Stop police closing roads to investigate accidents.
When there is a serious accident, the police have, over the last few years, started closing the road, often causing delays of several hours for the motorists caught in the tail-back. This did not happen in the past and doesn't seem to happen in other countries
Why does this matter?
With the delays of hours, or with motorists being forced onto roads they don’t know, and are unsure of where to go, the drivers are stressed to get to their destination in time. Accidents are far more likely to happen on non-motorways, especially when lost and behind schedule. Local traffic and pedestrians have the extra delays because of the diverted vehicles, and are at more risk of accidents also. All this extra risk to bring possible prosecutions which will do nothing to reduce accidents in the future. This policy is poorly thought out and counter-productive.
Suggested by tonymlv and tagged motoring, police, roads. 5 Comments. Image source
I agree! Ive noticed this happening more & more. I dont remember there ever being a law passed that gave police such powers?
Obviously they have to investigate a serious accident & have the road cleared of debris etc but what seems to be happening is they automatically close the road for hours at a time. With modern technology ( digital cameras etc the closure should be less not longer than the past.
Often if there is a serious accident that doesnt result in a blockage of the road, many hundreds of cars may pass it without stopping if they see any injured are already being attended to so why does it then become important to close the whole road when the police arrive?
Seems absolutely ridiculous that police can close roads for ages after the incident is “over”. Yes close to attend to casualties and clear up the mess but open again immediately. I don’t care who is to blame. It’s not a crime scene. it’s an accident. Accept it. Millions of pounds of taxpayers money just to apportion blame seems way over the top. It takes several plods several hours to work out what happened whilst real crimes are taking place elsewhere. Open the road and send those plods to do some real work.
Are you nuts? How is it not a crime scene? The Police HAVE to investigate to PROVE whether or not it was an accident or something else. If someone wasn’t paying attention, if someone has been seriously injured, then it is a crime scene. Serious court cases happen as a result. If you were the injured party or someone accused, wouldn’t you want the professionals to find out the truth!
It does seem crazy to inconvenience thousands of people for several hours to determine whether or not a crime has taken place. Surely it makes more sense to assume that no one set out to cause a crash and therefore an accident has occurred. I have been close to the scene of a major motorway crash and witnessed several police measuring up for hours after the debris has been cleared. To what end? Those officers would be much better employed investigating more obvious and deliberate crimes or preventing another accident by getting back on patrol. People missed flights. Babies needed feeding. Old people needed the toilet. Parents missed picking up their kids from school. We all agree that casualties need to be attended to and that debris needs clearing but once done, open the motorway immediately. Move the debris as soon as casualties have had their needs met. I wonder if accident scene investigation is an “easier” job than dealing with real crime. We are always told that police resources are limited but obviously not that limited!! I think that more severe cuts in police budgets would force them to prioritise a little more and stop this crazy practice. As a tax payer I strongly object to my hard earned wages being spent on this practice. It seems that everything has to be investigated these days until a finger can be pointed at some poor soul whose concentration lapsed or who made a mistake. And we all make mistakes when driving. There feels like a degree of self importance involved here. We all have equally “important” jobs to do but most of us do our best to minimise inconvenience to others. If someone was particularly reckless and this behaviour appeared to cause the crash then police would be told this at the scene by the many witnesses who are usually involved. Otherwise, as the above person says, accept it’s an accident, clear the motorway, get the traffic moving and do something more useful with my hard earned taxes please.
The police currently have no accountability regarding road closures following a serious accident.There is no regard to the welfare of road users who end up being trapped for hours. The recent closure of the A31 across the New Forest in January 2014 is a good example of how the police are over zealous in preserving a so called crime scene at the expense of road users who were trapped for up to 6 hours. This situation must not be allowed to continue for much longer. A balance needs to be struck between a police investigation and the adverse impact of road closures especially where drivers welfare is put at risk because they are trapped. A target closure of no more than 2 hours should be allowed in virtually all cases. That said a public debate needs to air the issues but let’s be clear the current police attitude and policy is not sustainable and it is only a matter of time before there is a serious incident or tradegy that arises from an uncessary prolonged road closure.