“I was hungry and it’s the first day of my diet”

This was given as an excuse by a woman having been spotted eating pasta with a fork while behind the wheel.

The lady was one of almost 60 people spoken to after committing road-related offences on a ‘Surround a Town’ day in Chigwell on 9 August.

The ‘Surround a Town’ initiative uses a combination of enforcement and engagement to highlight the importance of safe and legal driving.

Essex Police provides a highly visible presence around the town while SERP partners interact with the public in the town centre to promote road safety and the ‘no excuse’ campaign.

The most recent day of action saw 45 seatbelt offences detected, along with 41 drivers speeding, eight mobile phone offences, two arrests for drug driving and a failed eye sight test.

Liam Collins, road safety officer for SERP, said:

“Part of our roles as road safety officers is to educate motorists around the dangers of behaviours such as speeding.

“When spoken to, many people justified exceeding the speed limit by saying they were running late.

“We all have that moment of panic when we need to be somewhere and it might seem like speeding is the right thing to do – but – speeding is likely to get you to your destination only a few seconds earlier.

“Is it really worth the risk? We want you to drive to arrive, not to risk injuring yourself or others.”

10 August 2018