A leading UK road safety charity has launched a broadside at the Government, claiming that cuts in road policing resources are putting lives at risk.

Brake claims that latest figures suggest that specialist officers have been slashed by more than 11 per cent in the past five years – and that the reductions are six times greater than the reductions to overall police numbers in the same period.

Now the organisation has called for the Government to act decisively to stop the cuts and has called for roads policing to be made a national priority.

Figures released by Brake showed there were 7,525 dedicated roads policing officers in England and Wales 13 years ago falling to 6,511 in 2005.

Julie Townsend, Brake's Deputy Chief Executive, said: "It is crucial the Government acts now to put a stop to these dramatic cuts in life-saving roads policing.

“This is crucial in safeguarding the public and preventing casualties that lead to terrible suffering, and it also makes economic sense. Road crashes constitute a huge social and economic burden, because of the awful implications for those bereaved and injured, and the strain on health and emergency services.”

Alan Jones, Chairman of the Police Federation Roads Policing Group, admitted he was unsurprised by the findings, maintaining that the cost of cutting back “far outweighs the benefits of investing in protecting a key front line service”.

"As forces try to deal with a 20 per cent budget cut, their resources are being stretched to a point where delivery of service is difficult to sustain,” he said.