Roads: Accidents
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of (a) legislation and (b) guidance in enabling police forces to take account of patterns of reported dangerous driving behaviour when determining whether to pursue enforcement action following a road traffic incident.
Answered by Sarah Jones
The existing legislative framework provides the police with appropriate powers to investigate and take enforcement action in response to incidents involving dangerous driving. Any form of dangerous driving is considered a serious road safety issue.
How police powers are exercised, including how offending patterns are taken into account, is a matter for the operational judgement of Chief Constables. Decisions on whether to pursue enforcement action following a road traffic incident are made on a case‑by‑case basis, informed by the circumstances of the incident, available evidence and local intelligence.
Guidance for police in this area is provided by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council. This guidance supports officers to assess risk, proportionality and evidence, and enables forces to make use of intelligence and information where appropriate when determining the most suitable policing response.
The Government keeps legislation and guidance under review but does not direct the police on individual enforcement decisions, reflecting the operational independence of the police.
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