Cheshire Police crackdown on deadly motorway driving crimes

“If you travel on roads and start committing offences, choose to ignore the law or choose to commit criminality, we will seek to stop you and will deal with you,” a senior officer warned.

It comes as Cheshire Police has launched its Operation Enforcing – a long-term campaign targeting motorists connected to criminality, as well as reducing the number of serious and fatal collisions by pursuing those committing ‘Fatal 5’ offences.

These are: careless driving, using mobile phones, failing to wear a seatbelt, speeding and drink and drug driving.

The operation was unveiled this morning, Thursday, as marked and unmarked police cars, police bikes and a specialist police HGV, which gives officers a better view into the cabs of offending lorry drivers, set off on the M6 following a briefing at the force’s enforcement site based at Sandbach Services.

The warning is a timely one, with seven people sadly killed on the Cheshire section of the M6 in the past two years, with 18 people also suffering serious, life-changing injuries.

“Operation Enforcing is run to make our roads safer, prevent and tackle crime and protect vulnerable people,” said Superintendent Jon Betts, head of roads policing for Cheshire.

“It is a combined operation looking to educate drivers, but also take enforcement action where we find offences here in Cheshire.

Superintendent Jon Betts, head of roads policing for Cheshire

“We are looking for driver behaviours that could contribute to other people being killed or seriously injured on our roads.

“What we are saying to the public is please take responsibility for your own driving so you are not the cause of someone else not making it home safely, as with many of the injuries and fatalities we have had, there are driver behaviours that have contributed.

“I expect my officers to take enforcement action against people that make bad decisions, so if you chose to drive a vehicle that is not safe, if you choose to drive with no insurance, if you choose to drive while on your mobile phone, if you choose to drive to close to the vehicle in front of you – we will take enforcement action against you.”

In the past seven days since the operation was launched, Cheshire Police has issued 149 tickets and taken nine uninsured vehicles off the road, as well as prosecuting 43 motorists for driving while using their mobile phone and 37 for speeding.

Another road crime police are keen to stamp out is those who use their phones while driving to take photos or videos of serious crash scenes.

“It seems to be part of how we operate as a society now where everything has to go onto social media,” added Superintendent Betts

“You are driving a car, and apart from the complete lack of respect for the people who are potentially killed or seriously injured and their families, you are also committing an offence.”

Inspector Anton Sullivan, in charge of Cheshire Police’s Roads and Crime Unit

Engaging in a simple, momentary act such as checking a phone while driving can cause a chain of chaos and tragedy, and officers warn it is not worth the risk.

Inspector Anton Sullivan, in charge of Cheshire Police’s Roads and Crime Unit, commented: “Our belief is that a lot of collisions that occur are avoidable if people take responsibility for the decisions they make when they get behind the wheel of a car.

“Driving while tired, driving while distracted, if you use a phone, driving while impaired through drink, drugs and even prescription drugs where the doctors say do not take them and drive – if you do that, you are putting your own and other people’s lives at risk.

“Not wearing a seatbelt and driving too fast are also things that are contributing factors to collisions, and often on the motorway, where speeds are higher and traffic can be more congested, a moment’s inattention could result in carnage.

“The decision you make that results in someone dying does not just affect you as the driver that caused it, but also the victim and their family, friends and colleagues, as well as witnesses and emergency service workers who have to then go and deal with the casualties.

“Sometimes, unfortunately, we cannot save people’s lives, and it is traumatic for everyone involved.

“A lot of these cases are preventable, and Operation Enforcing is about making sure people understand that we want you to be safe while travelling through Cheshire, but conversely, if you travel down these roads and start committing offences, choose to ignore the law and choose to commit criminality, we will seek to stop you and will deal with you, and we make no apologies about that.”