FOUR vehicles were seized and 289 speeding tickets were issued to motorists in Colchester in the space of one week.

In a week of policing activities targeting speeding motorists, Essex Police and Safer Essex Roads partners held a Vision Zero day to round off Road Safety Week.

Last year, 48 people died as a result of fatal collisions: speeding was the contributory factor for three fatalities and 53 serious injuries.

Vision Zero is our ambition to have no road deaths by 2040 or sooner.

Safer Essex Roads Partnership, including Essex Police, held “mini days of action” alongside a Vision Zero enforcement day in Colchester on Saturday, November 25 to tackle the issues of speed and dangerous driving.

During the day of action, officers stopped 65 vehicles which resulted in four vehicles being seized for insurance and licence offences and one vehicle being issued a prohibition notice for dangerous condition.

A further 40 traffic offence reports were issued: 12 for mobile phone usage whilst driving, eight for not wearing a seatbelt and four for illegal window tints, limiting the driver’s vision.

In addition, Safer Essex Roads Enforcement Officer colleagues issued a further 60 tickets carrying out speed checks at three different locations across Colchester.

Earlier in the week, our speed Enforcement Officers were out targeting Essex motorways and trunk roads, focussing on reducing speed, improving road safety, and reducing casualty numbers in support of the wider Brake Road Safety Week of action.

During this period, they issued 229 speeding tickets as they performed targeted enforcement on the A130, A13, M11 and the A120, when the highest recorded speed was 104mph on a 70mph road.

Taking part in School Speedwatch, pupils monitored traffic movements in the vicinity of their schools and, with the help of a Roads Policing officer, they stopped speeding motorists to express their concerns about road safety outside their schools.

Most drivers told pupils they hadn’t realised they were speeding after they were asked about their driving behaviour.

Claire Stone, road safety technician from the Safer Essex Roads Partnership, who organised two road safety events for Year Five pupils at Iceni Primary School, Colchester, and Vange Primary School, said: “As part of the Safer Essex Roads Partnership, our absolute priority is road safety - we’re here to educate the drivers that speeding kills.”