New police unit is on the tail of death drivers

10:00am Saturday 4th September 2010

By Chris Walker

OXFORDSHIRE’S first specialist road death investigation unit has been launched to help catch the dangerous drivers who kill motorists on the county’s roads.

Thames Valley Police has set up the unit in Bicester to ensure that all the evidence collected after road fatalities is gone over with a fine toothcomb.

Last year the number of people killed on Oxfordshire’s roads dropped to a 35-year low, with 30 people losing their lives.

Police chiefs believe the new unit is necessary as the public now demand greater accountability into who is responsible for the deaths on our roads.

Insp Paul Winks, who heads the nine-strong unit, said: “Public opinion about safety on the road has changed in recent years.

“The public, the media, the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service have the view that people who cause serious accidents through poor driving, poor decision making, dangerous behaviour or driving with alcohol or drugs in their system need to be dealt with.

“Our aim is to have the most professional investigation of these incidents – and if someone is responsible for that incident to bring them to account.

“Then we need to learn the lessons of that to make sure we can prevent these types of incidents happening in future.

Advances in technology mean many more streams of evidence such as DNA, CCTV and mobile phone records are available to help police determine the cause of accidents and if anyone was responsible for someone’s death.

Insp Winks said police were able to examine evidence from a tacograph to prove that lorry driver Ian King had not pressed the brakes when he killed a family of four after ploughing into a queue of stationary traffic in his 30-tonne low loader, on the A34, north of Oxford in July 2006.

King was jailed for three years and nine months in January 2008 after Oxford Crown Court ruled he must have been asleep at the wheel.

Insp Winks said: “With the advancement of technology and science there’s evidence out there to be gained which we didn’t have five years ago.

“Enhancements in DNA collection means we can get the smallest amount of DNA from an airbag proving who was behind the wheel even if they’ve run off.

“It’s no longer acceptable, and rightly so, to put your own life at risk on our roads and the lives of others. That’s reflected in some of the decisions reached in courts where people will be sent to prison who have previously led a law abiding life.”