Less car crime but more deaths

The battle against car thieves is being won, according to the statistics issued by the Government today.

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The battle against car thieves is being won, according to the statistics issued by the Government today.

Reductions have been recorded both in the overall number of crimes reported to the police as well as in figures revealed in more in-depth questioning of UK residents in the British Crime Survey (BCS).

Police say vehicle crime has fallen 9% while the BCS, which is considered a more accurate measure, says numbers have dropped 10% in 2003/2004 compared with 2002/2003.

However, the number of people killed in car-theft-related incidents, either for their car or by joyriders in stolen vehicles, rose from 55 in 2002/2003 to 63 in 2003/2004, an increase of 15%.

What Car? editor David Motton said: ‘The overall drop in vehicle crime is very encouraging and owes a lot to the efforts made by manufacturers to make their cars more secure.

‘The continuing rise in the number of deaths caused by aggravated vehicle taking is very much a cause for concern, however. The police and government must do more to clamp down on these offences.’

‘In the meantime, our advice is, if you’re confronted by an armed thief, always hand over the keys to your car. Park in busy, well-lit areas if possible and always lock your car no matter how short a time you may be leaving it.’

Overall, there were still more than two million incidents of car crime in 2003/2004, around half the amount recorded in the peak year of 1995, with 290,657 cars stolen in England and Wales in 2003.