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.”
