SERP deploys HGV ‘supercab’
The Safer Essex Roads Partnership has deployed a ‘supercab’ to identify unsafe and distracting driver behaviour on major routes across the county.
The supercab was provided by Highways England for a week from March 22 and used as part of a national project which aims to reduce collisions and incidents and improve safety, journey time and reliability on major roads.
Essex Police roads policing officers focused on major roads such as the M25, A12, A120, A130, A127 and A13 and stopped 142 vehicles during the operation.
The height of the supercab allowed an officer to look into vehicles to observe distracting behaviours such as mobile phone use. Once a behaviour or cause for concern was spotted, the message was relayed to police cars and motorbikes which were ready to pull over the vehicle and engage with the driver.
Rob Andrews, roads policing constable, said: “This was a successful operation with 142 interventions made and 120 drivers spoken to.
“In addition, 45 drivers were found to not be wearing seatbelts, 9 people were seen using their mobile phones whilst driving, 5 for speeding and 11 were seen to not be in proper control of their vehicle.
“Operations such as this are valuable in promoting road safety. They allow us to remind motorists that they should always drive safely and although they might not see a marked police car nearby, it doesn’t mean their behaviour isn’t being observed.”
Lorraine Willis, regional safety advisor, Highways England, said: “Highways England’s top priority is safety, we want everyone who uses or works on our network to get home safe and well. Joint operations like this are a really good way to target the highest risk road users on the Strategic Road Network by identifying distracted drivers and unroadworthy vehicles before they cause a problem.
“We are proud to support our police colleagues through this operation. We have recently provided new, improved cabs and this project has now identified more than 20,000 offences. There really is no excuse for driving an unsafe vehicle or using your phone at the wheel, so we will continue to support this operation across our road network, helping to make England’s roads even safer.”
12 April 2021