Dorset Police – Road safety costs

Road safety in Dorset remains a serious concern for residents and a high priority for Dorset Police and their road safety partners.

Officers issue fixed penalty notices and advice and also provide an educational booklet which gives information and guidance on avoiding driving carelessly.

The Dorset Police Driver Awareness Scheme was originally introduced in April 2005. Dorset was one of the first places in the country to offer an educational alternative to penalty points. Dorset was also one of the first forces to deliver wider driver awareness training that covered not just speeding but also other road safety risks. Feedback from participants has continued to be overwhelmingly supportive.

Through education the scheme offers an effective and proportionate alternative for fixed penalty offences and is currently used for speeding, red light and mobile phone offences. In order to provide consistency with other national schemes now in operation, the course is only available to drivers who have not already attended a course anywhere in the country within the past three years.

The direct costs of operating the Dorset scheme in 2014/15 were fully met by the collection of fees from the participants.

The total cost of road safety during the financial year 2014/2015 was £4,893,000 which includes £1,551,000 for the Road Safety Department comprising the Driver Awareness Scheme. The income generated by the scheme and other education deliveries such as business driver courses was £2,629,000 which has been re-invested into road safety.

The effects of serious road traffic collisions are far reaching for all involved – the victims, their families, witnesses and also members of the emergency services, who deal with the aftermath of the collision and have to impart terrible news to the families of those involved.

Dorset Police is committed to challenging dangerous behaviour on our roads and investing money directly from enforcement back into this important area of policing to save lives.

Statistics for casualties – killed and seriously injured – in Dorset:

2010 – 18 fatal and 331 seriously injured

2011 – 19 fatal and 310 seriously injured

2012 – 22 fatal and 333 seriously injured

2013 – 27 fatal and 299 seriously injured

2014 – 18 fatal and 335 seriously injured

2015 – 27 fatal and 317 seriously injured

2016 - 16 fatal and 323 seriously injured

2017 Jan-June - 9 fatal and 144 seriously injured

The total cost of road safety in 2014/15 is shown below. This schedule includes the costs of the road safety department (which includes DAS) and the contribution from Dorset Police toward the cost of Dorset Road Safe which is fundamental to the operation of DAS.

Full costings to financial y/e March 2018, will be updated as soon as possible.