The Home Office has shifted police priority away from the roads to areas such as street robbery and terrorism.

But the Police Superintendents' Association (PSA) wants more attention to be focused on rising road deaths.

And road campaigners have joined forces with safety groups to demand the number of traffic police is increased.

Should we actually be throwing resources at stopping youngsters stealing other youngsters' mobile phones?

Mike McAndrew PSA

Edmund King, of the RAC Foundation, has written a joint letter from campaigners to senior police.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "In the 1980s, about 15% of the national police force were deployed on traffic duties.

"We estimate it's currently less than 5%. The problem here is there are many offences on the road not being picked up and leading to more deaths and more serious injuries."

Speed cameras have taken over in part from traffic police, but figures show road deaths have risen in two of the last three years.

'No police action'

BBC reporter Roger Harrabin visited a busy London junction, where he saw a car, driven by a man using his mobile phone, narrowly miss a female pedestrian and her son.

Residents told him there was a constant danger caused by motorists, but no police action to stop them.

Roger Harrabin said: "Years ago, junctions like this were scrutinised by police patrols to stop bad drivers before they killed someone.

We need to treat road deaths as a core police priority and unfortunately the home office has not seen fit to make that point explicit

Chief Const Richard Brunstrom North Wales Police

"But the number of police on traffic duties has more than halved as traffic has grown.

"Now there's little chance of getting caught."

The Home Office has removed traffic policing from the list of core police duties, although spokesman said this did not mean it was being ignored.

Mike McAndrew of the Police Superintendents' Association told Today: "Should we actually be throwing resources at stopping youngsters stealing other youngsters' mobile phones, which in the main, is what the street robbery explosion is about?

Road deaths rose by 1% last year

"Or should we be using some of those resources actually stopping people killing other people on the roads?"

North Wales chief constable Richard Brunstrom, on the same programme, said casualties overall were falling and present tactics were working.

But he added that Britain had the least safe roads in Europe for child casualties, with 218 killed last year.

"These are very serious figures indeed and I'm totally in agreement with the PSA on this," he said.

"We need to treat road deaths as a core police priority and unfortunately the home office has not seen fit to make that point explicit."