FOUR motorists were caught driving through a police crash scene where someone was injured near York.

North Yorkshire Police say that following a crash last night (March 10) near York, they had to close the road while officer worked to ensure an injured person could be safely treated.

A police spokesman said that once they had been transported to hospital, their team then set about investigating what had happened.

But, despite clear road closure signs, four vehicles attempted to pass through the scene, not only were the affecting the police's ability to properly investigate the collision, but putting the team’s safety at risk.

Sergeant Adam Elliott who is part of the major collision investigation team said:

"Thankfully the person in this collision was not seriously injured.

"But if you are out and about and see road closure signs or police vehicles directing you to stop, please take notice and follow any directions given.

"Road closures are vital for keeping everyone safe and ensuring our teams can do their work to investigate what’s happened.

“Our first priority at the scene of an incident is to make sure there is a safe area for the emergency services to work, for any casualties and for any of the public who are trying to help.

“This could be paramedics, the fire service, the air ambulance and of course, our own officers.

“We also need to make sure the scene is protected so that our investigation has the best possible chance of finding out exactly what happened.

"This usually involves local officers, roads police officers, forensic collision investigation and ourselves.

“If we don’t need to put a full closure on a road we won’t but sometimes it’s the only option and where possible we’ll do our best to put in place a natural diversion so you can carry on with your journey.

“In the case of a serious collision – this means where injuries sustained are either life threatening, life changing or life ending – our forensic collision investigation officers will need to attend the scene.

"They are based in Thirsk so depending on where and when the collision has taken place, it can be a significant amount of time before they get there.

“Our job is to assess what’s happened, if there has been any fault or criminality which has led to the collision and most importantly so we can give answers to the families of those involved.

"In the case of a fatality where there is no criminal charges to be brought, we will prepare a report for the Coroner’s Office.

“The first step is to walk through the scene, identifying any evidence on the road and taking a series of detailed photographs.

“Our team look at marks on the road, debris, anything which indicates points of impact and how the vehicle or vehicles involved have travelled to where they’ve stopped.

“The speed of the collision will indicate how wide that search area can be and sometimes our officers can quite literally be on our hands and knees with a torch looking for evidence.

“They’ll then do a scene plan, plotting key areas on a map or using digital surveying equipment to ensure we have as much detail as possible.

“Once this has been completed, recovery of the vehicles involved is arranged – as well as the recovery vehicle’s travel time, we also have to find a way to get them through the traffic to reach the scene which is not always straightforward.

“We may then need to get Highways England to clear up any oil or fuel which has spilled onto the road in the collision or if the road has been damaged – for example in a vehicle fire - the surface would need to be repaired and made safe before it could be reopened.

“Once all of our work at the scene is complete, we will reopen the road – helping to clear the traffic and ensuring everyone who has been stuck in the queue is safely on their way.

“We know it won’t make the time in a queue pass any faster but hopefully you now understand a little more about what’s involved and why it can unfortunately be a long process.

“We do everything we can to prevent collisions from taking place on our roads and the investigation involved in an incident is a key part of that work."