Distractions faced by blue light drivers studied

A new project seeks to analyse the mental demands of driving under complex conditions to help inform thousands of emergency response workers who drive under blue lights.

The 18-month initiative, run by Devon and Cornwall Police and the Open University, aims to understand how "cognitive workload" - the amount of mental effort required to perform a task - affects drivers in an emergency.

Things such as conversations and equipment including radios and computers all battle for the attention of drivers, said researches.

"There's an awful lot that a police driver needs to think about whilst they're responding to an emergency," said police driver support team manager Matt Butler.

"We need to understand more about how cognitive workload is affecting them and then we need to create a support tool so they can better deal with it."

Devon and Cornwall Police figures showed in 2025 there were 426 recorded crashes involving its vehicles which ranged in severity from scratching a bumper at low speed in a car park to tactical contact while in pursuit.

Of these, 41 crashes took place during an emergency response and 58 during an emergency pursuit.

Eighteen of these incidents resulted in injury to police or the public, according to the figures.

Devon and Cornwall Police said it covered the largest road network of any police force in England and Wales and its operational fleet was made up from more than 550 marked cars and hundreds of unmarked vehicles.

The project is funded by the Road Safety Trust and aims to create a training manual resource for about 80,000 blue light response drivers in the UK.

Butler, who heads up the driver support unit for both Dorset Police and Devon and Cornwall Police, said the focus was on the ability of the brain to process information while driving.

He said research showed phone use of any kind, handheld or hands-free, quadrupled the risk of a crash.

"We can only process so much information before there's too much and if there's too much information then we can start to miss things," he said.

The scheme is funded by the Road Safety Trust and aims to create a training manual resource for about 80,000 blue light response drivers in the UK.

Butler added: "I'm now in my 37th year [on the team] and the majority of that time I've been spent either dealing with or trying to reduce road traffic collisions.

"Anything that can improve safety on the road is definitely a winner in my book."

Gemma Briggs, an applied psychology professor at the Open University, said police officers were highly trained but "not immune to cognitive distraction".

"Officers responding to emergencies are required to drive at high speed and conduct manoeuvres with an elevated level of risk, often whilst holding hands-free conversations and managing other police equipment such as radios, automatic number plate recognition technology and body worn cameras.

"Increased demands on attention, accompanied by faster speeds and additional stressors can lead to more serious crash outcomes."

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