A poll by the RAC has found that 61% of motorists believe the roads are not manned by enough police officers.
Regardless of whether this concern is real or just perceived, it’s probably not going to be a problem that will be resolved any time soon.
What with police force numbers being hacked in to such an extent that first Truckpol was forced to close and possibly now AVCIS will go the same way, the likelihood of more plods on patrols is remote. Read Full Article »
The closure of Truckpol, the UK’s only freight crime intelligence unit, in March was a bitter blow to the haulage industry.
Its future had been uncertain for some time and then when it lost the Home Office grant in the last round of government cutbacks the writing was on the wall.
So maybe it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to learn that Truckpol’s parent, the Association of Chief Police Officer’s unit dedicated to combating organised vehicle crime, AVCIS, is also now under threat. Read Full Article »
The government continues to push ahead with the introduction of a specific drug driving offence and it says ‘drugalysers’ should receive type approval by the Home Office by the end of the year.
The Department for Transport says the penalty for the new offence will be a maximum of six months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000, and an automatic driving ban of at least 12 months.
Currently, police have to demonstrate that driving had been impaired by drugs in order to prosecute, but the proposed legislation will automatically make it an offence to drive a vehicle if you have certain controlled drugs in your body in excess of specified amounts. Read Full Article »
Whiplash claims are, as the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is keen to point out, a pain in the neck.
As someone who was once on the other end of a spurious claim for neck injuries, it’s easy to see why.
Whiplash is tough to disprove, very tough. In fact, it’s so difficult that according to the ABI it is all thanks to this complaint that the cost of all our insurance policies have risen by 20%.
Claims have increased by a third in the last three years, despite a fall in the number of collisions. Read Full Article »
