Operation Wightwash: Enforcement on Isle of Wight roads in September 2023

Police have been conducting Operation Wightwash this week – a two-day intensified roads policing enforcement operation targeting dangerous driving behaviours.

Wightwash was conducted over the course of Wednesday 13 September & Thursday 14 September, and saw the mainland-based Eastern Roads Policing Unit (RPU) pay a visit to the Island, with support from officers from Havant RPU, Isle of Wight RPU, and the Isle of Wight’s dual skilled Roads Policing/Armed Response Vehicle team (RP/ARV).

This operation has been stood up in recent years to bolster our efforts in intercepting drivers committing offences on Isle of Wight roads, and is run at regular intervals throughout the year. 

Officers dealt with almost 100 drivers for a range of offences over the course of the two days. Some of the offences dealt with included driving without insurance, driving whilst using a mobile phone, driving without a seatbelt, contravening red lights, driving without a licence, and driving with an insecure load.

Vehicles were also stopped for number plate, exhaust, visor and tinted window offences which on some occasions led to officers identifying further offending including drug driving and driving without insurance.

In total, 93 offences were dealt with by fixed penalty notice, with four vehicles being seized for having no insurance or no licence, and 2 drivers were arrested on suspicion of drug driving.

Road safety issues are regularly brought to our attention on the Isle of Wight, and are clearly of concern to Island residents. We want you to be reassured that we listen to these concerns, and regularly conduct enforcement action to target the minority of drivers whose standards fall far below what is legally expected of them.

Our activity has a particular focus on stopping drivers who display the ‘fatal four’ behaviours – these are the four poor driving habits that pose the greatest risk of leading to a serious or fatal collision, and include drink/drug driving, driving without a seatbelt, speeding, and mobile phone use whilst driving.

Chief Inspector Alex Charge said: “We know the public are concerned about driving standards on the Island, so officers are proactively targeting offenders on the road to ensure responsible motorists can be safe and feel safe behind the wheel.

“In addition to enforcement work, we are actively tracking which areas are most affected by driving offences, and are working with road safety partners to address matters on the road network.

“Teams on the Island are all pulling together to make this possible, with combined efforts from RPU, the dual skilled RP/ARV team, as well as Neighbourhoods teams and District Policing Teams collectively working together to address these issues more broadly and as a priority under Operation Mile.

“We continue to encourage members of the public to report driving offences, and concerns around driving standards, to police so we can identify any hotspots and take action to keep road users safer.”

To make a report to police, call 101, or submit information via the report tool on the Hampshire Constabulary website. Always dial 999 in the event of an emergency.

If you have video footage of a road incident that you would like to submit to us, you can do this using the Hants Snap tool on our website: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/police-forces/hampshire-constabulary/areas/hants-snap/hantsnap/hants-snap---report-an-incident/