Drivers flouting the law will be targeted
Traffic cops are this week cracking down on drivers who flout basic rules of the road.
The week-long campaign by the Road Policing Division runs until Sunday and will see mobile camera units deployed across the country targeting speeding, mobile phone use at the wheel and drivers not wearing a seatbelt.
The campaign was launched on the back of a Transport Scotland survey which coincides with the publication of an observational survey by Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport which showed mobile phone use at the wheel up by 2.5 per cent from 2014 to 2017.
Statistics show that doing so makes the driver four times more likely to crash, and slows their reaction times by half, compared to normal drivers.
Officers will be looking out for speeding motorists, as this is a contributory factor in many serious and fatal road traffic collisions.
And a particular emphasis will be on those drivers and passengers not wearing a seatbelt.
Chief Inspector Darren Faulds said: “It is estimated that one in three people killed in vehicles were not wearing a seatbelt, and half of those could have been saved if they had worn one, which is why we take this matter so seriously.
“We will interact with drivers through education to influence their behaviour, but where appropriate, we will enforce these core road traffic offences with the appropriate penalties, so my message to all drivers is quite clear #dontriskit.”