New motorbike squad to clamp down on speeding

Thames Valley Police's (TVP) new safety camera motorcyclist team means that its enforcement of speed limits and road safety will be more agile and better targeted, the force has said.

Using specially equipped motorbikes, trained camera operators will monitor areas outside schools, rural communities and other priority areas.

They will look to improve road safety and cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Supt Euan Livingstone, head of TVP's roads policing unit, said it was "listening to communities" across the region and "the clear and consistent concern we hear is about speeding".

The motorbikes will be equipped with handheld laser and video speed detection technology, which the force said will enable officers to respond to particular risks.

Livingstone added: "This capability enables us to focus on what matters most to the public, showing that we are not only listening, but taking meaningful action.

"It's about making our roads safer for everyone who uses them every day, whether travelling to work or taking children to school, and ensuring we can take action against those who choose to put others at risk."

TVP said the work will seek to tackle the "fatal five" offences of speeding, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone at the wheel and careless or dangerous driving.

Provisional figures released in May showed a total of 50 people were killed in road accidents across the Thames Valley in 2025 – with 18 in Oxfordshire and 16 each in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

The team is funded by the police force's Road Safety Fund, with joint oversight from within the force and the region's police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber.

Barber said it "demonstrates [the force's] clear commitment in improving road safety and reducing the number of serious collisions and fatalities on our roads".