More than 100 commercial driver offences dealt with in week of action

More than 100 traffic offence reports were issued by our Roads Policing Unit last week as part of a national initiative to identify commercial vehicle drivers committing offences.

Working alongside Safer Roads Humber and in collaboration with National Highways our officers travelled across the region in an unmarked heavy goods vehicle (HGV) on the lookout for drivers who were using their mobile phone, driving without wearing their seatbelt, or had an insecure load.

In the week between Monday 30 January and Friday 3 February, 106 traffic offence reports were issued. Sixty of these were to drivers were found to not be wearing their seatbelt, 19 had insecure loads, and 16 were using a mobile phone.

Sgt John Gibson of our Roads Policing Unit led the operation. He said: “Commercial vehicles carry a significant risk of harm when the driver is not in proper control.

“Those driving whilst using a mobile phone, failing to comply with driving hours, or not wearing a seatbelt are an increased risk.

“In the past three years, there has been an increase in commercial vehicles being involved in fatal road traffic collisions. Involvement of commercial vehicles now accounts for 16% of fatal RTC, which is higher than those involving motorcycles.

“This operation sees us using an unmarked HGV to spot drivers who are committing offences. We record video footage of the offences, and colleagues in an accompanying marked vehicle are alerted to intercept the offending vehicle.

“We are keen to keep the roads in our region as safe as possible. Those who break the law behind the wheel are putting lives at risk and we see on a daily basis the devastating effects these actions can have.”

If you have information about road traffic offences, you can call us on 101 when it is safe to do so. Alternatively, you can report road traffic incidents via this website.