100+ motorists engaged during Chelmsford ‘surround a town’

Essex Police identified 11 seatbelt and nine mobile phone offences during a Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP) ‘surround a town’ event in Chelmsford on 21 November.

First trialled in 2007, the surround a town initiative sees SERP focus resources in a concentrated and geographically targeted area, often where there are high rates of collisions and casualties.

Essex Police provide a strong presence on the arteries to the chosen town, while SERP partners interact with the public in the town centre – capitalising on the interest created by the police ‘surround’.

The recent event in Chelmsford, organised as part of Road Safety Week 2017 (20-26 Nov), saw SERP partners use a combination of engagement, education and enforcement to address a range of poor and dangerous road user behaviours.

In addition to the 11 seatbelt and nine mobile phone offences, during two School Speed Watch sessions 17 drivers were spoken to by pupils – while a Community Speed Watch team at Highwoods recorded 24 speeding vehicles over two sessions.

SERP partners were also based at a local supermarket where 70 shoppers were spoken to about various road safety issues.

A second surround a town event also took place in Wickford as part of SERP’s programme of activities for Road Safety Week.

14 December 2017