News

14 September 2007
DAY OF ACTION DETECTS DISAPPOINTING DRIVERS

A SENIOR police officer has expressed his disappointment at the poor driver behaviour detected on Scotland’s roads during the latest ACPOS day of action.

Police throughout Scotland used a variety of means to detect drivers who were speeding or failing to use seatbelts. During the operation a variety of offences and examples of bad driving were picked up.

In the Grampian area one person has been reported after a van passenger was found with a two-year-old child on their lap with no suitable restraint while in Tayside four vehicles were seized after the drivers were found to have no insurance.

Police in Ayrshire, which is in the Strathclyde force area, have reported a driver spotted driving at 71mph while reading a map and a minibus driver who overtook on a blind hill crest.

As well as vehicles detected with no insurance and with defective tyres – in such cases the vehicles are seized – police in Grampian found a lorry driver sending a text while driving and two van drivers not wearing seatbelts.

In Strathclyde’s North Lanarkshire area a driver crashed into a roundabout after driving at over 70mph in a 30mph zone while on the M8 motorway two drivers were reported for dangerous driving after speeding, tailgating and undertaking other vehicles.

Over the course of Thursday, 13 September police patrols paid particular attention to drivers of light vans and other commercial vehicles as part of the latest Speeding/Seatbelt Awareness Day organised by the Asssociation of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS).

John Vine, Chief Constable of Tayside and chair of the ACPOS road policing business area, said: “It is disappointing that despite the efforts of the police and our partners involved in road safety there are still drivers taking a variety of risks.

“We are determined to deter drivers from these illegal and dangerous practices when they are behind the wheel and we will use every means at our disposal to detect them.”

He added: “The days of action carried out by the police in Scotland and aimed at improving driver behaviour will continue on a regular basis.”