New concerns have been raised about road crime in London after the Metropolitan police said that only one in 10 serious injury collisions were investigated by specialist officers.
A London Assembly investigation was told that the Met’s serious collision investigation unit worked on about 100 cases a year – out of about 1,000 that resulted in life-changing or life-threatening injuries.
The majority of the investigations are done by the Met’s roads policing collision scene examiners - with AI technology being trialled to assist their on-scene research.
Campaigners fear this means that many victims, including those that suffer life-altering injuries, such as amputations, brain damage and loss of mobility, are treated as a lower priority – with a significant number of cases resulting in “no further action” by the police.
There were 95 road deaths in London in 2023, down from 102 in 2022.
Provisional figures published by Transport for London for 2024 indicate a sharp increase in fatalities.
The Green party believes the fact that only 10 per cent of serious injury collisions are investigated by the Met’s specialist roads unit is a “massive failing” that “leaves too many victims and bereaved families struggling to get justice”.
Concerns were reignited on Wednesday after the Met police responded to the assembly investigation into the treatment of road crash victims, almost 11 months after the assembly’s report was published.
In the response to the assembly’s recommendations, Chief Supt Tom Naughton, of the Met’s roads and transport policing command, said all vacancies in the serious collision investigation unit were expected to be filled by the end of April.
He said: “Forensic collision investigators (FCI) do not have the capacity to attend the scene of every serious injury collision.
“For those collisions where the threshold criteria for FCI attendance is not satisfied, Roads Policing Collision Scene Examiners (CSEs), who are equipped to photograph and measure the scene, can attend.
“We are currently reviewing CSE equipment alongside the piloting of new AI technology. The new technology is capable of 3D scanning the scene without the need for an FCI, resulting in higher quality measurements.”
The Met said all officers receive training covering how to report/investigate road traffic collisions during their initial police training.
But the assembly report expressed concern that this training only involved 22 minutes on driving offences, 21 minutes on vehicle offences and 20 minutes on driving under the influence of drink and drugs.
Caroline Russell, a Green member of the London Assembly, said: “Every serious road collision that leaves a person with life-changing injuries should be properly investigated. For people walking or cycling, in particular these investigations are often their only route to justice and compensation.
“The immediate aftermath of a collision is an incredibly distressing and disorienting time for families.”
She highlighted the case of a young London woman whose fiancé was killed as he walked across a road near their home.
The number of people killed or seriously injured on London roads in 2023 fell by six per cent compared to 2022, from 3,961 to 3,710.
TfL has recorded 110 road fatalities in 2024 as a “Stats 19” death – an official designation used by the Department for Transport and police forces.
But the total number of fatalities for 2024 increases to 130 using a wider definition that includes incidents where people have died in a vehicle that has left the road, for example the triple fatality crash at Staples Corner, near Brent Cross.
It is not listed as a “Stats 19” death because the car ended up in a private car park. Non-Stats 19 deaths also include deaths that are found to have been caused by natural causes, not a collision.
