More than 70 driving offences dealt with over two days on Isle of Wight roads

More than 70 driving offences were identified in the space of two days as part of proactive efforts to tackle offences on the Isle of Wight’s roads.

Over the course of Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 February, mainland-based Roads Policing Unit (RPU) officers joined the RPU team on the Island as part of an enforcement operation, with a particular focus on ‘Fatal Four’ offences.

Fatal Four refers to the 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.

Looking at these types of offences specifically, 21 individuals were dealt with for driving without a seatbelt, 17 for speeding, and 14 for using their phone at the wheel.

No drink or drug drivers were encountered during this operation, however Isle of Wight teams will routinely deal with anyone identified to be driving whilst impaired, and take part in force-wide periods of intensification where there is a proactive focus on identifying, stopping and arresting drivers under the influence of drink or drugs.

Officers dealt with 20 other offence types over the course of the two days, including:

• Driving without an MOT
• Driving whilst disqualified
• Contravening a red light
• Not being in proper control of a vehicle
• Failing to wear a motorcycle helmet
• Lighting offences
• Insecure load
• Window tint issues
• Registration offences

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.

Police continue to develop and act upon the intelligence around hotspot locations across the Island for driving offences.

We encourage members of the public to report driving offences, and concerns around driving standards, to police as this all feeds into our intelligence-gathering work and helps us keep road users safe.

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.

You can also fill out our Let’s Talk survey online to tell us the issues that matter most to you in your community: https://survey.hampshirealert.co.uk/