Finding support » Practical information for the bereaved » Understanding the investigation
Understanding the investigation
On average, the police will investigate four times as many fatal crashes as homicides. Since 2001, the police have introduced measures such as training programmes and guides to promote consistency and good practice in fatal crash investigation.
The Road Death Investigation Manual was first published by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in 2001. It has been updated twice but remains advisory with individual police services able to determine the priority they allocate to road death investigations. The current Road Death Investigation Manual refers to four different levels of investigation.
According to the Road Death Investigation Manual, a road death is to be investigated as an unlawful killing, until the contrary is proving. This is an important principle for, although road traffic legislation may refer to road 'accidents', police should approach each fatal collision with an open mind as to the extent of culpability and criminality.
A copy of the most recent Road Death Investigation Manual, last updated in 2007, and now co-published by ACPO and the National Policing Improvement Agency, is available from the ACPO website.
It is a lengthy document (141 pages) and is more about quality assurance, than technical procedures.
