---

Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many road traffic accidents involving (a) civilian vehicles and (b) military vehicles driven by forces personnel, and handled by the Royal Military Police, have been the subject of (i) summary trials and (ii) Courts Martial in each of the last three years. [102870] Mr. Spellar: Figures for such accidents involving forces personnel reported to the Royal Military Police are available only for 1996, 1997 and 1998. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Military vehicles Private vehicles 1996 1,365 767 1997 970 454 1998 959 353 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Statistics for military offences dealt with summarily are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Work has however begun to set up the administrative machinery required to hold such statistics in the future. Offences against the Road Traffic Act 1988 or Disobedience to Standing Orders dealt with by Army Court Martial are set out in the following table but cannot be broken down into civilian or military vehicles. Courts Martial _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Number 1996 8 1997 6 1998 14 Total 28 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. All the Courts Martial were for Driving Under the Influence, only five of them involving accidents. In the United Kingdom the civil authorities deal with offences committed on non-governmental property.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

341 c257-8W; 102870

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Disciplinary proceedings Armed forces Accidents Courts martial Military police Roads

Contains statistics

Yes