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Governing Risks in Modern Britain pp 195–219Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Risk on the Roads: Police, Motor Traffic and the Management of Space, c. 1900–50

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Abstract

Exploring the police’s role in managing road risks, Williams’ chapter focuses on two interrelated elements: engineering solutions to dangers, including the design of streets and roads, and the ways in which police officers extended their authority and claims to expertise in terms of determining policy and the management of traffic-related risks. Demonstrating how practices were shaped by the interests and priorities of professionals and experts, he argues that the police pushed debates in terms of infrastructure rather than a greater presence on the streets, yet still sought to retain power and responsibility for traffic risks rather than letting it shift to other agencies. Crucial to this was the police’s ability to deploy knowledge of accidents by their mastery of statistics, and by their durability and latency as an organization.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    K. Laybourn, The Battle for Britain’s Roads, c. 1890s to c. 1970s: Police, Motorists and the Law (Basingstoke, 2015).

  2. 2.

    S. O’Connell, The Car in British Society: Class, Gender and Motoring, 1896–1939 (Manchester, 1998); C. Emsley, ‘“Mother, What Did Policemen Do When There Weren’t Any Motors”? The Law, the Police and the Regulation of Traffic in England, 1900–1939’, Historical Journal 36 (1993), pp. 357–81.

  3. 3.

    K. Laybourn and D. Taylor, Policing in England and Wales, 1918–39: The Fed, Flying Squads and Forensics (Basingstoke, 2011), pp. 126–7.

  4. 4.

    M. Thomson, The Lost Freedom: The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement (Oxford, 2013), Chapter 5.

  5. 5.

    O’Connell, The Car in British Society, p. 126.

  6. 6.

    B. Luckin and D. Sheen, ‘Defining Early Modern Automobility: The Road Traffic Accident Crisis in Manchester, 1939–45’, Cultural and Social History 6 (2009), pp. 212–13.

  7. 7.

    Figures cited in Emsley, ‘“Mother, What Did Policemen Do When There Weren’t Any Motors”?’, p. 358.

  8. 8.

    H. Perkin, The Third Revolution: Professional Elites in the Modern World (London, 1996); M. Thompson, review of The Third Revolution: Professional Elites in the Modern World in Reviews in History. Available at: www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/29 (date accessed 18 November 2015).

  9. 9.

    Police Review, 9 January 1920, p. 12.

  10. 10.

    C. Emsley, The English Police: A Political and Social History, 2nd edn (London, 1996), pp. 147–8, 229–30.

  11. 11.

    Ministry of Transport, The Highway Code (London, 1931), p. 1.

  12. 12.

    J. Moran, ‘Crossing the Road in Britain, 1931–1976’, Historical Journal 49 (2006), pp. 481–3.

  13. 13.

    M.M. Ishaque and R.B. Noland, ‘Making Roads Safe for Pedestrians or Keeping Them Out of the Way? An Historical Perspective on Pedestrian Policies in Britain’, Journal of Transport History 27 (2006), pp. 125–31.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., pp. 126–8.

  15. 15.

    C.A. Williams, Police Control Systems in Britain, 1775–1975: From Parish Constable to Control Room (Manchester, 2014), pp. 148–52; Report of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis for the Year 1934 (Parl. Papers 1934–5 [Cmd. 4866]), pp. 34–5.

  16. 16.

    The National Archives (hereinafter TNA), Home Office (hereinafter HO) 287/163, Motor patrols: enquiry into increasing use of motor patrols; use of motor cycles with radios, 1950–1960.

  17. 17.

    See figures in Emsley, ‘“Mother, What Did Policemen Do When There Weren’t Any Motors”?’, p. 359.

  18. 18.

    TNA Ministry of Transport (hereinafter MT) 34/96, Traffic schemes: Mobile Police Force. n.d. (mid-1945).

  19. 19.

    TNA HO 358/2, Home Office: Central Conference of Chief Constables: Minutes and Papers. Minutes of meeting held at the Home Office on 28 June 1922, p. 5.

  20. 20.

    TNA HO 45/11961, Traffic problems. Police and Road Users’ points of view, 1923–5: ‘Report of the Committee of Representatives of Police Forces in Great Britain and of Road Users Appointed to Consider and Report on Traffic Problems’ (1925).

  21. 21.

    TNA HO 45/11961, Traffic Problems. ‘Second Interim Report of Ministry of Transport Departmental Committee on the Taxation and Regulation of Road Vehicles’ (1922).

  22. 22.

    TNA HO 45/12256, London Traffic Bills, 1923 and 1924 Metropolitan Police Orders 1926. 1919–26: Memo ‘Ministry of Transport’, 23 July 1923.

  23. 23.

    TNA HO 45/12256, London Traffic Bill Letter from Commissioner, 16 July 1921.

  24. 24.

    TNA HO 45/12256, London Traffic Bills. Memo ‘Ministry of Transport’, 23 July 1923.

  25. 25.

    Emsley, ‘“Mother, What Did Policemen Do When There Weren’t Any Motors”?’, pp. 371–7.

  26. 26.

    Laybourn, The Battle for Britain’s Roads, c. 1890s to c. 1970s, p. 74.

  27. 27.

    Report of the Royal Commission on Police Powers and Procedure Dated 16 March, 1929 (Parl. Papers 1928–9 [Cmd. 3297]) pp. 81–2.

  28. 28.

    Royal Commission on Transport: First Report: The Control of Traffic on Roads (Parl. Papers 1929–30 [Cmd. 3365]), pp. 5–6, 48–53.

  29. 29.

    H.M. Howgrave-Graham, Light and Shade at Scotland Yard (London, 1947), p. 31.

  30. 30.

    Daily Express, 10 October 1906, p. 5; Daily Express, 6 September 1911, p. 5.

  31. 31.

    London Gazette, 31 December 1918; The Times, 19 January 1926, p. 1.

  32. 32.

    Daily Express, 2 January 1914. p. 4; Report of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis for the Year 1923 (Parl. Papers 1924 [Cmd. 2189]), p. 17.

  33. 33.

    Report from the Select Committee on Motor Traffic, Together with the Proceedings of the Committee (Parl. Papers 1913 [278]), pp. 992–1039.

  34. 34.

    TNA HO 45/12256, London Traffic Bills, 1923 and 1924.

  35. 35.

    TNA HO 45/11961, Bassam, ‘Transport on the Highway’, presented to the Institute of Transport, 3 November 1924, pp. 8–15.

  36. 36.

    TNA MT 34/96, Traffic schemes. ‘Committee on Road Safety. The Police Function’.

  37. 37.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32, ‘Report on Street Accidents to Children in Greater London’ (HMSO, London, July, 1929).

  38. 38.

    Report from the Select Committee on Transport (Metropolitan Area), Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence and Appendices (Parl. Papers 1919 [147]), pp. 27–8.

  39. 39.

    Report of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis for the Year 1936 (Parl. Papers 1936–7 [Cmd. 5457]), pp. 52–4.

  40. 40.

    TNA MT 34/96, Traffic schemes. ‘Committee on Road Safety. The Police Function’, p. 3.

  41. 41.

    Report from the Select Committee on Motor Traffic, p. 162.

  42. 42.

    M. Valverde, ‘Police Science, British Style: Pub Licensing and Knowledges of Urban Disorder’, Economy and Society 32 (2003), pp. 234–52.

  43. 43.

    The Times, 29 January 1913, p. 13.

  44. 44.

    ‘London Traffic Problems’, The Times, 13 June 1919, p. 10.

  45. 45.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32. London County Council to Commissioner of Police, 21 November 1914.

  46. 46.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32. ‘Street Accidents to Children’ (1929), pp. 12–13.

  47. 47.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32, Memorandum, 11 February 1928.

  48. 48.

    ‘Police Control of Traffic’, The Times, 29 January 1913, p. 7.

  49. 49.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32, Tripp to Dixon, 25 April 1930.

  50. 50.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32, ‘Street Accidents to Children’ (1929), p. 19; ‘Police Supervision over Children Crossing the London-Brighton Road at Kingswood’, 24 June 1931.

  51. 51.

    H. Scott, Scotland Yard (London, 1954), pp. 234–7; Report of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis for the Year 1950 (Parl. Papers 1950–1 [Cmd. 8359]), pp. 18–19.

  52. 52.

    ‘London Traffic Problems’, The Times, 13 June 1919, p. 10.

  53. 53.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32, Memorandum, 11 February 1928.

  54. 54.

    TNA HO 45/16125, Traffic: Protection of school children from traffic dangers, 1913–32, ‘Children Coming out of School: Relief of Police by Installation of Suitable Signals’, Memorandum, 10 February 1931.

  55. 55.

    TNA Metropolitan Police Office (hereinafter MEPO) 2/4760, Roundabout layout at Orpington War Memorial, junction of Station Road and High Street, 1932–9.

  56. 56.

    Laybourn, The Battle for Britain’s Roads, c. 1890s to c. 1970s, pp. 156–67.

  57. 57.

    Scott, Scotland Yard, p. 234–7.

  58. 58.

    N. Hayes, ‘Popkess, Athelstan Horn (1893–1967)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com.oxfordbrookes.idm.oclc.org/view/article/97916 (date accessed 18 November 2015).

  59. 59.

    TNA Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (hereinafter DSIR) 12/156, Road Research Board. ‘Letter to the Secretary from the Secretary of the Road Research Board Committee on Vehicles’, 16 September 1946.

  60. 60.

    TNA MEPO 5/348, Road Transport, 1920–38. H.A. Tripp, ‘The Design of the Streets for Traffic Requirements’, paper read to the Institute of Transport, 13 November 1933, p. 5.

  61. 61.

    TNA DSIR 12/156, Road Research Board. ‘A Review of the Principles Put Forward by Sir Alker Tripp’, September 1946.

  62. 62.

    TNA DSIR 12/156, Road Research Board. ‘Letter to the Secretary from the Secretary of the Road Research Board Committee on Vehicles’, 16 September 1946.

  63. 63.

    P. Abercrombie, ‘Foreword’ to H.A. Tripp, Town Planning and Road Traffic (London, 1942), pp. 7–8.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., p. 18.

  65. 65.

    Ibid., p. 21.

  66. 66.

    Ibid., p. 23.

  67. 67.

    Ibid., p. 57

  68. 68.

    Ibid., p. 58.

  69. 69.

    Ibid., p. 67.

  70. 70.

    TNA MT 34/96, Mobile Police Force. ‘Committee on Road Safety. The Police Function’, p. 4.

  71. 71.

    For conscious use of this effect by the police at this time, see C.A. Williams, ‘Police Surveillance and the Emergence of CCTV in the 1960s’, in M. Gill (ed.), CCTV (Leicester, 2003), p. 18.

  72. 72.

    TNA MT 34/96, Mobile Police Force. ‘Committee on Road Safety. The Police Function’, pp. 4–5.

  73. 73.

    O’Connell, The Car in British Society, pp. 120–1.

  74. 74.

    Tripp, Town Planning and Road Traffic, p. 24.

  75. 75.

    Ibid., p. 25.

  76. 76.

    Ibid., p. 24.

  77. 77.

    Luckin and Sheen, ‘Defining Early Modern Automobility’, p. 224; B. Luckin, ‘Anti-Drink Driving Reform in Britain, c. 1920–80’, Addiction 105 (2010), pp. 1538–44.

  78. 78.

    TNA MT 34/96, Traffic schemes. ‘Committee on Road Safety. The Police Function’, p. 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arts Faculty, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

    Chris A. Williams

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Tom Crook

  2. School of Social, Historical and Literar, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom

    Mike Esbester

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Williams, C.A. (2016). Risk on the Roads: Police, Motor Traffic and the Management of Space, c. 1900–50. In: Crook, T., Esbester, M. (eds) Governing Risks in Modern Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46745-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46745-4_9

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