Poor driving behaviours caught on film

Northamptonshire police said it was “disappointing” to catch professional commercial drivers breaking the law on the roads during a two-day operation using an unmarked HGV. Officers from the safer roads team, supported by the special constabulary, used the vehicle to patrol the county’s stretch of the M1 to spot drivers putting others at risk by their poor driving behaviour and film evidence of unsafe driving. Although the operation targeted all vehicles, it said HGVs made up the vast majority, with 16 vehicles pulled over and 28 offences detected – 14 of which were for not wearing a seatbelt.

Eight drivers were stopped for using a mobile phone whilst driving, and one foreign national was dealt with at the roadside and paid a GBP100 fixed-penalty fine after he was stopped for careless driving after nearly causing a collision. Another driver was stopped for an insecure, dangerous load. He received an immediate prohibition notice preventing him from driving his vehicle until his cargo had been reloaded safely.

PC Dave Lee, of the Northamptonshire Police Safer Roads Team, said: “Some commercial drivers drive hundreds of miles each week across the UK and are sadly more likely to see the tragic consequences of poor driving standards, so it is always disappointing to still catch a small minority breaking the law.”