Road safety charity Brake has criticised a one-third reduction in the numbers of traffic police officers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and said it could leave parts of the force area dangerously short on vital frontline roads policing.
They said police forces like Hampshire risked allowing bad drivers, as well as those drinking and driving or using drugs before getting behind the wheel, to get away with it and possibly cause serious crashes.
A survey by Brake and webuyanycar.com released today showed that traffic police numbers across Great Britain had been cut by 12 per cent in five years, with some forces suffering 30-40 per cent reductions.
They said Hampshire had cut a third of its traffic police in the past five years – one of five forces across the country that had reduced its numbers by a third or more.
Brake said the cuts left some parts of the country dangerously short on vital frontline roads policing, which could put the public at risk from dangerous, law-breaking drivers.
They said they were calling on the Government to act to stem cuts to life-saving traffic policing. Brake is urging the Government to make roads policing a national policing priority, and ensure traffic policing is sufficiently resourced to tackle drunk, drugged and other dangerous driving.
Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive at Brake, said: “It is desperately worrying such large cuts continue to be made to traffic policing, just as progress is being made to improve the law on deadly drug driving.
“Roads police officers do a vital job enforcing important safety laws and protecting the public – their work is proven to save lives and prevent injuries and suffering.
“Cutting traffic police is a false economy, because the crashes and casualties they help to prevent inflict such devastation and are a huge drain on public services.
“These cuts also undermine important progress being made by government to tackle drug driving – because as much as we need a new drug driving law and screening devices, we also need the officers out there to enforce it.
“We urge the government to make roads policing a national policing priority, to make sure we have a strong deterrent against the risk-taking on roads that can easily cost lives.”