How do we reduce the risk of deaths and injuries from incidents involving police cars? Understanding injury prevention in the Swedish Context

motor vehicles are an indispensable and daily tool of police work. The risk that police officers face when driving has attracted much academic attention, although in Sweden research in this field has been limited. In this paper, it is our intention to identify risks involving police cars, to review the causes of police car accidents in Sweden, and to give a better understanding of injury prevention in the Swedish police context. We note that, during the last few years, police officers’ road traffic training has become more structured, covering emergency service driving and pursuits. Nevertheless, we call for more comprehensive driver education in police officer training, along with the establishment of strict routines for the gathering and processing of traffic incident data.