CRASH investigation teams in three East Midlands counties have teamed up to create a specialist unit.
Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Notts police forces have agreed to form the East Midlands Serious Collision Investigation Unit to investigate collisions which result in serious injury or death.
Assistant Chief Constable Steph Morgan, of Leicestershire Police, said: "The principle of collaboration is that local policing should be delivered by local forces, working together to increase resilience and improve performance.
"We will be taking the very best of what the individual units have already provided very effectively for many years, and enhancing that level of service even further through collaboration.
"This collaboration will ensure that senior investigating officers in the three forces will always be able to assign sufficient resources to the scene of a serious collision wherever and whenever it occurs in Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire."
Statistics reveal that in 2012, 25 people were killed and 390 seriously injured in crashes in Derbyshire, 38 people were killed and 272 seriously injured in Leicestershire and Rutland, and in Notts, 33 people died and around 500 were seriously injured.
ACC Morgan added: "Between the three counties there are around 9,000 miles of roads to police, including a 70 mile stretch of the M1, which courses through all three counties, and a very busy section of the A1, not to mention other key A-roads.
"Thousands of vehicle journeys are made each day on those roads, the vast majority in complete safety. But when there is a serious collision we need to be able to have the resources available to ensure that the investigation we carry out determines the exact cause.
"That way, our findings can exert an influence which can both improve driver behaviour through awareness campaigns and the safety of our road network by working with the highways authorities.
"Ultimately, we are all aiming reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured as a result of collisions on our roads."
