Police involved in 1,000 accidents

5:24am Saturday 17th May 2008

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West Yorkshire Police officers have been involved in more than 1,000 accidents in 12 months, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal.

Figures released by the Home Office show there were 1,054 road traffic collisions in 2006/07 involving West Yorkshire Police.

Accidents which only involved police vehicles stood at 720 with 334 collisions involving other vehicles.

Of the total, 197 collisions happened while police were on an emergency call or in pursuit of a target, which resulted in 52 injuries. No-one was killed or seriously injured.

Despite the high numbers, West Yorkshire has seen a decrease in collisions compared with 2005/06, where there were 883 accidents involving just police and 547 which included other factors.

However, the numbers of collisions caused from emergency responses rose from 123 in 2005/6 to the latest figure of 197. In 2005/6 there were 24 injuries, again with no serious injuries or fatalities.

A spokesman for the Force said: "Public safety is our primary concern and we aim to ensure that our officers and staff are trained to the highest standard. That means not just those who get behind the wheel, but also those who monitor and supervise the activity of our officers when they are on the road.

"Any injury or death is regrettable, but there are more than 7,000 miles of roads in West Yorkshire and our vehicles cover around 15 million miles a year, most of them without incident. Every potential police pursuit involves considered judgement, before and during, about the appropriate course of action. If necessary we will abandon a pursuit."

The spokesman said police chiefs constantly review policies and incidents to see if anything could be done better. Any collisions involving police vehicles can be the subject of detailed scrutiny.

Tory shadow police reform minister David Ruffey, who asked for the figures, called for action to revise driver training standards.

He said: "These statistics illustrate just how difficult and dangerous a job police officers do.

"There is an obvious need for a review of the matter, and action is required to revise training standards to improve the safety of both the public and the police."

Nationally, the number of road traffic accidents only involving police cars has dropped by six per cent from 19,280 in 2005/6 to 18,208 last year, while the number of accidents involving police cars and non-police cars has risen by two per cent from 10,476 to 10,646 in the space of a year.