PATROLLING one of the busiest stretches of road including the highest motorway in the country is the task of West Yorkshire Police Roads Policing Unit. Crime Reporter LOUISE COOPER shadows Road Traffic Officer Pc James Sandford for a behind the scenes look at the real work of the traffic cops

WITH blue-lights flashing we race to a road traffic collision at the Tesco filling station in Moldgreen.

The police marked Volvo Estate car, a first-generation diesel, shakes and rattles as it weaves in and out of traffic, hurtling along Kilner Bank Road at breakneck speed.

The call came in over the radio and we are closest to respond and with reports of one adult suffering from a neck injury, it is a 999 categorised call.

The car has sat-nav built in, but Pc James Sandford knows the patch despite a shake-up just six months ago which saw him move from patrolling Halifax to Huddersfield. He is now based at the Wakefield Operations centre.

Cars stop patiently awaiting our arrival and imminent passing. The traffic car is a mirage of yellow and blue, a blurred dot on the rural landscape.

Pc Sandford, an experienced traffic officer, controls the vehicle with ease despite varying buzzings and beeps his attention is fully on the road ahead and other road users.

The call comes in just before 3.30pm so schoolchildren are spilling out on to paths and the roads are clogged with cars.

Yet within minutes we pull up at the incident and shopkeepers and passers-by eagerly stop and watch at the arrival of a blue flashing light on their doorstep.

We scan the incident which appears to have happened when one car was reversing out of the garage forecourt.

But as Pc Sandford intervenes the woman driver gets agitated and starts shouting at the other driver.

Pc Sandford immediately calms the situation, asking if the woman or her adult passenger are injured, before moving on to the other motorist who said he had stiffness in his neck, but declines an ambulance.

Personal details, including driving licences from both parties, are checked over the radio with control.

Pc Sandford admits the call did not warrant a 999 response.

He said: “The call handlers try and get as much information as possible and that is what is used to determine the response time.

“We have to be able to justify using blue-lights in case we have an accident.”

But to protect road traffic officers, who travel solo during day shifts, some of their 17 police vehicles are fitted with video recorders.

He continues: “Video is a great piece of kit just in case we have an accident. Video doesn’t lie. It also records the time of an incident.”

Earlier in the afternoon we visited a hot spot in Flockton where there are reports of a 7.5 tonne weight limit being ignored.

Pc Sandford explains: “You can drive one direction with a vehicle over 7.5 tonnes but not the other. It’s because the road narrows at points making it difficult for two wagons to pass. It’s about a seven mile detour to go the long way but it is clearly signed.”

Parked up, we sit and wait for vehicles and run routine checks.

“No two days are the same.

“One day you can be from job to job the next its steady.

“I have just done two days on the motorway. The M62 has speed limits on the Huddersfield stretch at the moment so if something breaks down it can cause long delays.”

After a while we change tactics and follow a pick-up van laden with metal which shows no insurance on the Volvo’s in-built automatic number plate recognition.

Pc Sandford explains: “ANPR is a great piece of kit to help us. Before that we were using pure instincts, vehicle knowledge, looking for older vehicles and at drivers’ profiles.

“This car has ANPR recognition built in which scans vehicles passing behind and produces images on the screen for the driver before they have even passed by.

“The information is then checked on a data base for insurance and MOT and flags it up on the screen.

“It can take up to five days to show on the system if a vehicle has changed ownership.”

After we stop, and Pc Sandford pulls over the pick-up, it appears the driver does have insurance.

“He has a motor trade policy which means he can use it in conjunction with his business and he has just taken it to get its MOT.”

Back on patrol and while on Wakefield Road a motorists flags us down with a tip-off regarding a potential drink driver which changes our course as we search for the vehicle before logging the information and responding to another urgent incident.

A biker and a van have crashed at Lockwood during the evening rush hour.

The biker is uninjured so it is not a blue-light call.

As we pull up the fire service is in the middle of the road.

Biker Jonathon Penistone, 22, has had a lucky escape when he came off his Kawasaki ZZR600.

He said: “I was turning right and impacted with the side of the van. I came off, but I am not injured.

“My bike was leaking fluid so the fire brigade were called, it could have been a lot worse.”

Back at the Southern Area Road Policing base in Wakefield, Sgt Christine O’Keefe explains how the unit operates.

She said: “Our primary role is to provide immediate assistance to road traffic collisions where people are injured.

“We cover a huge area which we have split into three teams, one of which covers Kirklees.

“We have cars out in those three areas and have a floater car to provide cover.

“We follow national initiatives like the drink drive campaign and are constantly looking at offences such as mobile phones, seat belts, no insurance and speed.

“Over Easter we will be looking at safety concerns surrounding caravans and coaches. It just depends on what is happening in the area.

“As well as teams, we also have officers based here who operate a proactive road crime team.

“Across West Yorkshire there are also two other traffic units like ours, serving Leeds and Bradford.

“We have boundaries but they are for guidance and we tend to operate a sliding ruler to help other teams and they do the same for us.”

Heading up the Southern Area Road Policing Unit is Chief Inspector Neil Hunter, who has five sergeants and a team of 50 road traffic officers.

He said: “The Southern Road Policing Unit was set up in April but a number of road traffic officers are covering the same area prior to the move to three centralised teams.

“The service is as good as it was before the move and we have seen an increase in traffic officers attending collisions.

“One of our main concerns is keeping the strategic roads network running, particularly on the motorways where an incident can potentially have serious consequences for large numbers of people. We are committed to causing a minimum of disruption to traffic flow and where a closure of a road or motorway is essential, to re-opening it as soon as is possible.”

Patrolling the Roads A highly visible police patrol activity on the roads network providing reassurance to create a sense of security and an overall deterrent effect.

Disrupting Criminality Many criminals use the road network in the planning and commission of their crimes. Proactive road policing can deny them the unchallenged use of the roads and is an effective measure for containing and deterring crime.

Reducing Road Casualties Over the last five years there has been a 31% reduction in the number of fatalities nationally, it is essential that striving for further reductions remains central to our business ethos.

Counter Terrorism Often Road Policing Unit officers in particular are likely to encounter and impact on terrorists usually as a result of routine checks.

Anti-social DrivingThis activity is all too prevalent and has a significant impact on general confidence and satisfaction, as a result it remains core business of the team to disrupt such activity.