COMMERCIAL Vehicle Unit using an HGV, captures on camera motorists not wearing seatbelts and using mobile phones whilst driving on major road networks.

An Essex Police spokesperson said: “Our Commercial Vehicle Unit (CVU) stopped a record 221 drivers and reported 168 drivers for a variety of offences as part of a five-day focus to tackle issues affecting road safety as part of their work patrolling the strategic road network in Essex.

Between 7 and 11 October, our CVU used a super cab provided by National Highways as part of Operation Tramline, a national project which aims to reduce collisions and incidents, and improve safety, journey time and reliability on major roads.

The height of the super cab allows an officer to look into larger vehicles to observe distracting behaviours such as mobile phone use and enforce the law by capturing the incident on camera, before stopping the vehicle and speaking to the driver about the offence.

Over the five-day period, 221 vehicles were stopped across Essex, and 168 drivers were reported for a variety of offences, four vehicles were seized for no insurance and six arrests were made for drug driving.

The highest number of offenders were reported for not wearing a seatbelt (77 people) followed by 40 drivers reported for using a mobile phone whilst driving on M25, M11 and A12. Alongside drug or drink driving and speeding, these offences are part of the Fatal Four and are known factors that contribute to killed and seriously injured collisions.

We’d urge drivers to leave their mobile alone and wait until your journey is ended, then using it when it’s safe to do so. When driving at speed on the strategic network, you need concentration to drive safely, but using a mobile means your attention is elsewhere.
However, 16 drivers were reported after using the hard shoulder for either their rest break or to use their mobile phones. The hard shoulder is for use during an emergency only.

Offences during the five-day period included:

• 40 mobile phone offences
• 77 seatbelt offences
• 5 speeding
• 26 no insurance
• 19 driving without due care or consideration
• 7 insecure loads
• 16 stopping on hard shoulders

Operation Tramline supports Vision Zero, our ambition to have no road deaths in Essex by 2040 or sooner.