The policing of the UK’s roads should be run on a nationwide basis to ensure consistency across the whole network, according to Logistics UK.

The call comes in its response to a joint review of roads policing by the Home Office and DfT.

Logistics UK head of road freight regulation policy James Firth said: “Logistics UK is calling for the government to establish common, unified road safety objectives which all enforcement bodies are committed to achieving and that are governed and administered at a national level.

“Road transport is a national industry which does not recognise regional boundaries; the expectation of road users is that roads policing will be exercised in a uniform way across the country, including devolved administrations.”

Logistics UK is also calling for the DVSA to take a more nuanced approach to the monitoring of commercial vehicles and focus on driver fatigue and vehicle maintenance.

Firth said: “This approach would help to focus enforcement resources on where it is needed most: on the seriously and serially non-compliant.

“Expensive roadside resources should be focussed on those who pose the greatest risk to road safety, and operators and businesses identified as compliant and posing a low risk by the DVSA should not be operationally and economically inconvenienced by invasive interventions, such as roadside stops.”

Logistics UK has also called for support for businesses in managing drink and drug risks, and for police forces to be given key performance indicators for reopening roads after they have been closed due to incidents to ensure they are opened promptly.

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