New “Fatal Five” Police Unit Launched to Tackle Dangerous Driving on Sussex Roads

Sussex Police has unveiled a new specialist roads policing team designed to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the county’s roads by targeting the most dangerous driving behaviours. The newly formed Fatal Five Unit will focus on enforcement, education and intelligence-led patrols aimed at tackling the five key factors most commonly linked to fatal and […]

Sussex Police has unveiled a new specialist roads policing team designed to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the county’s roads by targeting the most dangerous driving behaviours.

The newly formed Fatal Five Unit will focus on enforcement, education and intelligence-led patrols aimed at tackling the five key factors most commonly linked to fatal and life-changing collisions.

Why the unit has been created

Road safety remains a significant concern across Sussex, with dozens of people killed and hundreds more seriously injured each year in collisions that are often avoidable. Police analysis shows that a small number of risky driving behaviours repeatedly feature in the most serious incidents.

The Fatal Five Unit has been created to concentrate resources specifically on those behaviours, using targeted patrols and data-driven deployment to maximise impact.

The “Fatal Five” behaviours

The unit will focus on the following five causes of serious and fatal collisions:

• Drink and drug driving
• Speeding
• Not wearing a seatbelt
• Driver distraction, including mobile phone use
• Careless or inconsiderate driving

Police say these behaviours are not only illegal but entirely preventable, yet they continue to cause devastating consequences for families and communities.

How the unit will operate

The Fatal Five Unit will work alongside existing Roads Policing teams, using collision data and intelligence to identify high-risk locations and repeat patterns of offending.

Officers will carry out proactive enforcement in areas where dangerous driving is most prevalent, while also engaging with communities to raise awareness of safer driving practices.

Public reporting will continue to play an important role, with information submitted through schemes such as Operation Crackdown helping to guide patrol activity.

Support from police leaders

Police leaders have stressed that while the majority of motorists drive responsibly, a minority continue to take risks that endanger others.

They have highlighted that even momentary lapses in judgement — such as checking a phone or exceeding the speed limit — can have irreversible consequences.

The unit also supports national road safety ambitions based on the principle that no death or serious injury on the roads is acceptable.

Funding and long-term aims

The Fatal Five Unit forms part of a wider commitment to improving road safety across Sussex. Funding comes from a combination of local policing budgets and income generated through driver education and retraining schemes.

By concentrating on the most common causes of serious collisions, Sussex Police aims to reduce casualties, improve driver behaviour and make the county’s roads safer for everyone.