| We will be holding our biggest road safety event tomorrow (Friday 2 November).
The 24-hour multi-agency operation starts at 6am and will include enforcement activity targeting the use of mobile phones while driving, speeding, failure to wear a seatbelt and driving under the influence of drink or drugs.
More than 350 officers, PCSOs, staff and volunteers are taking part in the event, including Specials, police cadets, neighbourhood officers, road policing officers and representatives from a number of charities and local organisations.
Last year 48 people were killed in Cambridgeshire, 436 were seriously injured and 2307 were injured in collisions.
The operation will be a combination of enforcement and prevention activity, all focused on driver and road user behaviour to save lives and reduce the number of people seriously injured in collisions on the county’s roads.
As well as focusing on the ‘fatal four’ contributors to collisions – mobile phones, speed, seatbelts and drink/drug driving – the operation will target disqualified drivers who continue to drive, those driving without insurance and poor tyres. Eyesight tests will also be carried out to check motorists are fit to drive.
Prevention activity includes:
· School visits in around 40 schools and pre-schools carried out by PCSOs in conjunction with road charity Brake and Zak the Zebra.
· Road safety event at Huntingdonshire Regional College, including Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and Magpas, during which there will be a crash reconstruction and first aid training.
· Events in Huntingdon and Cambridge to encourage cyclists to use lights in winter months and stay safe. Cambridgeshire County Council has donated a number of bike lights.
· Event at Cambridge Regional College, involving police and Mick George, showing students how to pass HGVs safely.
Activity on the day includes:
· Road side ‘speed gun’ enforcement throughout the county, with a focus on rural areas
· Intelligence-led operation targeting disqualified drivers who still drive in the county
· Peterborough – enforcement activity focused on vehicle-related criminality, uninsured drivers and road safety related offences.
· Tyre checks, supported by the Highways Agency, to check unsafe and illegal tyres.
· HGV operation in Sawtry targeting HGV offences
· Op Velo in Cambridge City targeting cycle safety and the ‘fatal four’ using plain-clothed cyclists.
· Community Speedwatch checks across the county in 45 local towns and villages.
· A test to find Cambridgeshire’s safest driver through advanced driving sessions with Cambridge Advanced Motorists.
· Drink and drug drive checks across the county.
Kind Regards,
Superintendent James Sutherland |
