Reducing the Congestion Impact of Collisions

The Challenge: The Alliance Operations Department are seeking to explore solutions that will enable officers to reduce evidential capture time by 50% during a collision investigation. In Devon & Cornwall there were 870 people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions during 2017. In Dorset this figure was 356. In addition to the significant impact on individuals connected to and affected by a serious injury collision, there are additional outcomes of prolonged road closures which affect residents, visitors and businesses in Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. When a collision occurs on the Strategic Road Network, this causes additional considerable strain on the surrounding infrastructure, and significant issues around increased pollution and congestion in our major conurbations. Financial impacts are an estimated economic loss of £1m every hour a motorway is closed, and an estimated cost of £2.6m to the public sector for every fatal collision. The impact of the solution must be measurable and workable from an operational policing perspective and should be applicable in other locations within England & Wales. The OPCC (the 'Office for Police and Crime Commissioner') for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and the OPCC for Dorset (the 'OPCCs') are working with Devon and Cornwall Police and Dorset Police (the 'Alliance Operations Department') and Exeter City Futures to help access solutions that can address these challenges and reduce the impact on congestion and across the three counties caused by road closures following collisions. The Alliance Operations Department are seeking to explore solutions that will enable officers to reduce time spent to secure and preserve forensic evidence resulting in evidential capture time being reduced by 50% during a collision investigation. This activity seeks to improve the police evidential capture, recognising that there are other factors, out of police control, which may impact on a road being safe to re-open. To apply, please visit www.exetercityfutures.com/rcic/police-challenge-applicaton-form/