More forces sign up for safety awareness services

A further 13 forces including Merseyside, Humberside, Avon & Somerset, Sussex and the Metropolitan Police, will tackle dangerous driving through the Safety Awareness Scheme from Northgate Information Solutions.

This will ensure that drivers caught committing an offence covered by the scheme are automatically offered a safety awareness course aimed at reducing re-offending or receive a fixed penalty notice.

The system allows forces to:

• Automatically check the eligibility of offenders for safety awareness courses.
• Electronically store drivers’ responses to safety awareness course offers and store attendance records from course providers.
• Allow forces to check attendance records for other areas through a link with the DVLA.
• Automatically reinstate the original penalty if a driver does not respond to a course offer or does not attend their course sessions.
• Manage all correspondence and enable direct access to all necessary information.

Avon & Somerset Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police have also opted for Northgate’s Enhanced Safety Awareness system, which enables drivers who have committed eligible offences other than speeding, such as running red lights, the chance to attend a safety awareness course.

Ian Blackhurst, managing director of Criminal Justice and Public Safety at Northgate Public Services, said: “Education is critical to tackling attitudes to speeding and to reducing the volume of offences which endanger public safety. Research has shown that excess or inappropriate speed is a significant factor in one third of all collisions on our roads. Safety awareness courses are designed to heighten driver awareness of the dangers of speeding to themselves, their families and on the wider community.”