The number of people dying in police car accidents has more than tripled in four years, with a record 44 pursuit deaths last year compared to nine in 1997/98.

Some high-profile cases have dominated the headlines, including Sir Paul McCartney's wife Heather Mills and newsreader Sheena Macdonald.

Both suffered serious injuries in accidents involving police vehicles.

Ms Macdonald's high profile helped her campaign for improvements in training.

She was in a coma for more than 72 hours after being struck by a police car in Islington, north London, in February 1999.

Her injuries included a major fracture to the upper face and jawbone and serious brain injuries.

She had to undergo facial surgery during which a titanium staple was inserted into her head.

The newsreader was devastated when the driver was acquitted of careless driving.

She said: "I certainly think that driving fast is part of the police driving culture. Speed apparently matters to them very much.

"These are young boys driving what are in effect lethal weapons, two tons of steel, at speed

"Twenty, 30 miles an hour is actually a colossal speed to be going at if you hit somebody."

'Waste of money'

Heather Mills, who recently married Sir Paul, became a household name after using her disability to bring attention to others she considered less fortunate than herself.

After an accident involving a police motorcycle in 1993 she suffered crushed ribs, a punctured lung, and multiple fractures of the pelvis and the loss of her left leg below the knee.

PC Simon Osbourne, the motorcyclist involved, was cleared of careless driving and described Ms Mills' £200,000 compensation award as "a waste of taxpayers' money".

Things show no sign of improving, only last week a 29-year-old female pedestrian in Shooters Hill, south London, was killed.

In March an eight-year-old boy from Doncaster suffered head injuries after being hit by a police car on an emergency call.

And in October of last year an 80-year-old woman from west London was also seriously injured.