Sussex Police has launched a new specialist enforcement unit aimed at tackling the most dangerous driving behaviours plaguing roads.
The initiative, known as the Fatal Five Unit, will focus on the five main causes of fatal and serious injury collisions, drink and drug-driving, speeding, failing to wear a seatbelt, distracted driving, and careless driving.
The new unit has been created in response to growing public concern about dangerous and anti-social driving, as well as the high number of people killed or seriously injured on Sussex roads each year.
On average, reports detailed how around 45 people lose their lives annually, while almost 1,000 have been seriously injured in road collisions.
Police warned that these deaths and injuries are not inevitable due to the majority of serious crashes being the result of illegal and avoidable driving behaviour.
The human cost of dangerous driving was highlighted by the case of Jade Daniels, whose life was changed forever in June 2024.
She was travelling as a passenger when her vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a driver who had been drinking behind the wheel. She suffered life-changing injuries, and her husband, Tony, was killed in the crash.
The Fatal Five Unit has now been funded through a combination of the police precept, paid by local taxpayers, and money from national driver offender retraining schemes.
The new unit will aim to target the five fatal driving offences on Sussex roads
|SUSSEX POLICE/GETTY
The unit also hopes to deliver on a manifesto pledge made by Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, who committed to increasing investment in road policing and reducing serious collisions.
Ms Bourne said dangerous driving has become one of the biggest concerns raised by residents across Sussex. "Dangerous driving is putting lives at risk every single day, and our residents have had enough," she said. "Speeding and anti-social driving are among the most frequent issues people raise with me right across Sussex."
She pointed to enforcement figures from the past year, which revealed that more than 45,000 drivers were caught speeding by Community Speedwatch volunteers.
But more shockingly, thousands of other cases were reported through Operation Crackdown, which allows members of the public to report dangerous driving.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The number of drug driving incidents has increased massively in recent years | GETTYMs Bourne shared: "That is why I have backed the Fatal Five Roads Unit. It is an intelligence-led team targeting the most dangerous driving behaviours, including persistent offenders."
She added that the unit would focus on enforcement and education in hotspot areas and would support the force's Vision Zero ambition, which aims to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the roads.
Chief Constable Jo Shiner, who is also the roads policing lead for the National Police Chiefs' Council, said the data showed the same dangerous behaviours repeatedly caused the most serious collisions.
"While the vast majority of people are safe and competent drivers, there are still too many who take unnecessary risks on our roads," she said.
She warned these behaviours were not only illegal but entirely avoidable. "Nobody sets out expecting to be involved in a collision, but even a brief lapse in concentration can have devastating consequences," she said.
The police operation found multiple cases of driving offences | DEVON AND CORNWALL POLICE"I urge all road users to familiarise themselves with the law, follow the Highway Code, and ensure their vehicles are roadworthy before every journey."
Recent figures showed the scale of the problem in Sussex. Between 2022 and 2024, 1,886 people were killed or seriously injured in collisions linked to the Fatal Five offences.
Dangerous and careless driving accounted for the largest number of cases, followed by drink or drug-driving and speeding.
Members of the public have been encouraged to continue reporting dangerous driving through the Operation Crackdown website.