UNSAFE vehicles were stopped in their tracks during road safety enforcement operations carried out by Warwickshire Police Roads Policing Officers (RPO) and Special Constables.
They worked with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) on two road safety enforcement operations with the aim of making the county’s roads safer.
During the first operation, two people were prosecuted for driving overweight vehicles, which were prohibited from moving until their weight was reduced.
The DVSA also prohibited two drivers from continuing their journey – one due to the load being insecure, and the other for having bald tyres.
And during a second operation at Warwick services on the M40, officers intercepted 20 commercial vehicles and brought them into the services for the driver documentation and vehicles to be checked by both police and DVSA.
Only eight vehicles were in order, with 12 others having issues including three vehicles with insecure loads. The drivers were prohibited from proceeding until their loads were safely secured.
Three vehicles had illegal tints – two of which were removed at the roadside, with the other prohibited from continuing its journey as the glass was tinted so could not be removed.
Six vehicles were found to be overweight – one of them by 21 per cent. All drivers received Traffic Offence Reports and four of them were prohibited from continuing their journeys until their vehicles were adequately unloaded.
Police also intercepted a fully loaded car transporter and trailer weighing a massive four tons – half a ton overweight. The driver was prohibited from continuing his journey due to excessive windscreen tints which could not be removed. The car transporter and trailer was also seized by officers.
PS Shaun Bridle said: “Overweight vehicles are extremely dangerous to the drivers themselves and other road users as the additional weight affects handling and braking distances and heavy loads can start to pull the vehicle instead of the other way around.
“Warwickshire Police and partners see the results of collisions first hand and that is why we will do whatever we can to help prevent collisions from occurring and to improve road safety for everyone.”
DVSA’s Head of Enforcement Delivery David Collings said: “DVSA’s priority is to protect people from unsafe drivers and vehicles.
“This action alongside our partners serves as a reminder of the risks associated with cutting corners on road safety. Every driver or operator has a responsibility to check their vehicle is in a roadworthy condition before beginning a journey.
“We endeavour to support drivers and operators to remain safe, which is why we have produced guidance accessible on www.gov.uk to empower commercial road users to make Warwickshire roads safer for everybody.”
Further operations are planned throughout March to support the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership target of halving the number of people killed and seriously injured on Warwickshire’s roads by 2030, and to refresh and increase officers’ skills.
