Reducing casualties, improving standards, and denying criminals use of the roads are the strategic aims of the Road Policing Unit, which is based at Police Headquarters in Douglas - SID recently spent a day with the RPU, to see what policing the island's roads is really like.

One thing is for sure: Days at the RPU start early - 7am early to be precise. With daylight slowly approaching outside, it's time for the morning briefing in the first floor office overlooking the rugby pitch. One of the office walls is quite eye-catching, as it displays a collection of number plates confiscated over the years - from the creative to the outright tiny, it's all there - the smallest one ever removed from a bike having been no bigger than a barcode label on a pack of cigarettes. No doubt the collection will grow again this year.

With morning paperwork and coffee finished, it's time to take to the roads in anticipation of the daily flow of commuters. First port of call was a stop at the Bungalow to provide a visual presence to the stream of cars passing over the mountain every morning. Despite appalling weather conditions and extremely low visibility, an outright unbelievable number of vehicles were being driven without proper lights. Either one or more were broken, or they were simply not used in the appropriate way - We estimated the number to be at least one in twenty, which is serious reason for concern. Stopping all of them borders on the impossible, even with a fleet of police cars on the road, but one white van driver did get a friendly reminder on the roadside to get his lights fixed.

With the stream of commuters getting less, it was time to return to Douglas for a tour of Police Headquarters, recording every meter driven with the on-board camera system. The same, by the way, has to run for the whole duration of the shift, and not only when the car is on the road, which in this case resulted in a 30 minute recording of the outside wall of the building, while we had a look around on the inside.

Modern equipment, such as a “Skidman” decelerometer - a device that's used to measure the amount of friction between the tyres of a vehicle and the road surface - comes into play whenever an accident is investigated. Think of the whole operation as CSI without the glamour - or Las Vegas - or the multi million dollar budget - but essentially, it’s the same - forensic investigation to find the cause of an accident, and to reconstruct what happened, and how and why it happened.

If you end up in the next stop on our tour, then it’s safe to assume that you haven’t had the best of days - it’s the custody suite. Passing through the secured entrance and walking along the somehow sterile appearing hallway, you’ll soon find the not exactly comfortable looking holding cells - five stars accommodation it certainly isn’t - better get out of here before someone locks the door...

Being back on the road feels a whole lot better - during an average day, an officer will usually cover between 50 and 70 miles, depending on how busy it is and if there are any incidents to attend. Something that is really noticeable are the driving and observation skills displayed by the members of the unit - this isn’t just normal driving, or driving to advanced standards - this is a whole league higher. Training for the job, which is carried out in the UK, is understandably extensive, and does not only include advanced driving, but also observation and 100% awareness of the surroundings. I dare say that if all motorists were trained to this level, accident rates would be a whole lot lower.

The next stop on this, by now rainy, afternoon was near Braddan Bridge for some speed limit enforcement using the all too well known laser gun. Now, we at SID aren’t exactly fans of speed limits, and like many others, have also heard one or two horror stories about these devices - wrong read-outs, incorrect handling, etc, but having tried the device for ourselves, it’s surprisingly easy and pretty foolproof. Aim at car, press trigger - done. The device is tested before every shift to ensure accurate results, and once the speed has been recorded, motorists are pulled over for a word or not, as the case may be. If there should be a speed limit in the first place, that’s something we will leave to be debated on another occasion.

Coming towards the end of the shift, it was time to head home again. Looking after your equipment is a vital part of any job, and the police is no different here, with on-site car wash, fuel station and maintenance facility ensuring the fleet is ready to go whenever needed. We gave the car wash bit a miss and used the time to have a look around the yard instead. Hidden behind police headquarters lies a parking space that could easily double as used car dealership - abandoned and confiscated cars and bikes of a variety of makes, and in a variety of states, are silently rusting away with their owners nowhere to be seen - Once their welcome has been outstayed, it’s off to the crusher.

With the shift nearly over, there’s just about time for a final cuppa and some paperwork. An interesting day is coming to an end - a day that gave us some insights into how our roads are policed, and a chance to meet the people that police it - not ticket-mad government sponsored money printers, but professionals who are good at their job, and who try their best to keep our roads safe.