M1 enforcement action catches Fatal4 culprits
POLICE officers from the East Midlands Operational Support Service (EMOpSS) stopped 106 vehicles during a three-day ‘Op Unity’ operation on the M1 in Leicestershire.
Op Unity was run in conjunction with our neighbouring forces including Thames Valley Police, Derbyshire, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire with the aim of targeting criminality on the region’s major road networks and improving road safety by looking at the enforcement of the ‘Fatal4’ offences – speeding; drink driving; driving without a seatbelt or using a mobile phone at the wheel in the run up to the Christmas period.
Police officers patrolled the motorway between junctions 18 and 23 on Wednesday, November 22, and Friday, November 24, in various vehicles which included an unmarked HGV ‘tractor unit’.
EMOpSS officers in unmarked and marked vehicles stayed in radio contact with the officers in the HGV and pulled over motorists who were seen from the height of the tractor unit committing one of the fatal four offences.
Across the three days 106 drivers were stopped including 48 drivers who were not wearing a seatbelt, 24 were on their mobile phone, 14 were caught speeding, two had no MOT and two had no insurance. One woman was arrested on suspicion of theft related offences in Northamptonshire.
Sergeant Dave Sweetman, a Tactical Roads Policing Team (TRPT) officer said; “‘The HGV gives us an ideal viewing platform to observe drivers’ actions from a high vantage point. We wanted to do some enforcement action on the motorway in the run up to Christmas and I have to say I am disappointed that so many professional drivers continue to drive without a seatbelt or on their mobile phone. They are in charge of vehicles that weigh many tons so our enforcement action is done to make our road network a safer place for everyone.”
The HGV tractor unit is owned by Highways England and is used by police forces across the country and will be used again in the East Midlands in the future.
The penalty for not wearing a seatbelt is a £100 fine and for driving while using a mobile phone it is a £200 fine and six points on the driving license.