More than a third of UK police forces agree they could improve support given to crash-injured cyclists – if they were given more resources, funding and manpower.
The Road Justice campaign contacted police inspectors and traffic accident investigators across the UK to establish their commitment to improving road safety for cyclists. The Police forces' responses are published on an interactive map which shows authorities in the South West, Southern England and Yorkshire are most supportive of change.
In July, Road Justice, which is led by the CTC, published a report outlining three recommendations to improve the way police forces handle bike crash incidents. They sent a copy to all 43 forces across England and Wales. The report's key recommendations included better road collision investigations, more resources and training for officers and better victim support.
Road Justice coordinator, Rhia Weston said: "For the most part, the police have been keen and willing to discuss the report in order to explain the constraints they are under, mostly as a result of resource cuts, and to discuss the changes they’d like to see made to roads policing."
She said a number of forces would welcome additional funding for roads policing and said a lack of national targets for road crime reduction was the reason why roads policing is sidelined in budgets.
The interactive map allows users to see which forces entered into dialogue with Road Justice and colour codes their response according to how supportive of the campaign's recommendations they were.
Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people have signed the Road Justice petition calling for improvements to roads policing in order to make cycling safer. The campaign is seeking a meeting with the Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims, Damian Green. To sign the petition, visit the Road Justice police petition page.
The Police federation say the number of traffic officers is at an all time low of around 3,500 across England and Wales.