On Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 October 2015, senior traffic police officers will be gathering in Manchester from all over Europe for the annual conference of the European Traffic Police Network (TISPOL).
The main objective of the Conference will be to call for the better protection of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, with a view to achieving the European target of halving road deaths by 2020 by removing the most dangerous drivers from Europe's roads.
"Traffic police have a vital role to play in reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads of Europe," commented TISPOL President Aidan Reid. "Central to this is the task of identifying and sanctioning those drivers who pose unacceptably high risks. They may be disqualified, uninsured, or simply have a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road which are there to help keep everyone safe".
He continued: "Robust systems are in place to deal with high-end offenders, but there needs to be effective enforcement and consistent, tough sentencing in order to provide a worthwhile deterrent".
Other topics of the conference will be road safety targets and their potential to unite groups seeking to reduce death and injury on the roads of Europe; endeavours to extract commitments from governments to avoid any further cuts to policing resources; and the capacity of police officers to enforce existing laws, investigate collisions effectively and identify and penalise the most dangerous drivers.
In making European roads safer, the senior police officers, academics, policy makers and other road safety professionals present at the Conference will consider a range of specific issues during the two days of talks. Examples will include safer driving in later life, fatigue in emergency services drivers, police strategies to reduce motorcacle casualties, safer cycle commuter journeys, and alcohol and increased vulnerability.
"TISPOL is the most effective police road safety network in the world," continued Aidan Reid. "This year's Conference will make a vital contribution to ensuring that those working in European road safety maintain the momentum that has been established so effectively in recent years, in order to deliver even better results to 2020 and beyond".
The Conference will follow the road safety campaign conducted by Luxembourg in September, during which a total of 1,403 inspections such as speed, seatbelt and overall road checks were carried out between 15 and 30 September 2015. During this period, a total of 297 violations were recorded.
Photo by TISPOL
