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Car Free Days - A Good Way To Fish For Good Transportation by Mar’a Camila Morales submitted: 2000-02-20 Pedicab Drivers Sue Governor Sutiyoso for Operating Ban by A. Rahman Paul BARTER submitted: 2000-02-20 Website Covers Car-Free Day Actions Worldwide by Eric Britton submitted: 2000-02-20 Evolution of a BAD Show Topic for Oprah by Biker-X submitted: 2000-02-12 Italy Bans Cars For One Day In 150 City Centres by Loris Tissino submitted: 2000-02-11 Oprah Wondering if Bicyclists Are Endangering Safety of Motorists! by Brian List submitted: 2000-02-09 Bike Commuting: A Better Way to Travel by Paul Dorn submitted: 2000-02-03 Art Students' Polar Bike Gives New Meaning To 'extreme Cycling' by Byron Spice submitted: 2000-02-01 Drivers Who Kill Could Be Investigated For Murder by Stewart Tendler submitted: 2000-02-01 NYC Mayor Responds To Spike In Cycling Deaths by Kristen Fountain submitted: 2000-01-18 |
Drivers Who Kill Could Be Investigated For Murder [1 February 2000] Stewart Tendler MOTORISTS involved in road deaths will find themselves treated as murder or manslaughter suspects under new instructions for police traffic investigators. Officers will be taught techniques used by detectives in murder hunts. They will be urged not automatically to regard fatalities as accidents but look at possible criminal cases and gather evidence for serious charges. The approach will be spelt out in a 150-page national manual for road death investigations to be issued later this year. The manual was authorised by chief constables. At the moment most traffic accident investigations rely on measurements and photographs at the scene of the crash, examinations of the vehicles involved and statements from drivers or witnesses. Traffic investigators will be told to consider sealing off the scene and treating it like a murder scene so that there is a thorough forensic examination. They will be told to consider house-to-house inquiries for witnesses and studying closed-circuit television footage to see what the suspect driver had been doing before the fatality. Police will also be encouraged to use family liaison officers to talk to and help the families of victims. The manual is being drawn up by PC Andrew Grenter, a former Scotland Yard traffic officer who now works at a national unit researching improvements in police operations. PC Grenter said that accident investigators did not treat incidents as crimes when they should, and drivers have escaped serious punishment. "When we look at the training we give detectives it's quite good and what we give accident investigators is nowhere near that but we're investigating a crime not an accident these days," he said. PC Grenter said: "All deaths should be treated as potential crimes. We should be saying let's treat this as a very serious crime, murder or manslaughter until we can prove otherwise. We should start from the top." He said that new EU human rights legislation will also force police to change their attitude to road deaths. The legislation would allow relatives of a victim to sue forces if they feel a crime has not been properly investigated. The new approach will be welcomed by supporters of road traffic victims who worked with police to draw up the new manual and have argued that police and courts do not take tough enough action against drivers. There are 3,400 deaths on the roads of mainland Britain each year. The latest Home Office figures, for 1997, show that there were more than 300 convictions for driving offences causing death or bodily harm and 270 motorists went to prison. Pip Finucane, vice-chairman of RoadPeace, whose group worked with police preparing the manual, said there were concerns about the standards of investigation and the changes would make drivers aware of what they might face after an incident. The penalties at the moment for a death on the road are on average a fine 250 pounds for "driving without due care and attention". Only about 10 per cent of drivers who kill face the more serious charge of death by dangerous driving, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years and unlimited fines. source: London Times |