Saturday Star reports that more police officers die in motor vehicle accidents than are killed by criminals, and one of the reasons for this was a culture of cops refusing to wear safety belts when they were in cars.
“I was a reservist for seven years or so and I spent many months following police for research, and only once in my life did I see a policeman use a safety belt,” Institute of Security Studies researcher Andrew Faull indicated. He explained that the reason why policemen preferred not to use safety belts was because they believed it slowed them down when they had to react quickly and leap from a vehicle to apprehend a suspect. Between 2012 and 2015, 117 officers died in on-duty car accidents and 93 were murdered while in uniform. In the same period, 313 officers died in off-duty crashes, while 183 were murdered while off duty. According to Faull, driving habits picked up on duty were transferred to off-duty driving. The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said they had found that policemen of a certain age group were more likely to be killed in a motor vehicle accident. “From our research, it is in the 30s and 40s age groups where you find most accidents,” said Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo. He added that his union was putting pressure on the police to ensure that members went through advanced driving courses. According to police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo, the wearing of a seat belt was imperative.
- Read the full original of Shaun Smillie’s report on this story at Saturday Star
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