Every Wednesday, Roads Policing Unit officers conduct proactive patrols in a specific town in the county as part of Project Zero, which in short, aims to reduce the number of casualties on our roads.
While the work taking place is very much everyday work for our RPU officers, the project sees the department intensify resources to target the fatal five offences which are excess speed, drink/drug driving, using a phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and careless/dangerous driving.
- On February 8, officers stopped and dealt with 40 drivers for a number of offences including 16 endorsable offences such as excess speed, excessive window tints, mobile phone use whilst driving and careless driving offences.
- A total of 24 fixed penalty notices were handed out mainly to drivers and passengers failing to wear seatbelts, expired MOT’s and registration plate offences.
- A 39-year-old woman from Westbury was arrested in Portway on suspicion of drug driving and has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue.
- Officers also attended a three vehicle collision on the A303.
A/Insp Will Ayres said: “During our Project Zero patrols last week, the team attended a number of locations where the community had raised concerns regarding speeding issues, including the A350 at Longbridge Deverill to both act as a deterrent and provide some reassurance to the local community – we appreciate the impact speeding, or the perception of vehicles speeding, can have on a small community and we hope residents were reassured by our presence.
“During the day, we were disappointed at the number of drivers stopped not wearing seatbelts. It takes a matter of seconds to put a belt on when getting in a car, and it really could be the difference between life and death if you were to be involved in a serious collision.”
