ROAD POLICING SHOULD BE NATIONAL, CLAIMS LOGISTICS GROUP

Policing of the nation’s roads and motorways should be controlled at a national level to ensure that laws are consistently enforced in different regions, argues the business group that represents the logistics sector.

The request is to ensure unified enforcement to ensure the safety of road users and that laws are enforced uniformly across the UK, according to a press release by Logistics UK.

A national approach will target a problem familiar to drivers of haulage equipment on Britain’s roads. A national strategy does exist to police roads, however, it is enforced by the 43 different police authorities, who each have different priorities and enforcement protocols.

This siloed approach leads to inefficient use of resources, duplication of efforts and inadequate information sharing with other departments.

For industries that regularly use Britain’s roads, the expectation is that policing of roads will be standardised based on a core set of road safety objectives, targeted at serious and repeat offenders.

The demand for unified regulation also includes the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA), whom Logistics UK want to take the lead on commercial vehicle road safety enforcement.

This would have the DVSA enforce vehicle maintenance, risk assessment and driver fatigue rather than individual police authorities.

The arguments that have been made are part of a call for evidence for a review into roads policing released in July 2020, which acknowledges the issues in handling road policing on a local level, particularly with regards to motorway roads which travel through several local authorities.