Last updated at 17:03, Monday, 16 July 2012

EVERY time there is a death on Cumbria’s roads, the Collision Investigation Unit springs into action to find out what has happened and bring those responsible to justice. GILES BROWN spoke to officers as they burned rubber in a bid to recreate the past

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THERE can be few people who are more aware of the consequences of bad driving than PC Phil Murray.

As the senior collision investigator for Cumbria police, it falls to him and his team to cast a cool and analytical eye over scenes of immense personal disaster.

Whenever someone is killed on the roads, or injured so seriously their injuries could prove fatal, the unit begins a process of investigation which can involve months of painstaking work.

Sadly, there is no shortage of work for his team of seven, two of whom are based in Ulverston and the rest at police headquarters in Penrith.

“You will be amazed how many people don’t realise what happens, even when you have a crash at a relatively low speed,” PC Murray says.

“When it goes wrong you can’t do anything. Once circumstances have led to the collision you are just a passenger and it’s all down to luck.”

When people’s luck runs out, the team has to piece together what has happened to prepare a file for use in a court case or inquest.

Their work usually begins by talking to the first officers on the scene to get an overview of the situation.

However, the investigators deliberately avoid speaking directly to witnesses or the families of victims so they can stay detached.

Their cases depend on precise measurements of air temperature and road temperature and the analysis of tyre marks, which often prove more reliable than eyewitnesses.

“You get people who say someone was speeding when they were actually doing the speed limit and the witness was just standing still,” says PC Craig Irving.

“You get people who will swear blind the vehicle was travelling in the opposite direction to what it actually was.”

To gauge the traction of the road surface and the speed vehicles were travelling, police skid their own cars or vans at the crash scene to gauge the “grippiness” of the road surface. In motorbike accidents, the crashed vehicle is placed on the road and dragged along the asphalt.

The investigators video and measure the scene using theodolites (surveying equipment) to create an accurate map of the crash site, as well drawing detailed conclusions from smears of melted bitumen in the road surface.

Specialist vehicle examiners work like mechanical pathologists to recreate the vital moments in a fatal crash.

“You can look at the tyres, which are like fingerprints really, they can tell you a lot,” says specialist vehicle examiner PC Shaun McKeown.

“Things like lights can tell you a lot, you can tell which lights were illuminated at the time of the accident.”

PC Irving says investigators have to approach each case as coldly and objectively as possible, even though they usually involve the death of at least one person.

“You do get a bit emotionally detached,” he says. “If you go to an accident that has involved children or something like that it can throw you, but you definitely try to remain as neutral as possible.”

PC Murray is passionate on the subject of bad driving.

He does not blame excessive speed alone for accidents, instead saying people’s attitude to driving can be more of a factor.

Part of the problem, he says, is that people feel cocooned and safe in the comfort of their cars. The investigators joke that spikes should be installed on steering wheels in place of airbags to discourage people from driving recklessly.

“It’s not necessarily that you have a crash because you are breaking the rules, it is just because you are driving stupidly,” says PC Murray.

“The whole thing is about chilling out when you are driving.

“What happens is that people can see themselves as being in conflict with other drivers and once that happens they are concentrating on the conflict, rather than driving safely.”

He is bemused that people only have to pass one test before they are allowed on the roads – without even going on the motorway – and then drive for a lifetime without any refresher courses.

Although the advent of air ambulance services has had a big impact on reducing fatalities by getting people to hospital quicker, PC Murray is still not sure whether there has been a real increase in drivers’ awareness of the risks they run.

He believes more work could be done by educating people about this aspect of driving.

“What you really have to ask yourself is whether you are targeting the right cause, which is driver attitude.”

First published at 16:11, Monday, 16 July 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk