More than 400 speeding offences detected in 24-hour enforcement operation in Northampton

A 24-hour speed enforcement operation, held across Northampton in support of a Europe-wide road safety campaign, resulted in more than 400 speeding offences detected.
400 speeding offences detected in 24-hour operation400 speeding offences detected in 24-hour operation
400 speeding offences detected in 24-hour operation

Officers and specials from Northamptonshire Police’s Safer Roads Team carried out the operation from 7am to 7am on April 18-19 to coincide with this week's TISPOL.

In total, the operation uncovered 414 speeding offences, 13 seatbelt offences, one offence of using a mobile phone at the wheel, two offences of not being in proper control of a vehicle and one motorist was found not to be properly in control of a vehicle and not to be wearing a seatbelt. These were detected across 18 locations in 24 hours.

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Safer Roads team leader Matthew O’Connell said: “In our work, speed enforcement goes on all the time, but we were happy to support the TISPOL Europe-wide campaign to find speeding drivers.

“Driving at an inappropriate speed is, sadly, still a major factor in road traffic collisions and we commend any efforts to find and deal with this dangerous driving behaviour.

“Our message to the public would be to please watch your speed. Until people are involved in a collision they often cannot imagine what kind of impact a serious collision has. If all drivers would simply think twice about their own safety and the safety of others, there would be far fewer collisions on the road.”

TISPOL President Paolo Cestra said: “Anyone who still believes that speeding is a trivial offence needs to think again. That’s because excessive or inappropriate speed has a singularly devastating impact on the safety of road users, increasing both the risk of a crash and the severity of the consequences.

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“It is estimated that speeding contributes to as many as one third of all crashes resulting in death, and is the most important contributory factor to road deaths and serious injuries (ETSC 2008).

“All across Europe this week, police officers will be ensuring that drivers respect the different speed limits. In cases where drivers choose to ignore these limits, officers will take appropriate steps to enforce the law."

The TISPOL Coordinated Speed Enforcement Campaign encourages police officers from across Europe to join together in a focused action against drivers who fail to comply with speed limits.