TRAINING...MORE COPPERS ON THE STREET!
"THERE IS NEVER A COPPER THERE WHEN YOU NEED ONE"
WE WILL JUDGE YOU ON YOUR RESPONSE TIMES IN ARRIVING AT INCIDENTS SO SHOW HOW GOOD YOU ARE !
IT AINT ROCKET SCIENCE....
ONLY TO POLITICIANS AND POLICE MANAGEMENT!
• Posted by: JackDoff • Report Comment
HANG ON A MINUTE!
07.02.08, 11:54am
I thought all pursuit and black rat police vehicles were video equipped anyway. Data is shown on the screen, so it must be recorded.
• Posted by: Zeigfreid • Report Comment
BLACK BOXES
07.02.08, 11:49am
Ten years ago companies had produced these devices to be fitted in emergency service vehicles. They were computerised, anti-tampering cheap units that would hold every bit of data inluding if and which lights were on, audible warning, speed, precise time of initial breaking; and so on.
If they had such facilities then; and especially now, with sat nav technology, it appears that they don't want to rather than, cannot do.
For a hundred quid, you can buy a sat nav with practically all the technology that you need.
• Posted by: Zeigfreid • Report Comment
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