Image: Go Safe
More than a third of UK police forces are using mobile safety camera vans to prosecute drivers not wearing seatbelts or using a mobile phone.
IAM RoadSmart submitted Freedom of Information requests to 44 police forces – with 16 confirming they use the pictures from the cameras to pursue these offences as ‘a matter of routine’, while a further four do so ‘occasionally’.
During 2016, these 16 police forces caught more than 8,000 unbelted drivers and around 1,000 drivers using a mobile at the wheel.
IAM RoadSmart says with 80% of drivers believing that distraction from mobile phones has become a bigger problem in the last three years, the fact the police are using cameras to detect offenders ‘can only be good news for road safety’.
Sarah Sillars, IAM RoadSmart chief executive officer, said: “Drivers should be reassured that the police are using all the tools in their road safety toolkit to address their top worries.
“For too many drivers it is only the fear of being caught that will stop them putting themselves and others at risk from smartphone distraction. Not wearing a seatbelt also puts an unfair burden on our emergency services who have to deal with the aftermath of such selfish behaviour.
“If drivers don’t know about this added enforcement technique then its impact will be reduced so the police should have no hesitation in publicising its use.”
Possibly you’ve misunderstood Pat if you were referring to my comment. By ‘driving around’ I meant police vehicles (traffic or otherwise) ‘driving around’ on patrol and on the lookout for offenders. The camera vans once parked up (I.e. not driving around) can in a couple of hours detect far more offences than several police vehicles in that same time
Hugh Jones
+5
Mobile camera vans do not “drive around” looking for offenders – at least not in Wales. However there is no legal obligation for camera partnerships across the UK to apply enforcement in exactly the same manner as each other. It has been a bit of a post code lottery how camera enforcement is applied since the end of hypothecation of safety camera funding.
Pat, Wales
+6
Why drive around looking for offenders (with the risk of a pursuit) when you can just wait for them to come to you?
Hugh Jones
0