Road Policing teams join forces to get behind Global Road Safety Week

Reducing the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads was the focus of a special week of action led by the Northamptonshire Road Policing teams.

The Force’s Road Crime and Safer Roads teams organised the week-long operation in support of this year’s United Nations Global Road Safety Week which took place last month (May).

With support from the Interceptor Response officers and Special Constabulary, the operation aimed to improve safety across the road network, focusing primarily on the county’s red routes.

Running from May 16-22, the campaign focused on challenging and changing the behaviour of those who put their own safety, and that of other road users at risk, with special emphasis on the fatal four offences.

The Fatal Four - speeding, drink/drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt and using a mobile phone at the wheel - are the motoring offences which are most linked to death or serious injury on the roads.

During the week of action, a staggering 970 drivers were reported for exceeding the permitted speed limit after drivers were caught driving between 25mph and 124mph by the Mobile Enforcement Camera team.

In addition to this, a further 71 motoring offences were committed which included not wearing a seat belt (35), using a mobile phone behind the wheel (two), and driving whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit (two).

One driver was reported for not being in proper control of their vehicle, while eight vehicles were seized over the seven-day period after the drivers were found not to hold valid insurance.

Detective Inspector Tony Kennedy of Northamptonshire Police’s Operations Team said: “Improving road safety continues to be our main priority for our road policing teams and Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance partners.

“We take robust action against anyone using our road network both irresponsibly and illegally 24/7, however Global Road Safety Week provided another opportunity to focus our efforts on the fatal four motoring offences.

“Road safety is the responsibility of everyone, and although most of us use our roads safely, there is still a minority who choose to put their own lives and that of others at risk by continuing to use them irresponsibly and illegally.

“To improve road safety, we need to change how our roads are used by challenging the behaviour of those who think they are above the law. However, we cannot do this on our own, and we need everyone to play their part to help save lives.”

Five people die and more than 60 people are seriously injured on average on the UKs roads each day, and so far, this year (January-May), there has been 13 fatal and more than 20 serious injuries due to collisions in Northamptonshire.

If you have been involved in a road collision, or think you may have witnessed a traffic offence, you can report it online at www.northants.police.uk

Or you can report offences by uploading video evidence via the Force’s Operation Snap online portal, which automatically creates a witness statement to provide a full account of the incident.

For more information about Operation Snap or to submit video footage, please visit www.northants.police.uk/OpSnap