Devon and Cornwall Police introduce drones

The UK-based police force, which serves the southwest of England, announced the project as part of National Motorcycle Safety Week (3–9 April).

The drones will be used to help calculate the speed of vehicles, using fixed points on the highway, while recording all incidents live. Details of vehicles breaking the law will be relayed to officers on the ground, who will then be able to check the vehicle’s tax and insurance status, and roadworthiness.

The initiative is expected to have a focus on motorcyclists, in response to a high number of collisions last year that caused the serious injury or death of over 200 riders.

According to Inspector Colin Harper, of Devon and Cornwall Police’s drone team: “We will be deploying [drones] on roads where we know motorbikes are travelling too fast, and also around dates and locations where motorcycle events are scheduled to take place.”

“Despite motorcyclists making up less than one per cent of overall traffic, they account for roughly a third of all serious and fatal collisions in our area,” added Chief Inspector Ben Asprey, Head of Roads Policing at Devon and Cornwall Police. Speed and inappropriate riding have been major contributory factors in the motorcycle collisions we have attended.”

Asprey added: “Travelling too fast gives you less time to react and dramatically increases their risk of being fatally or seriously injured. Many of these serious collisions have not involved any other road users, meaning inappropriate riding and motorcyclist error is also a major factor.”

Fellow UK-based force, Lincolnshire Police, deployed their own drones over 80 times in January 2023.