Essex Police stop over 100 drivers on major Essex roads

Last week, the force’s Commercial Vehicle Unit stopped 120 drivers and issued 89 penalty notices as part of their work to tackle road safety issues on its strategic road network. Essex Police’s Commercial Vehicle Unit (CVU) used a supercab to identify unsafe and distracting driver behaviour on the major routes across our county. The supercab was provided by National Highways between December 11 and as part of a national project which aims to reduce collisions and incidents, and improve safety, journey time and reliability on major roads.

Over the five-day period, 120 vehicles were stopped across Essex, which included 51 HGVs, 41 cars, 27 LGVs and one motorcycle. Officers patrolled the county, focusing on major roads such as the M11, M25, A12 and A13, issuing 89 tickets and reporting two drivers for summons at a later date. Four vehicles were seized for no insurance following roadside enquiries and three prohibition notices were issued due to the poor and dangerous conditions of the vehicles.

The height of the supercab allows an officer to look into larger vehicles to observe distracting behaviours such as mobile phone use. Once a behaviour or cause for concern is spotted, the vehicle is stopped, and the driver spoken to about the offence. A total of 18 drivers were reported for using a mobile phone whilst driving and 32 drivers reported for not wearing a seatbelt.

PC Steve Bowyer, who took part in the week of action, said: “Frankly, the continued use of mobile phones, failing to wear seatbelts and general poor driving across our county is worrying as it puts all road users at risk. “Three factors that contribute to serious and fatal collisions were evident throughout the operation – not wearing seatbelts, being distracted whilst driving by using a mobile phone and speeding. Collectively, along with drink or drug driving, they are known as the Fatal Four.

“We will continue to use this valuable resource throughout 2024 and beyond until such time as the message is received and understood by every driver on our roads helping us towards achieving Vision Zero”.