New road death unit to bring 'reckless' drivers to justice (From Bucks Free Press)

New road death unit to bring 'reckless' drivers to justice

9:13am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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DEATHS on the road will be investigated by a new specialist group aiming to bring 'dangerous' or 'reckless' drivers to justice.

Thames Valley Police has launched The Road Death Investigation Unit.

The team will attend scenes of fatal collisions and take on the investigations, including taking witness statements, examining CCTV and collating forensic evidence.

In the Thames Valley area, 69 people have died on the roads this year.

The team is based at Bicester, Aylesbury and Three Mile Cross police bases. It is made up of an Inspector, six Sergeants and 18 Police Constables.

Bicester based Sergeant Pete Jell, of the unit, said: “Previously, investigations would have been carried out within local road policing units.

“This unit will now build on this previous good work, and enable traffic officers to concentrate on the day to day demands of policing the roads, while we take over the investigative aspect.

“The public, the media, the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service rightly have the view that people who cause serious accidents through dangerous or reckless driving, poor decision making, or through driving with drugs or alcohol in their system, need to be brought to justice, and as a unit, we aim to do this.”