FOR the first time in three years, Meredydd “Med” Hughes, Britain’s top traffic cop, has a clean licence. The points have just expired from two speeding penalties he incurred within a few weeks.

He says he would have resigned as head of roads policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) if he had reached nine points for a third offence, which would have put him one flash away from an automatic ban.

“I try my hardest to stick within the limit,” is his cautious answer when asked if he still sometimes speeds in his Audi A8, which comes with his main job as Chief Constable of South Yorkshire.

When Richard Brunstrom, his predecessor at Acpo, claimed that no one could catch him speeding, he was followed for weeks by hacks with mobile speed cameras. After failing to catch Brunstrom, they turned on his teenage daughter. Hughes wants to avoid similar harassment and also believes being absolutist about speed limits would alienate the public. He wants to win back motorists’ support for speed enforcement and to counter the view that cameras are cash-raising machines.

He shares Brunstrom’s belief that cameras save lives, but is more willing to show compassion towards drivers who break the limit on empty, nonresidential roads. “My job is to rebuild bridges with the media and, through them, the public.”

He even supports the idea of raising the limit on certain roads in certain conditions, including making 80mph the legal limit on motorways. But he says drivers will first have to show better compliance with existing limits, otherwise they would exceed the new ones by the same margin.

He accepts that a greater police presence would make roads safer, but displays a flash of anger when reminded that Stephen Ladyman, the Transport Minister, had recently blamed chief constables for failing to allocate enough resources to their traffic units.

“We have had additional money for robbery initiatives, burglary, antisocial behaviour, domestic violence. But I have never had additional money for road casualty reduction. We have been calling for over two years for drink driving and driving while disqualified to be given the same status in our policing statistics as theft of a Kit Kat from a corner shop.”

He says that Home Office ministers regularly visit South Yorkshire to publicise crime-fighting initiatives, but “meetings with transport ministers on road casualty reduction are few and far between”.

Without any extra money, Hughes has had to find imaginative ways of strengthening roads policing in South Yorkshire. He has made firearms officers double up as traffic police. They carry speed guns as well as real guns. “I hope they don’t get out the wrong one,” he jokes.

But he believes that more officers enforcing traffic law will not alter “the British driving public’s habit of speeding whenever we can get away with it”. He wants drivers to be given financial incentives to refresh their skills.

“I learnt to drive 30 years ago but roads and the conditions have changed greatly. We should also be teaching 10 and 11-year-olds about their responsibilities when driving a car, not just how to be a safe pedestrian or cyclist.”

Understanding how drivers view traffic police and speed enforcement is the key, he believes, to persuading them to police themselves and drive safely. On his desk is a plastic model of a traffic officer pointing a speed gun. The name on the base is PC Smug and the officer’s yellow jacket carries the words: “All major credit cards accepted.” If Med Hughes stops you, expect a little empathy with your ticket.

Ben Webster is transport correspondent for The Times

Date of birth: May 15, 1958

Education: Swansea University

Career: 27 years in the police. 1999 appointed Chief Police Officer in Greater Manchester (he was in charge of policing the Commonwealth Games); 2002 promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in South Yorkshire and appointed Chief Constable two years later. He played a leading role in the national response to the July 7 bombings in London. Awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the 2006 New Year Honours.

What he says: “Young drivers need to be taught that driving on the road is a privilege, not a right.”

Little-known facts: He enjoys rock climbing and running.

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