Road Policing teams get behind Global Road Safety Week

Officers from Northamptonshire Road Policing teams will be running a special week of action in support of this month’s United Nations Global Road Safety Week (May 13-17).

Led by the Road Crime and Safer Roads teams, with support from the Interceptor Response officers and Special Constabulary, the operation aims to improve safety on the county’s roads.

Starting next Monday (May 16), the week-long campaign will focus on challenging and changing the behaviour of those who put their own safety, and that of other road users at risk, with special emphasis on the fatal four offences.

The Fatal Four - speeding, drink/drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt and using a mobile phone at the wheel - are the motoring offences which are most linked to death or serious injury on the roads.

Five people die and more than 60 people are seriously injured on average on the UKs roads each day, and so far, this year (January-April), there has been 11 fatal and 19 serious injuries due to collisions in Northamptonshire.

Sergeant Richard Hill of the Force’s Road Crime Team said: “Every person who dies or is seriously injured on our roads is one too many, which is why improving road safety remains one of our key priorities.

“Whilst we must never forget that behind every statistic there’s a grieving family or someone who is coming to terms with a life changing injury, we also understand a collision has an impact on the wider community.

“We police our county’s roads 24/7 and take robust actions against anyone found to be using them irresponsibly and illegally, and this week of action is an extension of that work.

“One way to help make our roads a safer place is to change how we use our roads by challenging behaviour. This operation provides us with the opportunity to focus our efforts on this and educate and engage with road users.

“This operation is not about catching people out however, where people choose to ignore the law which then impacts on the safety of others, it is only right that the appropriate actions is taken.”

If you have been involved in a road collision, or think you may have witnessed a traffic offence, you can report it online at www.northants.police.uk