NOT wearing a seatbelt is among offences being clamped down on by Wiltshire Police this month as part of a special operation.
The Project Zero road safety operation, which targets drivers who fail to abide by the law, is being relaunched this month in a bid to cut the number of casualties on county roads.
It comes just days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised after being fined by Lancashire Police for not wearing a seatbelt while filming a social media clip.
The PM said he ‘fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologised’ for the offence.
Not belting up is among the offences being highlighted in Wiltshire as part of Project Zero, with a focus on the ‘Fatal Five’.
They are:
Excess speed
Drink/drug driving
Driving while using a mobile phone
Not wearing a seatbelt
Careless/dangerous driving
Sgt Ben Cox, of Wiltshire Police, said: “The aim ultimately is to reduce road deaths in our county to zero.
“While this may seem unachievable, I personally can’t think of what would be classed as an ‘acceptable’ number of deaths on the road. One death is one too many.
“Being the person to inform a family that their loved one has been killed on the roads will always be the hardest part of this job and something that stays with you forever.
“Our aim, every day, is to keep our roads as safe as possible by targeting those who fail to abide by the law. The fatal five are the offences statistically proven to majorly contribute to death and serious injury on the road.
“While this is very much our everyday work on RPU, we will be intensifying our resources for that particular day in a localised area and targeting those most at risk of causing serious harm.”
Project Zero kicked off for 2023 last week when it ran in Amesbury.
In total, seven Traffic Offence Reports were issued and 14 fixed penalty notices – all for Fatal Five-related offences.
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