10 Oct #Brentwood: School children help officers push safety message during a road policing operation
A group of school children helped officers push home safety messages during a road policing operation in Brentwood yesterday (Wednesday, October 5, 2016)
Officers from the Casualty Reduction Unit were joined by colleagues from the Safer Essex Roads Partnership, HMRC and pupils from Blackmore Primary School during an operation to detect offenders using the roads and increase road safety.
Officers used Automatic Number Plate Recognition to identify suspect vehicles which were then intercepted and taken to stop-check sites on Shenfield Road and just off the A12 at Mountnessing.
Meanwhile children from the school in Nine Ashes Road, Ingatestone worked with officers to detect speeding drivers and talk to them about the possible consequences of their actions. Seventeen drivers were spoken to including one found to be travelling at 55mph in a 30mph limit.
During the operation officers dealt with 50 people who had failed to wear a seatbelt and 26 who were seen using a mobile phone behind the wheel.
Three vehicles were seized because their drivers didn’t have appropriate insurance and 12 vehicles did not have a valid MOT.
One driver was dealt with for careless driving and another for driving otherwise than in accordance with the terms of their licence.
Five drivers were found to have spent too long on the road exceeding legal driver hours and were fined a combined total of £800. Another was found to be driving a vehicle which was over the legal weight limit and fined £200.
One driver was issued a warning for possession of cannabis and another was issued a vehicle defect rectification notice for an illegal number plate. They have been given a period of 14 days to resolve the problem of face prosecution, points on their licence and/or a fine.
HMRC also interacted with 28 drivers.
Sgt Dave Rudd from the Casualty Reduction Unit said: “Five of the drivers were found using a mobile phone behind the wheel had also failed to fasten their seatbelt. Behaviour such as this puts not only their safety at risk but that of other innocent road users.
“Seatbelts and the ban on using mobile phones while driving exist for a reason. You are four times more likely to crash if you use a mobile phone behind the wheel and if you aren’t wearing your seatbelt you are twice as likely to die.”
“Fastening your seatbelt and making sure your passengers are wearing theirs is simple task but one that could save your life or someone else’s. Please remember to buckle up.”
