Commercial Vehicle Unit keeps major roads safe

Thanks to the work of specialist roads policing officers in the Commercial Vehicle Unit, 83 drivers were issued traffic offence reports in an effort to keep our roads safe.

The Commercial Vehicle Unit (CVU) is a dedicated team of specialist officers who identify and target drivers breaking the law or those involved in the criminal use of our strategic road network.

Over five days last week, the officers took part in Operation Tramline, a road safety initiative using an HGV on loan from Highways England: the height of the cab allows officers to see into other lorry cabins or down into cars on a lower level to see what is happening. Any driver who is seen breaking the law is stopped.

Commencing Monday 3 February, the team stopped 88 vehicles which resulted in 83 traffic offence reports being issued for a variety of offences.

Offences included 20 mobile phone offences and 17 drivers not wearing seatbelts – offences that are part of the Fatal Four offences which are known contributing factors to killed and seriously injured collisions.

There were six arrests for drink driving, another of the Fatal Four offences and two arrests for possession of drugs with intent to supply.

But poor and dangerous driving was also a concern over the week which led to 9 drivers being reported for careless driving, putting themselves, their passengers and other road users at risk of harm.

Professional drivers must adhere to their driving time regulations, but some drivers did not successfully time their stops and 8 drivers ended up using the hard shoulder and slip roads onto our motorways to stop and have a break. This is totally unacceptable and against the law. It may inconvenience the driver, but we cannot allow it to happen. Other vehicles using the same slip road may not see the vehicle until the last minute and the situation could result in a collision.

Road safety is and always will be a priority for Essex Police and we’ll continue to be out there patrolling and enforcing the law.

Improving road safety will positively impact journeys for everyone.