A North East Motor Patrols sergeant has shared an insight into his 30-year career investigating some of the most upsetting and tragic road tragic accidents.

Sergeant Dave Roberts is one of Northumbria Police’s experience lead investigators whose job it is to look into serious and fatal accidents.

Having served 30 years in the police force Sgt Roberts has shared an insight into his tough role, saying “it never gets any easier”.

Read more: More than 100 waiting for ambulance as North East service declares critical incident

In 2022 he stood at eight post mortems, and faces the impossible task of telling the families of those involved in accidents when something has happened to their loves ones.

The Northern Echo:

Sgt Roberts said: “Whenever a fatal or serious collision happens, I always make a promise to the person who has died or been injured - I will uncover the truth of what’s happened to the very best of my ability.

“I will forever remember every single fatality that I’ve dealt with – by name, by location. I can be driving around in my own car and remember a collision that has happened here, or a specific detail that has happened there. You live with them all and remember them in distinct detail.

“To watch somebody’s world fall apart – it gets harder every time. To see the sparkle of life disappear from someone’s eyes, it’s tough.

“There is always a cause behind every collision. Always – there’s never not. Whether it’s somebody being reckless around speed, having drank alcohol or taken drugs, or having been distracted.

The Northern Echo:

“Sometimes it can be carelessness as opposed to intentionally dangerous, whether it’s braking too late when driving in ice and snow, not being aware of the conditions, or it can also be victim error.

“Very rarely do you come across a collision that isn’t avoidable. There’s always an element of if somebody had done something different, it wouldn’t have happened.

“It's really hard. To tell somebody that a loved one has died is without doubt the hardest thing to do, and we have to do it far too often.

To get more stories direct to your email basket go here 

“Then when you’ve got to go back to the family, once the circumstances become clearer, and tell them that their loved one died as a result of the potential involvement of alcohol, or drugs, or speed, or using their mobile phone – it makes a horrendous situation 10 times worse.”

In the last five weeks alone Northumbria Police have arrested more than 100 suspected drink drivers – with 60 detained in the first 12 days of a new campaign aimed at promoting road safety during the World Cup and festive period.

“People often say they ‘don't want to lose their licence’ – that’s their perception of why we enforce these things and the consequences they face. For me, they should be thinking, ‘I don’t want to kill or seriously injure somebody’,” Sgt Roberts said.

“Sadly, I have to stand at post mortems and see the very real consequences of somebody who has driven whilst under the influence of drink or drugs. I’ve stood at eight this year – and I’m only one of 13 investigators in the department.

“When attending a serious or fatal collision, part of me wishes we could take a bus-load of people travelling just behind so they could see the consequences first-hand. But it’s too difficult to see, that’s the reality.”

Read next:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo for as little as £1.25 a week. Click here