Essex Police Commercial Vehicle Unit stopped 136 drivers last week

Essex Police's Commercial Vehicle Unit used a supercab to identify unsafe and distracting driver behaviour on the major routes across the county.

National Highways provided the supercab between September 25 and 29 as part of a national project aiming to reduce collisions and incidents while improving safety, journey time and reliability on major roads.

Over the four day period, officers focused on major roads within the wider county of Essex.

This includes roads such as the M11, M25, A12 and A13.

The height of the supercab allowed an officer to look into large vehicles to observe distracting behaviours, such as mobile phone use.

 Once a behaviour or cause for concern is spotted, officers then make sure the vehicle is stopped, and the driver is spoken to about the offence.

During last week’s policing patrols, 35 drivers were reported for using a mobile phone whilst driving.

This figure is up on a previous week of action in July which saw 22 drivers reported for the same offence.

Last week, 20 car drivers and 15 lorry drivers were stopped and reported for this offence.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "We’d urge drivers to leave their mobile alone and get into the habit of waiting until your journey is finished and then use it when it’s safe to do so.

"When driving at speed on the strategic network, you need concentration to drive safely, but using a mobile means your attention is elsewhere. 

"And seatbelt offences are up too. This time we stopped 50 drivers not wearing seatbelts, that’s 20 more than July.

"We want to remind drivers of their responsibilities to look after themselves and uphold the law. In the event of a collision, a seatbelt could save your life."

Offences during the five-day period included:

• 35 mobile phone offences

• 50 seatbelt offences

• 2 speeding 

• 2 no insurance

• 12 driving without due care or consideration

• 2 insecure loads

• 4 stopping on hard shoulders