Thames Valley Police new taskforce to help combat dangerous driving and 'save lives'

A new policing division has been set up to help officers combat dangerous driving and ‘save lives’ in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

The Roads Policing Unit Tasking Team, which launched today (February 16), supplements Thames Valley Police’s existing capabilities and focuses on using data to target ‘areas of greatest risks’.

Tasking team officers will be deployed to problem roads identified through collision data and other intelligence, to apprehend drink drivers and others flouting the rules and putting lives at risk.  

Inspector Simon Hills, of the Roads Policing Unit, said the new division’s introduction would mean Thames Valley Police is ‘better equipped than ever to prevent danger and save lives’.

Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber, the democratically elected representative overseeing the force, said the tasking team was a ‘major boost’ to policing in the Thames Valley.

The announcement comes following the Government's Roads Strategy launch in January, which has placed a renewed emphasis on ‘preventative action’ to road safety threats, Thames Valley Police said.

The force said the new tasking team will ‘play a central role in delivering this commitment locally’ and would allow for a more ‘coordinated and targeted approach’ to policing in the region.

Inspector Hills said: “The team’s primary focus will be proactive roads policing and enforcement, and the public should expect to see increased action against those who break the law.

“The team will be using all available enforcement options at their disposal in order to effectively target those road users who choose to put themselves and others at risk through dangerous, impaired or irresponsible driving.

“Taskings will be set through our internal processes, ensuring that deployments are always rooted in intelligence, robust data, and a clear understanding of where intervention is needed most.

“In addition to their proactive work, the team will support local policing operations wherever possible and will also target those individuals known to us through intelligence, including those involved in drink or drug driving.

“We will be better equipped than ever to prevent danger and save lives."

Matthew Barber said: “The creation of the Roads Policing Unit Tasking Team will be a major boost in Thames Valley Police’s capability to bear down on the dangerous and illegal drivers who put others at risk on our roads. 

“Their evidence-based approach will focus enforcement in the areas presenting the greatest risk, targeting irresponsible and illegal behaviours.”

Mr Barber said ‘effective enforcement plays a critical role in deterring dangerous behaviour and reducing fatalities on our roads’ but that there needed to be a ‘more consistent and collaborative partnership working between the agencies responsible for the road network across the Thames Valley’.

He said: “The creation of the Thames Valley Strategic Road Safety Partnership through my Road Safety Strategy seeks to strengthen this collaboration and ensure a multi-agency approach to creating safer roads for all.”