Essex Police operation seizes 12 uninsured vehicles

Essex Police’s Commercial Vehicle Unit led roads policing colleagues in Operation Tramline covering almost 7,000 miles.

The work focused on offences carried out on the county’s strategic road network, over five days.

Officers issued 126 traffic offence reports.

The Commercial Vehicle Unit used a supercab to identify unsafe, distracting driver behaviour on major routes.

This was provided by National Highways between Monday February 12 and Friday February 16.

It is part of a national project aiming to reduce collisions and incidents while improving safety, journey time and reliability on major roads.

Preparation - Officers beside the provided supercab (Image: Essex Police)

Roads Policing officers travelled the strategic road network, including A12, A120, M25, M11 and A130.

They looked for drivers who were committing offences, were driving in a dangerous manner and putting themselves or other drivers at risk. 

The height of the supercab allowed officers to look into larger vehicles to observe distracting behaviours. 

Overall, the biggest single offence was non-wearing of seatbelts which led to 47 drivers being reported.

During the policing patrols, 21 drivers were reported for using a mobile phone whilst driving and two for speeding.

Meanwhile, 13 motorists stopped for driving without due care and attention.

The drivers of two vehicles parked up on the hard shoulder of M11 near Stansted were spoken to by officers before being issued fines.

The driver of a lorry had stopped to have a break, having exceeded his driving hours and the other had been instructed by his boss to join a business conference call.

CVU’s Sgt Jason Dearsley, said: “Road safety is our focus and priority and we are committed to keeping the roads moving and safe - but each and every one of us must commit to playing a part to ensure all road users are safe.

“Hard shoulders are there to be used in case of an emergency, not to be used as some drivers have done this week.

Policeman - Sgt Jason Dearsley of Commercial Vehicle Unit (Image: Essex Police)

“Driving is a privilege: it’s your licence and to hold on to it you must uphold the law and abide by the rules of the road.

“Using a mobile phone whilst driving is dangerous, if you lose concentration, you could cause a collision.

"Even if you’re uninjured, you could injure someone else or damage your vehicle which could have a detrimental effect on your day-to-day life.   

“It’s your responsibility to look after yourself, so please, focus on the road, don’t be distracted and adhere to the speed limit and wear your seatbelt – it could save your life.”