News & Features

AA Calls for an Increase in Road Traffic Police Officers

Posted in General News on Wednesday, September 11th, 2024

The AA is calling for 1,000 new road traffic police officers to be appointed to improve road safety and help tackle wider crime. 
  
As part of their manifesto, Labour pledged to recruit thousands of new police officers to tackle neighbourhood crime. The AA believes 1,000 of these new recruits should form part of the road traffic section of forces across the country. 
  
The request, which was part of the AA’s own Motoring Manifesto, follows AA analysis of the latest police workforce statistics released by the Home Office. As of 31st March 2024, there were 4,215 traffic officers in England and Wales, a drop of 1,022 officers from the highest point reached on 31st March 2016 (5,237). 
  
Recruiting more traffic officers would increase the visibility of police on the roads. In a poll of 11,469 drivers conducted last month, more than half (57%) felt that drivers could get away with careless driving due to a lack of police on the roads. Similarly, more than two fifths of drivers said offences such as using a handheld phone behind the wheel (44%), drug driving (42%), not wearing a seatbelt (46%) and using a dangerous vehicle (43%) were going unpunished due to a reduced police presence. The wider use of technology in roads policing such as new AI cameras which can detect more offences than just speeding is welcome, but just 15% of drivers agree that roads policing can be carried out by cameras alone. This only enforces the need for boosting the number of traffic officers.