A slightly better and more balanced article in todays #Essex #Live news site - this time mentioning the risks from /both/ #drugs and #alcohol (doing so also allows the Chief Constable to use the #Colchester #RTC as a warning, apparently its the largest combined loss of life in a #collision in the entire county for some years)

I think the officer is overoptimistic in how much he thinks friends / family would intervene - he's spent most of his early career in MetPol and doesn't appear to have ever served with an RPU (Roads Policing Unit), maybe he's not as aware of the mixed city / urban / rural nature of Essex, limited #PublicTransport outside the cities/towns, and high level of US-inspired #RuggedIndividualism and #CarDependency in this area?

https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/police-boss-warns-innocent-people-10714773

Earlier report from September mentions 48 fatalities, with 25 of them resulting in CPS being notified for possible criminal charges against driver (who must have survived the #crash - dead people can't be put up before crown/magistrates #Court , incidents like this are usually mentioned at HM Coroner inquests at a later date)

So already 10 further in just a couple of months, which is rather a lot ( #Suffolk usually has less than half the body count)

4 of these deaths are from #Colchester #RTC earlier in the year where #EssexUniversity students crashed their #FordFocus ST into a building due to #alcohol rather than #drugs (but still completely avoidable)

#RoadSafety #Essex #UK

https://www.highwaysmagazine.co.uk/news/local-road-network/spike-essex-road-deaths-blamed-driver-behaviour