Now is the time for a national and independent Road Collision Investigation Branch.  So says PACTS who organised yesterday’s conference on this theme.  With road deaths no longer decreasing, new efforts are required. So PACTS is working to get the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill amended to include establishment of this department.

Noone should be surprised that RoadPeace, a road crash victims’ charity, has long supported such investment in investigation research. At our 2010 conference on Improving the Post Crash Response in London, Simon Labbett, ex police collision investigator (and now a TRL Director) spoke about this, as did Richard Cuerden (TRL Technical Director of Vehicle Safety and Chair of PACTS Vehicle Design Working Group , who highlighted the work of the multi-disciplinary On the Spot Study research programme.

As we stressed at yesterday’s conference, we see it as complimentary to police investigations. We launched our campaign last year on collision investigation on the premise that thorough investigations are the cornerstone of both justice and prevention. And our campaign is focusing on police investigations as, even with a national branch, the vast majority of casualty collisions will be investigated by the police and only the police.

Acknowledged by PACTS and other conference participants, the idea of a Road Collision Investigation Branch is not new. It was a key issue posed in PACTS’ Transport Safety Commission’s 2014 inquiry. In our response to that inquiry, we argued that an additional surcharge on motor insurance premiums, collected via the MIB, could fund this department. Such funding should also ensure consistent and thorough police investigations.

In the coming months we will try to help PACTS make the case for a National Collision Investigation Branch. We know from our members how desperate they are to see that lessons are learned, with the deaths of their loved ones making a difference.

A best example of this is Kate Uzzell, our new RoadPeace South West Local Group co-ordinator. Through her efforts, and following the death of her husband after hitting a pothole whilst cycling, road maintenance inspections now must consider the impact of road defects on cyclists.

Updated on: 23 March 2017