SAFETY campaigners have called on the Government to prioritise roads policing following the release of a report linking dwindling officer numbers to a failure to reduce road deaths over the past decade.

A report by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts) said roads policing needed to be made “a national priority”.

It stated that the number of officers dedicated to roads policing in England and Wales had fallen since 2010, including an 18 per cent decrease between 2015 and 2019, adding that long-term decline in road deaths and serious injuries has “largely ceased” over the same period.

Pacts urged ministers to specify roads policing within the government’s pledge to fund 20,000 additional police officers.

Pacts executive director David Davies said: “The coronavirus lockdown has highlighted the importance of roads policing, with traffic speeds increasing on empty roads and worrying incidences of extreme speeding.

“This could have serious consequences, particularly for people following Government advice to walk and cycle. The number of road deaths is more than twice the deaths from homicide and terrorism combined, and breaches of road traffic laws are the biggest single cause of road deaths."

Lancashire police and crime commissioner Clive Grunshaw backed the findings of the reports, and said roads policing was consistently raised as a priority during public engagement events in the county.

He said: “When I speak to the people of Lancashire, roads policing is consistently raised as a priority, which is why promoting road safety and working with the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership is included in my police and crime plan for Lancashire.

“In Lancashire we have had to make savings of over £86m since 2010, with further savings of £28m to be found by 2025. Government cuts have had a disproportionate impact on places like Lancashire, who in that time lost 750 officers in comparison to Surrey, who lost just eight officers."

Latest figures show that 54 people died in road accidents in Lancashire in the 12 months to June 2019, which was up from 40 in the previous year.

A Government spokeswoman said: “We recognise the critical role that policing plays in saving lives and driving down criminality.

“This is why we’re recruiting an additional 20,000 officers – over 3,000 of which have already joined the force – and progressing with our two-year Roads Policing Review."