POLICE CRACKDOWN ON TRAFFIC OFFENCES

Road offenders were “blatant” and “easy to catch” according to the police superintendent who ran the day of action.

More than 800 motoring enforcements were handed out, including 534 for speeding, 25 for people using a mobile phone and seven for people going through a red light. Superintendent James Sutherland said: “I think it’s made a big impression. All the evidence suggests enforcement changes driver behaviour.

“We will only know if it’s effective in the long run. What I find very striking is just how routine and blasé people have been about their driving. It was not hard catching people on their mobile phones - it was absolutely blatant. “It was extraordinary how easy it was to catch people.”

On the speeding offences, he added: “That’s a lot. We particularly focused on being in rural areas as far as possible to catch people doing rat runs through villages. “There were 40 eyesight tests on the roadside - it was the first time we’ve done this. One person failed and lost their licence.”