Hit-and-run drivers injure 65 every week in capital

Jenny Jones: blamed illegal drivers for rise in hit-and-run accidents
12 April 2012

More than 65 people are injured in hit-and-run collisions in London every week, the Evening Standard can reveal today.

Figures released to the Standard show that there were more than 3,400 hit-and-runs in the capital last year.

Fifteen were fatal and more than 300 people were seriously injured.

Green Party mayoral candidate Jenny Jones today said the scale of the problem was down to a rise in the number of illegal drivers in London.
She also criticised a £2 million cut in the budget of the Metropolitan police unit that investigates hit-and-run collisions.

Nine-year-old Ayub Ahmed was left fighting for his life in intensive care last week after being knocked down by a hit-and-run driver in Harrow. The youngster was with his six brothers and sisters and his mother at the time.

Ayub is yet to regain consciousness, although police said he is in a stable condition.
His father, Abdirishid Sharmarke, 45, said last week: "Ayub was with his mother when he got hurt and I got a phone call from a friend to say he was bad. I rushed to see him and went to the hospital.

"I ask anyone who has information about the driver who hit my son to come forward."
The number of people injured in hit-and-runs increased by more than 300 last year.

However, there has been a big reduction since 2002, when there were more than 5,800 such collisions. The budget for the Met's Traffic Operational Command unit fell this year to below £45 million, from £47 million in 2009-10.

Ms Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "The traffic police are a small but incredibly efficient part of the Met and they do a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances.

"But the number of hit-and-runs London is seeing is absolutely astonishing. Something really needs to be done about it.

"My belief is that it's to do with the increasing numbers of illegal drivers who are on the roads. It's all about good enforcement.

"We can't catch all these drivers without good enforcement and that means the traffic police having the funds to do their job.

"If they are not being given the proper funding and are losing officers, then they are not going to be able to work to stop all these hit-and-runs."

She added: "For me it's a no-brainer. I am furious that the traffic police have had their budget cut like this. It doesn't seem right. This is a huge problem in London and it's getting worse."

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