The prospect of driverless cars being operated in the UK could be a game changer for law enforcement and may mean legislation being extensively re-written, senior roads policing professionals have said. Jayne Willetts - the Fed lead for the specialist potfolio - said there could be several issues for to consider, including how to deal with offenders including disqualified drivers and drink-drivers in automated vehicles. She highlighted that the matter had been flagged during a recent joint Fed and ACPO conference, where it was suggested there may need to be a significant re-writing of legislation. Ms Willetts was speaking as the government confirmed that it will shortly outline measures to permit prototype driverless cars to be used on public roads by next year. The Department for Transport had previously said it would allow autonomous vehicles to be trialled on the roads by 2013 - currently they must only be used on private property. Game changer In the USA, several states have allowed these cars out on the roads for evaluation - a model operated by Google has already clocked up some 300,000 miles. In Sweden, it is planned to introduce 1,000 driverless Volvos into the city of Gothenburg by 2017. Ms Willetts added: Clearly we are concerned about roads policing legislation, including drink-driving and disqualified drivers, as well as the position with learners. If driverless vehicles are going happen, they could potentially be a game changer for policing and may require a sweeping change to the law. This could have quite an impact. Ms Willetts pointed out that the position of a disqualified driver could prove to be particularly challenging as they could ride in a vehicle that was being driven automatically. She added: There are also issues in cases where a learner driver must be accompanied. My view is that, before these cars come on the road, the issues with legislation must be addressed, and I am sure that we will be involved in any future consultation. Concerns have also been raised about other potential criminal uses for these vehicles. In the USA questions of the how driverless cars could be used in criminal acts has been raised by the FBI - and there have particular concerns over pursuits. Media reports have quoted a report by the Bureau predicting that autonomous cars will have a high impact on transforming what both law enforcement and its adversaries can do with a car. Read the original article on the Police Oracle website:
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 09:16:13 +0000
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