£1 million fund will buy extra speed vans and help tackle dangerous drivers in the West Midlands
A £1 million injection of government funding will be ploughed into buying extra speed vans and tackling dangerous drivers in the region.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has secured a new tranche of Home Office funding to buy the extra speed vans, employ more staff to view videos of dangerous drivers and to tackle anti-social behaviour on the streets.
The Government has confirmed that the region will receive the funding as part of the Safer Streets project, which will also see Mr Foster continue to tackle violence against women and girls.
He will use the funding to hire six members of staff who will view dashcam footage sent in by members of the public of driver behaviour; buy three speed camera vans; and boost the community speedwatch scheme.
Since 2013, road collisions and casualties have started to rise, with 1,051 people seriously injured in road traffic collisions in the last financial year, including 55 fatalities.
Mr Foster will also work with Birmingham City Council by funding two city centre intervention officers to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime on the streets.
He said: “Cracking down on dangerous drivers is one of my top priorities.
“As Police and Crime Commissioner and as chair of the West Midlands Road Safety Strategic Group, preventing and tackling crime and anti-social behaviour on our roads, promoting road harm reduction and reducing the number of people tragically and avoidably killed and seriously injured on our roads are also top priorities.
“This funding will help me and West Midlands Police make our roads safer for all by expanding community speed watch schemes; boosting third party reporting, with six new staff to oversee submitted video footage and three new speed camera vans.”
He added: “Ending male violence against women and girls has also been a core priority for me from day one.
"It was a central part of my manifesto in 2021 and it is a top priority in my police and crime plan.
“We’ve been able to take some great strides already but there’s so much work to be done in achieving community-wide change and having more open conversations about what we can all do.
"This important funding will help us to do just that.”
